[Sandman2012]

I've been a long time reader of an author named Robert Anton Wilson. He's written both fiction and non-fiction since the seventies, and a major theme in his work is that of perceptual relativism, the idea that what each of us perceives differs in varying degrees to what's actually out there.

I recently found that one of his publishers has excerpts from some of his books online, including the 1986 preface to a book called Cosmic Trigger, which was an autobiographical account of a lot of very weird things that happened to Wilson over the course of about ten years from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies. It's a great introduction to the type of thinking I usually apply when interpreting Lost, and I felt that it might raise some interesting points of discussion as well as letting some of you here understand a little of where my point of view comes from.

http://www.newfalcon.com/excerpts/cosmic_trigger_1_e.htm

It's a long read but it's worth it for those interested in this kind of thing.

[Sandman2012]

Internet forum rule #563: don't expect responses if you link to an article more than three paragraphs long.

[g011um]

its pretty sad u had to reply urself

[Sandman2012]

its pretty sad u had to reply urself

It's a good thing I've got real life friends.

[Peel]

Sorry mate I read it but totally forgot to post an answer, stupid head me when I'm back from work...

I think you're on to something here too. This whole idea of a secret group manipulating people to in the end create a new, better world according to their beliefs of what mankind should be certainly seems to be a good definition of Dharma and their various projects for the advancement of mankind.

[Sandman2012]

Sorry mate I read it but totally forgot to post an answer...

It's 'cause I made fun of the French in another thread, isn't it?

[Peel]

It's 'cause I made fun of the French in another thread, isn't it?

lol no big deal I've seen worse you know... I just forgot.

I'm having a rough time at work during the Olympics. If you want to know I work for Eurosport, a european sports television network, and you must guess these are busy times right now 

[d8w/f8]

Internet forum rule #563: don't expect responses if you link to an article more than three paragraphs long.

Hehe! So true....

Just read the link....great now I have to add another book to the stacks currently residing beside my bed......

Thanks and Karma to you.

[Sandman2012]

Hehe! So true....

Just read the link....great now I have to add another book to the stacks currently residing beside my bed......

Thanks and Karma to you.

Thanks, man. I'm glad some people are reading this. My fave book by Wilson is Quantum Psychology, but the excerpt from that one wasn't as good as this one.

[TheCrater]

I've been a long time reader of an author named Robert Anton Wilson.

Me too, Sandman. Back in the late 80's/early 90's I devoured everything RAW had published to date. I have often wondered if Lost isn't the most recent incarnation or effort of "Operation Mindfuck". The writers are certainly intelligent enough to pull it off.

I found a couple of references to RAW as he pertains to Lost around the net:

"The only number was always sort of a key number was 23, and anybody who knows anything about Robert Anton Wilson or any of his writing can read into that what they will. That's an important number in terms of the scheme of the show." -Damon Lindelof
http://www.eonline.com/Gossip/Kristin/Trans/Lindelof/index2.html

"J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof: I never thought I'd live to see the day when obscure references from Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus Trilogy and Kerry Wendell Thornley's Principia Discordia would inform a mainstream television series on a major network."
http://.blogspot.com/2006/01/brilliant-25-of-2005.html

The one thing that kind of sucked me into the show, Sandman, was when Michael cited the Flatiron building in New York as his inspiration to be an artist. Check out this tidbit:

"New York City's Flatiron Building, on 23rd Street, is shaped as a triangle. This shape caused frequent winds, which would stir ladies' skirts, revealing ankles which, in the early years of the Twentieth Century, were seldom seen in public. Rogues would loiter around the Flatiron Building hoping for glimpses. Local constables, shooing such rogues away, were said to be giving them the 23 Skidoo."
http://www.answers.com/topic/23-skidoo

If you scroll down after clicking the above link, you'll also find that the 23rd chapter of Aleister Crowley's "Book of Lies" (published in 1913) is called "Skidoo".

I feel hopeful that the show might either be informed by the various satellites of Operation Mindfuck, or, better yet, IS a satellite. At the very least, the mindset I developed to deal with the models presented by Wilson are in full buzz when I watch Lost, and I bet you know exactly what I mean.

[Sandman2012]

Very cool, Crater. While I saw a lot of what I assumed were Wilson's influence on Lost, I had never heard any of those quotes, so I didn't know until now that Lindelhof and Abrams had listed him directly as an influence. He tends to have a profound impact on those who read him.

[E gratis?]

Hey Sandman, you rock.

[Sandman2012]

Hey Sandman, you rock.

Hey, thanks man. :blush:

[E gratis?]

Hey, Sandy. Anyone who can make a jump from Gilligan to RAW (and probably back! hehehe) is deserving of accolades.  And some chewy karma. 

[Sandman2012]

Hey, Sandy. Anyone who can make a jump from Gilligan to RAW (and probably back! hehehe) is deserving of accolades.  And some chewy karma. 

The question is, can we possibly connect all of this to the episode of Arrested Development that had the accountant named Gilligan, and all the jokes that came up us a result?