COSMIC TRIGGER VOLUME I by Robert Anton Wilson

New Falcon Publications 1993. Originally And/Or Press 1977. ISBN 1-56184-003-3

Science has followed a difficult road since the early Greeks first launched the project. It seems that the earliest texts were mostly lost when a Christian mob burnt down the great library of Alexandria in A.D. 415. The Romans did little abstract thinking and the Middle Ages saw its almost complete disappearance.

It's worth saying this because "Cosmic Trigger" is a return to the science stifling Middle Ages of magic, alchemy and mysticism. Wilson has really written a guide book to the New Age (- a misnomer if ever there was one ), stating in the preface that he "does not believe anything" as he sets out on his exploration outside consensus reality.

Not believing anything is O.K. The problem is that his exploration ignores the very thing (scientific method) that gives him tools like computers, electric light etc. So the book isn't an investigation at all - it's more of an invitation to join in the fun.

He clearly favours the mystic way that has made up most of our history. You can call it Religion/ New Age/ Magic or anything that you want but you can't get away from the fact that it's the stagnant pond that almost drowned the likes of Galileo and Darwin.

Look at it another way and you could take it as an exciting fantasy ride but it still has the look and feel of pap. But then having said that,most religious texts probably also looked like pap at the time that they were written and you can't say that they haven't been influential.

If the test is whether more people believe year by year then unfortunately you have to give the New Age some consideration. Keywords are; superstition, fear, fantasy, occult, ancient knowledge, (top)
 so put it all together and you could ask yourself whether it would be possible to combine the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, pyramids and UFOs all on one page. Well yes, you can;

Page 225; "As for the prediction that I would dive into the ruins of Atlantis: after I got back from England, an occultist named Alve Stuart contacted me and invited me to join an expedition to the Bermuda Triangle to investigate various legends, including the idea that part of Atlantis was down there, and reports from natives of the area that UFOs are often see rising from the waters...A month later Charles Berlitz claimed to have found a sunken pyramid in the Bermuda Triangle. He claimed it was twice the size of the pyramid of Cheops..."

Or some notes on the difficulty of research;

Page 89; "At this point in the internal voyage, the Shaman knows that he is far, far into the underground vaults of Chapel Perilous and that the way back to the robot-reality of the domesticated hive is not going to be easy."

Page 3; "..my interest in the Illuminati was to lead me through a cosmic Fun House featuring double and triple agents, UFOs,possible Presidential assassination plots, the enigmatic symbols on the dollar bill, messages from Sirius, pancakes from God-knows-where, the ambiguities of Aleister Crowley, some mysterious hawks that follow Uri Geller around, Futurists, Immortalists, plans to leave this planet and the latest paradoxes of quantum mechanics."

My own favourite is the 23 enigma. After all, what if there are aliens? (re. Fermi "Where is everybody? Where are the signs of other life?).

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