Robert Anton Wilson - Language, Reason & Reality 

I could listen to this guy all day!

You understand that the cup is half full AND half empty... you have the knowledge/wisdom that their are multiple perspectives. THE truth that you know is that there is MORE than one truth.

William S. Burroughs said it, Language is a virus, Cosmic Trigger changed my life. thanks RAW

Be careful what you see or what you hear and allow to become abundant within your heart. For out of that abundence your mouth will speak. What it speaks will come into reality. There is nothing you can do or say that will change that fact. Thus all the chaos that preemates this reality.If you can't say anything positive just say yes and no. If you can't do that then just shut your mouth. We are the cause of this confusion,and we can stop it anytime we choose. Just speak no Negativeness, AT ALL.

We livin here in the kingdom of the izzness - Dr John

RIP Pope RAW. Truly seems to me to be one of the greatest thinkers of this century. I'm re-reading The Widow's Son yet again and it's still one of the most amazing things he wrote.

We use language to approximate our perceptions and we find that our perceptions transcend our language. On the other hand, language can stir up deep emotions, thoughts, and so on, so we should be careful in how we speak and write. We have been conditioned from black and white information, which makes us feel certainty even when we have none. I appreciate RAW because he doesn't want us to have such dogmatic constructs perverting our minds. Uncertainty feeds curiosity while dogmatism feed egoism.

Fantastic.

when I was a kid I would always say. As soon as you define something and label it as a fact you deny the possibility of it being anything else.

Thanks Bob, I say maybe a lot and it helps me a lot to think well.

It seems to me! I agree. Brilliant!

Perhaps, Possible, Could be... Probably... All Leave the Door Open. Love It.

@Lsdfunk i love the reality tunnel through which you said this! thanks for terence & raw

In addition to being good friends with Dobbs, Pope Wilson was a very dear friend of Rev. Ivan Stang, a founder of the Church of the SubGenius. The Church promotes free thought and expression just as Wilson did. Praise "Bob". There is also a video on here of Wilson being interviewed by Rev. Stang from an Hour of Slack Radio Ministry show.

This is indeed something that should be taught in the schools from the very beginning and there can be no doubt ...

Richard Bandler after 50 years of NLP is lit asf 🚨🔥🤣💀

Robert Anton Wilson is a guru to me

This is my kind of thinking. Consider this friends: the more we learn about "God", "the creative force", "the universal intelligence", whatever you call it, the less we know...literally. As we delve deeper into quantum realities we become aware of possiblities never considered...and possibilities generated by those possibilities, ad infinitum. Thus due to our newfound awareness, we know less than before because the span of possibilities has enlarged exponentially. Reality is a conundrum.

That doesn't mean he doesn't discuss those things, it just means that he's not going to force his opinion over others. Which means GREAT discussions over WHY you like a certain thing, without the childish act of thinking your perception is the only correct one.

It makes very good sense., First, consider that God or the power of unlimited potential and wisdom is and will always remain beyond our grasp of understanding. Yes, we can be amazed and awed as we come to new realizations but the end result is that we realize a vaster, more incomprehensible intelligence. Thus, we advance to the point of knowing less than previously. "A wise man knows that he knows nothing" is a true statement.

The word, "as," pops up more frequently in my speech and writing with E Prime.

"None of them ever suspect they might be cosmic schmucks and have the wrong answer." HAHAHAH! I love his man1 Everyone should read his book Cosmic Trigger. I just finished it, and it is fantastic!

lsdfunk thanks for your last message yes, that makes sense. i agree. nice catch, m

This is kind of about reforming the justice system ❤️

"Removing "Is" from your speech "Is" even harder" : - )

no doubt, I assumed that to an extent he was just illustrating his point with an example. I enjoy a good heated argument and it seems like he prefers the mellower side. Even though we both may agree that our perceptions arent the only correct ones, I'm a fan of cliche 'passionate' discussions. I've never heard him get worked up about anything even though getting a little feisty can be fun sometimes. That's all I meant, didn't mean to sound accusatory or anything. Great discussions to all.

:) Love this guy.

I remember when this vid first came out. Love the music. Anyone know where its from?

I think it's funny that he seems to make an exception of using E-prime in order to say that people who don't use it (and speak dogmatically) "are crazy." I'm not saying E-prime isn't a valuable tool, but the problem is, if I did say that E-prime is a valuable tool, I would be contradicting the rules of E-prime.

"Removing from your speech *IS* even harder." He appears to me to be right about that.

