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to no. 3
Seth
[4] Illuminatus!
ABSAdomain no.: 4
[Primary] Knowledge type: Entertainment
Role in ABSAprime's worldview: Moderate
ABSAlink(s): TBA [via ABSAdomain interaction]
Degree of Difficulty: Somewhat easy
“Authority, by dividing men into classes, creates dichotomy, disruption, hostility, fear, disunion. Liberty, by placing men to equal footing, creates association, amalgamation, union, security.” -- Shea & Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy
"An epic fantasy...a devilishly funny work ... shimmers with illusion and paradox that provides delight after magical delight ... a farcical black tragicomedy that turns out to have been written by you and me ... it strips away illusion." -- John White, New Age Journal
"An incredible berserko-surrealist rollercoaster of world-girdling conspiracies, intelligent dolphins, the fall of Atlantis, who really killed JFK, sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, and the Cosmic Giggle Factor." --New Hackers Dictionary
"Chaos is a necessary component for creating order." --Principia Discordia
Name your conspiracy (or not!)
Illuminatus! is a trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, published in 1975. A convenient, easily digestible summary of these three books is impossible. There is simply too much going on in the numerous storylines, but the supremely entertaining way in which these wide-ranging ideas are presented makes it seem more a romp than like studying for an exam. This in mind, We'll simply default to a statement from wikipedia (which needs your support--please go there immediately and contribute what you can--this superb resource must remain viable!): "The [Illuminatus!] trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story..." Unfortunately, of course, this description raises more questions than it answers :-) For further insight, check the quotations above, or better yet, get hold of a copy and start reading.
Fairy tale for the conspiracy-minded?
Some have called Illuminatus! a fairy tale for adult conspiracy buffs, and there is a lot of support for that view, since the trilogy runs the gamut from quotidian political gamesmanship to a massive Nazi conspiracy to use magick (Crowley's spelling) to raise the dead from WWII shock troops, who were then to be used in mass murder to sacrifice the souls of slain concert goers (how relevant is that to current events, all of a sudden?) to achieve immortality. Not your usual agenda for a fictional work, we think you would agree.
Being very much a product of the wild 1970s, there's a great deal of sex, drugs, and rock n' Roll throughout, which might be off-putting to some, except that, clearly, even the most salacious material relates to very deep esoteric knowledge. Hidden meanings, symbols, inside jokes, and other intimate connections saturate the narrative, so that you get insider knowledge through some very outrageous characters and situations, frequently involving the use of drugs. If you characterized Illuminatus! as the eruption of so many trends in personal libertarian movements of the era, you wouldn't be wrong.
Why should ABSApundit folks care?
Why should this be of interest to our ABSApundit community? A central lesson of Illuminatus! is that reality is malleable and, through various "magical" procedures, that reality not only can be, but constantly is, literally created. This guiding principle was well stated by Aleister Crowley (see our discussion of Crowley's ideas at ABSAdomain11) who defined "Magick" as the art of effecting changes in consciousness at will. As is the case with the other ABSAdomains, this one is aimed at personal liberation through realizing the control every human has over their destiny.
Principia Discordia: The master Key?
One of the most, if not the most important, source for the Illuminatus! trilogy is the outlaw 1970s publication, Principia Discordia. The lore surrounding Principia is amusing: our favorite story is that the first edition of the pub was a mimeographed document run off a machine in the office of Jim Garrison, the conspiracy-engrossed protagonist seeking Kennedy's assassin in Oliver Stone's film JFK.
In fact, some say (ABSAprime and I are both in this camp!) that the whole Illuminatus! project is essentially an elaboration of the tenets of Principia Discordia. We'll explore more about this fascinating work--in fact, Principia Discordia is the sole required reading for the first of our SUPERdomains, which will comprise five overarching categories (called SUPERdomains: please click here). Later in the site history, we will make each SUPERdomain the focus of a formal examination which, if passed, will contribute toward making each of our members ABSApundits in their own right!
Indeed, the frequently outrageous Illuminatus! characters (Howard the prescient dolphin who also pilots a submarine was a personal favorite, and that is not even close to being, simultaneously, both silly and highly relevant, as it may first seem) are given life through extensive inner dialogue as these and other key actors struggle to learn and manipulate what they take to be natural aspects of the world that they have assumed are in control of their lives...until they encounter some form of (usually) esoteric knowledge whose application gets them closer to what they want. Each of the esoteric ABSAdomains (that would be #2, Lotus Sutra (nam-myoho-renge-kyo); #3, Seth; #4, Illuminatus; #5, I Ching; #10, Horary Astrology; #11, Aleister Crowley; and #12, Natal Mandala) will provide training and information about the various ways you, like the characters in Illuminatus!, can learn to control what seems apart from you or outside your reach.
In this brief introduction, we won't go into much more detail. However, do remember the domains, as you will see them emerge in the life of ABSAprime, and note that the real value of ABSApundit is in the linking of the various domains, combining knowledge from several of them, the result being something that we could not have predicted. In other words, one value of ABSApundit is in synthesis and invention among the various approaches (always keeping in mind that there are many, many other domains that you of course are encouraged to bring into the discussion).
"As Below, So Above"
[Graphics by Descript's Overlord and Microsoft's Powerpoint. Background videos by Wix.com].
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