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Robert Anton Wilson

Prometheus Rising Paperback – January 1, 2009

by Robert Anton Wilson (Author), Israel Regardie (Introduction)

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Imagine trying to make sense of an amalgam of Timothy Leary's eight neurological circuits, G.I. Gurdjieff's self-observation exercises, Alfred Korzybski's general semantics, Aleister Crowley's magical theorems, and the several disciplines of Yoga; not to mention Christian Science, relativity, quantum mechanics, and many other approaches to understanding the world around us. That is exactly what Robert Anton Wilson does in Prometheus Rising. In short, this is a book about how the human mind works and what you can do to make the most of yours.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

New Falcon Publications
Publication date

January 1, 2009
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1561840564
ISBN-13

978-1561840564
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Robert Anton Wilson speaks for that tiny but indispensable minority who are changing the way we think. To read him is to learn what the future holds, how to be part of the future and how to help create the future." -- Robert Shea

"The man's glittering intelligence won't let you rest. First he shocks, then he enlightens. One is never the same after reading him. With each new book I welcome his wisdom, laced with his special brand of crazy humor." -- Alan Harrington, author of The Immortalist

"Bob has done it again for the first time ever! This book is everything I ever wanted to write in a practical guidebook on how to get here from there, and he's-as usual-first in print again! Just the exercise on finding quarters has paid for the book many times over." --E. J. Gold

About the Author

Novelist, teacher and former Playboy editor, Robert Anton Wilson is the author of the Cosmic Trigger trilogy; the Illuminatus! trilogy (with Robert Shea); the Schrodinger's Cat trilogy; the Historical Illuminatus series; Sex, Drugs & Magick; The Walls Came Tumbling Down; Quantum Psychology; Coincidance; Email to the Universe; and many other works.

Product details

Publisher : New Falcon Publications; Reprint edition (January 1, 2009)
Language : English
Paperback : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 1561840564
ISBN-13 : 978-1561840564
Item Weight : 14.4 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #639,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,887 in Parapsychology (Books)
- #4,541 in U.S. Political Science
- #27,099 in New Age & Spirituality

Customer Reviews:
544 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		82%
4 star		9%
3 star		3%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Brandon

Wilson being serious-ish

Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2018

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I became a fan of Robert Anton Wilson after reading the Illuminatus Trilogy, which is by far the most mind bending bible of literal bull**** I have read in my life. The themes and scenarios depicted in the book were some of the most thought provoking and out there ideas I have ever taken from a novel. That being said it was a novel, and primarily just for ****s and giggles. This book however is more informative and definitely shows more of RAWs idealogies, which I'm sure anyone who has read The Illuminatus and liked it might be curious of. The book essential debriefs on 8 circuits of consciousness humans can, potentially, climb through as they grow and become more aware in life. The model is adopted from Dr. Timothy Leary, as he gives credit to in the book, but he does say and acknowledge that he applies his own thought to its interpretation. The concept of the 8 consciousness circuits definitely gives some strong insight onto the behavior of much of our species, especially describing a mass of the population as stuck on lower circuits, simply living just to eat, poop, work and ultimately meet the goal of giving birth and then falling back onto an eat/poop/work cycle until death. The book is definitely a psychological work, and while I am no psychologist or claim/ aspire to be, Wilson does a really good job putting his ideas into laymans terms, most simply by always bringing out the humorous side of any topic. Again, I'm not a psychologist, and don't want to claim this book as a serious recommendation for anyone seeking to study psychology, but its view points are definitely abstract and will make you question how your own mind is thinking at times.

36 people found this helpful

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Dan Falcortez

First impression

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2018

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Finished chapter one yesterday morning. Found a quarter laying on the ground last night. Okay you have my attention sir!

24 people found this helpful

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Josh Yates

The Human Alarm Clock

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2019

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Robert Anton Wilson, the human alarm clock. This book has provided me with a great understanding of the 8 circuit model of consciousness. I purchased the 2016 2nd edition by Hilaritas Press. Highly recommended book if an individual wants to have a model on their consciousness. The energy is there...dormant, waiting...but it's up to the individual to tap into it.

15 people found this helpful

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James

Will buy again just to give away. If your on the fence - just get it. You won’t regret it.

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2020

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Post-education level concepts written so that all may benefit.
If your looking to never look at yourself or another human being the same way, this is the book for you. Makes fun of itself and others. Speaks no Absolute Truth, only apparent truths and models. I can honestly guarantee you will grow as a domesticated primate to a slightly enlighten primate if you can read this with an open mind.

The new edition reads differently iirc from the older one, in that the spacing of sentences and paragraphs lead to an easier read to complex subjects. Instead of large paragraphs, each thought is separated.
The book arrived in pristine condition and the re-read was just an enjoyable as the first time around. Even moe so, as the concepts are able to promote different tangents of thought no matter how many times you read.
More succinct and model oriented in comparison to Carl Jung’s essay on syncronicity; less extravagant and less subjective than reading any mystical explanation of “the self”.

6 people found this helpful

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Rougy

A Pleasant Surprise

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2019

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This was a very pleasant surprise, kind of like finding a new friend. I read it once, made a lot of notes and circled a lot of passages. Unfortunately, I loaned it to a friend who probably won't understand a word of it. Hope he gives it back.

While this is not a "how to" book, it is a sort of "why it is" book and, frankly, I can't see any flaws in the reasoning. The "Circuit Theory" starts to break down a bit once it reaches the seventh and eighth levels, but everything from Circuit one to four is pretty much dead on.

I've only read a few books that I "could not put down" and had to finish as quickly as possible, and this was one of them.