On the meridian of time there is no injustice...

LOL the BobDobbs at the end.. TY!

I'm trying to implement this idea in my life but it seems very hard to avoid using the verb to be, specially when speaking since you don't necessarely think what you are going to say before you say it

I FUCKING LOVE RAW i wish i could shake his hand RIP

Can you tell me the song name?

Very interesting, ironic and even funny at times. I truly enjoyed it, but now I am kind of missing my younger days. I wish I would of heard this back then. Who knows maybe, I could of even learned a little something from him, yeah right who am I kidding I am more then sure, I would of forgotten on my way to get munchies. ha ha Sorry, I am really just kidding, I did enjoy listening, thank you for posting it. Don't take life so damn serious, live and let live. Smart Moms Saving Money

Interesting! I am currently reading Email To The Universe.. It is good so far.

What Robert Anton Wilson books/audios do you recommend?

"This is how men show their ignorance, pretending to know what they do not know" -Socrates

I wonder if the rise of the 'questioning intonation' might be described as an spontaneous evolutionary move towards a more 'maybe' orientated language?

ah gotcha

I think that it's the concept he's talking about removing, not the actual word 'is'. 'Is' is too imbedded in the english language to avoid completely all the time. The concept behind 'IS', however, can set up certain limitations on thought and belief, that can easily hold one back from greater understanding. Basically he's saying dont be so certain that what your observing is the absolute final word in the nature of reality.

Actually lead might be anything you decide based upon whatever you use to take measurements and when you decide to do such. You help create the measurements with your interaction with whatever limited scientific instruments you can currently find. Maybe a hundred years from now lead will resemble something else based upon the intention of observers, which someday machines might work more like biological brains and will be able to express new or overlooked representations of our version of "lead"

Sorry.... SEEMS TO ME to be one of the most amazing things he wrote.

Are light cones part of or compatible with this guy's philosophy?

Are reality tunnels and light cones synonymous?

beyond am i is and all the possessive determiners

wow, a true agnostic.

"They even smell dogmatically!" Lol

I love listening to this man speak, check out some Terrance Mckenna as well, interesting info.

one question, WTF IS e-prime?

@ThePertinentesUno Some languages don't use the verb to be, isn't it pertinentes? Isn't arabic one of those?

Can someone explain why airplanes are not made of the same stuff that the black boxes are made of?

@matthew3774 it absolutely would! People would cease to be 'is' (fixed) things, and would become more vast, open, and mysterious. You can only fight against something that is fixed. If people were something to be discovered newly every moment, there would be no evil/bad person to fight against.

The concept of "knowing" is different than the concept of "knowledge". I don't argue "right" or "wrong". Both concepts are relative to the reality in which we find ourselves. Sometimes they both apply at the same time. "A truth" is not "the truth". Is a half full cup just half full?

really nice video homie. What's up w Bob Dobbs at the end? How is he connected to Robert Anton Wilson? I notice they also made an illuminati card game w Bob Dobbs stuff in it.

He reminds me of Avatar The Great from Wizards, "Cosmic Schmuck" so cool!!

yes but that level of sanity would still be relative to where we are coming from here now... And we have quite a ways to travel to get near any level of sanity from this current level of insanity...

@matthew3774 personally I optimistically believe that global unconscious realisation of E-Prime wouldn't only end war but would radically change the world as we know it. Armed forces would disintegrate, people would not act on fear so much and do more to help their fellow man. It might even lead to the end of famine. I feel that if everyone was aware of our shared reality i.e. the possibility that our entire set of perceptions are false, we would become stronger as a species

Jesus Maybe Lord Praise BOB!!!

That's what Socrates thought, and the reasoning behind this may be found in Heraclitus' "pant rhei"....The world in a constant state of flux, you can't know anything, the same way you can't step into the same river twice....you can only experience the moment.

@mahantheman Interesting, thanks man!

While were at it, let's add the phrase " i guess" to the anti "is" list too.

Great video. I'm posting a link to it on the Robert Anton Wilson forum Hagbards Sub aka hagbardssub Thanks for posting this video

This video E Prime interesting, and will make me think more about language, and how it shapes out thoughts and concepts,and therefore our lives. I'm gonna see how many comments I can make using E Prime (using my other account) just for fun. Does using E Prime make any difference to how a person thinks ? It sounds trivial, like a gimmick. And I like R.A.W. too.

Robert Anton Wilson is great! Thanks ! Check "The Origins of Consciousness" By J. M. Harrell. More good stuff. Thanks!

