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The ability to create a synthesis of diverse points of view, scientific and social and philosophical, is a rare gift. Not many are there who dare even to attempt such a task. Imagine anyone trying to make sense of an amalgam of Timothy Leary’s eight neurological circuits, Gurdjieff’s self-observation exercises, Korzybski’s general semantics, Aleister Crowley’s magical theorems, the several disciplines of Yoga, Christian Science, relativity and modern quantum mechanics, and many other approaches to understanding the world around us! A man is required with an almost encyclopedic education, an incredibly flexible mind, insights as sharp as those whom he is trying synthesize and mirabile dictu, a wonderful sense of humor.

We are all giants, raised by pygmies, who have learned to walk with a perpetual mental crouch. Unleashing our full stature — our total brain power — is what this book is all about. Israel Regardie Phoenix Arizona July 1983

All that we are is the result of all that we have thought. It is founded on thought. It is based on thought. — Buddha, The Dhammapada

In the area of extra-sensory perception, the results are uniform after more than a century: everybody who sets out to prove that ESP exists succeeds, and everybody who sets out to prove that ESP does not exist also succeeds.

And this is why Gurdjieff said, in his own jargon, that people are asleep and having nightmares. “FAIRNESS? DECENCY? HOW CAN YOU EXPECT FAIRNESS OR DECENCY ON A PLANET OF SLEEPING PEOPLE?” — G.I. Gurdjieff

All of which is robotic, until one learns how to reprogram and reimprint one’s own brain circuits. In most cases, such metaprogramming skill is never acquired. It all goes by in a flash, on mechanical auto-pilot, in zero time. “I just found myself doing it,” says the soldier as he is being court-martialed for cowardice or decorated for bravery.

It says that when you put two minds together, there is always a third mind, a third and superior mind, as an unseen collaborator. —     William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, —     The Third Mind

HUMAN BEINGS ARE TIME-BINDERS The third semantic circuit handles artifacts and makes a “map” (reality-tunnel) which can be passed on to others, even across generations. These “maps” may be paintings, blueprints, words, concepts, tools (with instructions on use transmitted verbally), theories, music, etc.

Whoever can scare people enough (produce bio-survival anxiety) can sell them quickly on any verbal map that seems to give them relief, i.e., cure the anxiety. By frightening people with Hell and then offering them Salvation, the most ignorant or crooked individuals can “sell” a whole system of thought that cannot bear two minutes of rational analysis. And any domesticated primate alpha male, however cruel or crooked, can rally the primate tribe behind him by howling that a rival alpha male is about to lead his gang in an attack on this habitat. These two mammalian reflexes are known, respectively, as Religion and Patriotism. They work for domesticated primates, as for the wild primates, because they are Evolutionary Relative Successes. (So far.)

7. Buy some ZOOM or LIFT (two names for the same caffeine-high stimulant) at a Health Food Store. (This gives a close approximation of the effects of illegal cocaine.) When you are Zooming or Lifted and your mind is racing, find a victim and explain the universe to him or her, until they are able to escape you. What you experience in this “speed rap” is what the head of the compulsive Rationalist is always like. This is the verbal circuit gone wild and totally oblivious to information coming in on any other circuit. It explains why most people cannot stand Rationalists. “Speed” drugs evidently trigger neuro-transmitters characteristic of the verbal centers of the left cortex.

AI Summary

Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson presents key insights from the Gurdjieff tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.

Core Themes:

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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.

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