7 people found this helpful

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Andrew M

Heavy, thoughtful reading

Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2019

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I only made it through the first chapter after which I was given life experiments to try. I still think about that chapter months later. This book gives you a very unique view on the world and certainly has be appreciating the life flowing through me.

5 people found this helpful

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RAW was a genius!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2019

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RAW was a genius no doubt about it. I am sure he is in some special realm right now and laughing at us. While I loved the exercises in this book I didn't like the chapters itself.

May be its just not for me but I will be doing his exercises I have already started few and it feels weird and interesting.

4 people found this helpful

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Dr. Jellyfinger

Read. This. Book. If you've made it ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2016

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Read. This. Book. If you've made it this far, you don't need me to tell you to do it. Just do it.

15 people found this helpful

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Beth Duffus

The map is not the territory

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2017

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An interesting book that benefits from a second read after reading Richard Rasa's clarifying afterword. Wilson repeatedly emphasizes two things: What the thinker thinks, the prover proves; and, the map is not the territory. My interest in this book stems from my conviction that our beliefs dictate our reality and that the mind will seek to validate that reality, and hence the beliefs, at every possible opportunity. Even with this insight, it can be tough to shift a belief, even when you know it is toxic and probably wrong. Yet the reality thus created is just a model or map (Wilson's reality tunnel) and is not the territory. Wilson encourages the reader to 'try on' a range of reality tunnels as a thought experiment by emulating mindsets radically different from their own. This is not to persuade the reader to any particular point of view, it is to demonstrate that there are all these different reality tunnels/models/maps co-existing within human society - and these maps, none of them, are the territory.
As Wilson moves on to describe his model of the higher 'circuits' of consciousness (5-8), it becomes more obvious that this book was based on his PhD thesis. It is full of references appropriate to such a thesis but rather obscure to the general reader. The unspoken assumption that runs through his ideas is that all matter is conscious in its own right and that this can be experienced (though not easily!) at the levels of the body, the brain, the DNA and finally quantum particles - an inverse relationship of ever expanding consciousness associated with smaller and smaller phycial entities. If this is a bit of a stretch for some readers, remember Wilson's own caveat: the map is not the territory. This is just another map. Everything from the great or ancient religions to sweeping political movements and science are all just maps and models.
My quibble with Wilson, and the reason for the missing star, is that he makes no accommodation for human imagination, fantasy or creativity on any of his circuits. He argues that in the creation of our own individual reality tunnels "we are all greater artists than we realise" but this is no substitute for the deliberate acts of creation so integral to and beloved by the human animal. He makes no mention of love either which makes his map a rather cold one. Of course, if you choose to adopt Wilson's map as your own you can simply add these elements in, for it then becomes yours to do with as you please.

17 people found this helpful

Daniel Murray

Over rated, but of value.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2018

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Not a bad piece of work, not too heavy, even if a big jargony in places. In fact, think I read it in four sittings.

It largely seems to be a re writing or re interpretation of previous spiritual and occult practices, combined with ideas of previous respected heavy guns in philosophy. In fact, Wilson, says the idea he is expounding "is" what they meant, b ut didn't have the language or scientific knowledge to get to.

Some interesting re looks at ideas, dogmatic in place with some pretty poor examples (at times) used to illustrate his points. He is a bit dogmatic at points and we could do with a little bit more on the concept and a little less of his political views. He tends to use people he clearly does not like, as examples of "lower" sorts. A bit of a re edit could help it too.

It seems like a lighter re interpretation of other idea and philosophies, for the average person, with enough jargon thrown in to make it seem loftier and more academic and complex, than it actually is. This is compounded by his emperor's new clothes tone and statements that the lower sort won't get his book, that struck me as a bit unnecessary and that the author was better than such cheap and obvious tricks. There is a bit too much sarcasm and sneering, these being tricks to make up for lack of substance, I have found.. as is the use of jargon. To be fair, in such an area some jargon is necessary.

I would have liked him to go a bit more in depth and methodically through the circuits. A re look at ancient and older concepts from a more modern perspective is enjoyable and something we interested in the area shoudl do.

There is also a lack of self awareness you would imagine a book that was written, then edited, would not contain i.e. the author would see where they exhibited this. The get out of "this is of course my own reality tunnel" does not get him off the hook here.

In saying that, I found it a valuable read and I will definitely take something for myself from it, I think I may re read it. It seems funny to see such high praise and some pretty reactionary attacks on the work though. They seem, largely, emotionally driven, rather than scientifically or analytically... and, as mentioned above, he has attached a certain superiority to those who praise and say they get his idea.. ironically, as he talks about this very attitude in the book.

Yes, a re read of it is in order.

2 people found this helpful

Wyrd One

left-hand path systems and life on the whole will enjoy and benefit from reading this work

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2016

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WIlson's seminal work is a pleasure to read.

Combining aspects of psychology, philosophy, quantum physics and entertainment, Wilson provides a series of instructions by which the reader may awaken themselves to a liberation of the self and advance their being towards a state of control over their reality tunnels.

Every student of self-advancement, alchemy, left-hand path systems and life on the whole will enjoy and benefit from reading this work.

11 people found this helpful

Kilgore Salmon

Interesting Ideas

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2017

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Fascinating book by a true polymath. RAW was a flawed genius - what genius isn't flawed? - but his range of knowledge and understanding is still astonishing and his optimism irrepressible. Well worth aread.

5 people found this helpful

murrawo

Um...what?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2018

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I believe in the absurdly therapeutic violence of abreaction and the maddening certainty of voltmeters....if you have a scientific mind you will be puzzled, perplexed and finally pissed off by the great geyser of mystical phenomena expounded in this book....and then...perhaps ...you might think " what the smurf was that?....how much time did I waste trying to figure this guy out?"
Not all gurus deserve investigation.

3 people found this helpful

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