... Pertinent1 is worry that if they is not act soon it might be too late ...

This guy "MAYBE" ripped during this whole vid

This should be taught in school in goes without saying ...

Cosmic schmucks!

No. Reality tunnels refers to 'blinders' that we all wear: blocking out certain things that we don't even realize we're blocking out. And light cones are too complicated to reduce to a single sentence but since you mention them I'm guessing you somewhat understand what they are. But they are two entirely separate concepts.

Ha,ha,well you got some point there,I give you that.

lol.. 'cosmic shmucks' im gonna use that one ^_^

tell me who isn't

Better than drugs - he has achieved an alternate consciousness. Plus he is quite rich from book sales.

@reasonablerobinson Maybe.

I understand exactly what you mean, I see it as childish. What's your MBTI? I know an INTJ who says the exact same thing, i'm fairly sure RAW is an INTP like myself.

Bodhisattva Zorba Robert Anton Wilson

Imagine having a grandfather like RAW

Ironically in trying to describe the advantages of E-Prime, he uses many conjugations of the verb be. Also, he misses the point of the verb. It can express confidence and convinction in one's interpretation of the world around them. Without it, you are merely a passive observer. While we can certainly learn to embrace such aspects in our lives, it is rather retrograde to how we evolved as a species.

Instead of "is, lets use "maybe" Lsdfunk -- Maybe you could revise your statement as follows: "I just thought I'd add this because what I believe many people may need to hear, too many seem too sure - of apparently too much..." Interesting work. thanks

Is a rainbow real? The Set Theory paradox I mentioned is: "The set of all sets who do not contain themselves as members" Have you ever SEEN a government - or does its reality flow from a barrel of a gun. Is it not as ethereal as a dream of a unicorn?

@matthew3774 However whether we can ever free ourselves from linguistic constructs remains unclear (like anything is ever 'clear' haha... except for the notion that nothing is truly clear...which may also be false)... It seems to me that an understanding of E-Prime leads to one conclusion - "We know nothing" At least that's how it seems to me at this point in tim - Aaaaargghhh - Click, whirrrr - FNORDDDDD

@matthew3774 maybe...

The grass in that video is not just green imo, a higher percentage of the plant is green in terms of length, but not in terms of volume, because maybe the volume of the cream/white flowering part is a greater volume than the thing green stem. Wait a minute, flowering plant, is this really grass? Who am i to say it is or not grass because it flowers, did the original person who named it that word decide it for non flowering green stems? hehe :P

".....They even smell dogmatic....."! ROTFLMAO! Dogma, the new cologne from Pat Robertson! lol!

this guy was realy high there

Marijuana scooped you up and tossed you outside the box, and now you're wondering "what the fuck?" It's great out here, isn't it.

@leeonr it is appear to me that you didn't understand a word he was saying,yeah,go to sleep.

he said "I'm removing the is from my writing more and more" meaning he still makes mistakes now and then... actually he made the mistake in his next breath as to contrast what he was saying.

I'd never say that it appears to me that these statements seem convinced of a certitude about the misue of IS. So what you are saying IS that it is better to to take IS out of your speech???

Are and am are conjugations of the verb "to be" It is one of the most irregular conjugations in English. We see the same irregularity for that verb in German with sein: to be. Ich bin (I am), Du bist (You are), Er ist (He is) Wir sind (We are), and Sie sein (They are. E Prime remove the verb of being. Most Asian languages, ASL and strangely Klingon have no verb for being.

Maybe there is one "IS" and the rest are al the maybe's. But the "IS" is not the is one can speak of because it is aways one step away.

@Lsdfunk So you have no problem with a lucyfarian but you do have a problem with christians. You don't see any discontinuity in that position?

read "Prometheus Rising" and "Quantum Psychology."

"All that is, is metaphor".. hmm, Nietzsche would be one I think.

sweet, im gunna try not to say is anymore.

The grass is green. Beethoven is good. Subjective reality is a self-annihilating phrase. There is a reality- no matter what you think about it, a .45 slug will blow your brains out. 'Beethoven is good' is a statement about the reality of a democratic consensus of subjective opinions. 'Grass is green' is a statement about the reliable uniformity of perception of a physical object. RAW is making an error akin to set theory paradoxes.

his advocacy would seem more convincing if he didn't use the word 'is' so many times in explaining the virtues of not using 'is.'

"...they never think that they might be cosmic shmucks and have the wrong answer". lol Maybe.