The concept of Chapel Perilous, a weird kind of limbo, period of transition, purgatory, etc turns up in RAW's work a lot, but (rather like the Grail) it proves illusive when you try to research it.
Eric Wagner (author of An Insider's Guide to Robert Anton Wilson) - if you don't like Amazon, see it at New Falcon Publications) - intends to run a course on the subject (if enough people show up) and posted this intriguing and tantalising summary on the Forum.
The Pentacle of Valor
Week One Cosmic Trigger Preface to the New Edition, Forewords, pg. 3 – 52
Eric Wagner (author of An Insider's Guide to Robert Anton Wilson) - if you don't like Amazon, see it at New Falcon Publications) - intends to run a course on the subject (if enough people show up) and posted this intriguing and tantalising summary on the Forum.
The Pentacle of Valor
Week One Cosmic Trigger Preface to the New Edition, Forewords, pg. 3 – 52
Conspiracy of the Week: Subterranean Worlds
Late Beethoven Pick: The Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106
Introductions; memorize the Crowley quote on page 18.
Does Apocalypse Now provide a useful model of Chapel Perilous? Dobbstown?Possible meanings of “Rising organ music.”
Agnosticism, Angels and Demons and the Illuminati, etc.
Week Two Cosmic Trigger pg. 52 – 114
Agnosticism, Angels and Demons and the Illuminati, etc.
Week Two Cosmic Trigger pg. 52 – 114
Conspiracy of the Week: Tampa Bay: Chemical Warfare
Late Beethoven Pick: Piano Sonata in E, Op. 109
Korzybski, Joyce and the economy, etc.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Permanent Fifth Circuit, casting spells and Info-cinema, etc. Alan Watts, D. T. Suzuki, zen and the eight circuit model, etc.
The Cup of Sympathy
Week Three Cosmic Trigger pg. 114 – 180
The Cup of Sympathy
Week Three Cosmic Trigger pg. 114 – 180
Conspiracy of the Week: The Terra Papers
Late Beethoven Pick: Piano Sonata in A Flat, Op. 110
John Lilly, dolphins and limits, etc. Dr. Leary and the 21st century, etc. Why Beethoven? Egypt, Crowley and the Grateful Dead, etc.
Week Four Cosmic Trigger pg. 181 – 247
Week Four Cosmic Trigger pg. 181 – 247
Conspiracy of the Week: THELEMA, yup, welcome to Chapel Perilous
Late Beethoven Pick: The Ninth Symphony (of course)
Crowley’s relevance today. Sufis, fake Sufis, kabbalah and quantum mechanics, etc. Sirius, Mumbo Jumbo and Pynchon, etc. The tarot, The Game of Life, Jess Karlin and education, etc.
The Sword of Reason
Week Five I, Wabenzi pg. 1 – 113
The Sword of Reason
Week Five I, Wabenzi pg. 1 – 113
Conspiracy of the Week: Kerry Thornley
Late Beethoven Pick: Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 111
I hope you’ve gotten a copy of I, Wabenzi.
Have we any Wabenzi in the class? Not I, alas. Illumination, the lack thereof, 2012, etc. The Cosmic Schmuck Factor.
Week Six I, Wabenzi pg. 114 – 227
Week Six I, Wabenzi pg. 114 – 227
Conspiracy of the Week: The Three Tramps
Late Beethoven Pick: The Missa Solemnis
“How was your time on earth? What did you do there?How did it feel to you at the time?” Storytelling: Chapel Perilous as narrative process.
The Wand of Intuition
Week Seven I, Wabenzi pg. 228 – 351
The Wand of Intuition
Week Seven I, Wabenzi pg. 228 – 351
Conspiracy of the Week: Tobacco Wars: Genetically Engineered Tobacco
Late Beethoven Pick: String Quartet Op. 130 and the Grosse Fugue
The heart and the third eye, etc. What do you think of Beshara, Bulent Rauf, Rafi Zabor, etc.? Bliss and ease, etc. Historicism, “a great unstoppable wave,” the 60’s, the present and the future, etc.
Week Eight I, Wabenzi pg. 352 - 472
Week Eight I, Wabenzi pg. 352 - 472
Conspiracy of the Week: Trilateral Commission
Late Beethoven Pick: The Ninth Symphony
The role of the teacher at Beshara or Maybe Logic. Abū abd-Allah Muhammad ibn-Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-`Arabi al-Hatimi al-TTaa'i (أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن محمد بن العربي الحاتمي الطائي). One reality versus many. Chapel Perilous, the musical.
Course texts:
Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of the Illuminati
-- Robert Anton Wilson
I, Wabenzi
-- Rafi Zabor
8 week course
May 18 - July 12 Enrol here
Course texts:
Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of the Illuminati
-- Robert Anton Wilson
I, Wabenzi
-- Rafi Zabor
8 week course
May 18 - July 12 Enrol here
Further details of this (and other) MLA courses (past and present)
15 comments:
Thanks for posting this, Bogus. I look forward to the class.
I happen to have no clue whatsoever of most of the subjects he wants to speak about...
But for what I know, those are subjects I always wanted to dig into at some point, without finding any clear structure to start with.
Thus, here I am, wondering if the class will be a discussion between people who already know what they're speaking about, or a good condensation of info for beginners.
More specifically I could ask if Wagner will provide plenty of material or if we should have read Joyce already, e.g.?
- I'd prefer to ask Wagner directly, but I can't find his email.
- thanks for the post
Eric has been posting in the forums - so I'll let him know about your query.
You could visit the Public part of the campus to see the thread, here.
Howdy. You don't have to have any previous knowledge to take the class. Hopefully people in the class will have copies of the two textbooks, both of which one can obtain inexpensively. Certainly you don't need to have read Joyce or anything else previously.
Please join us. I look forward to a wonderful trip.
Hilaritas,
Eric Wagner
"In researching occult conspiracies, one eventually faces a crossroad of mythic proportions (called Chapel Perilous in the trade). You come out the other side either stone paranoid or an agnostic; there is no third way. I came out agnostic.
Chapel Perilous, like the mysterious entity called "I," cannot be located in the space-time continuum; it is weightless, odorless, tasteless and undetectable by ordinary instruments. Indeed, like the Ego, it is even possible to deny that it is there. And yet, even more like the Ego, once you are inside it, there doesn't seem to be any way to ever get out again, until you suddenly discover that it has been brought into existence by thought and does not exist outside thought. Everything you fear is waiting with slavering jaws in Chapel Perilous, but if you are armed with the wand of intuition, the cup of sympathy, the sword of reason, and the pentacle of valor, you will find there (the legends say) the Medicine of Metals, the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher's Stone, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.
That's what the legends always say, and the language of myth is poetically precise. For instance, if you go into that realm without the sword of reason, you will lose your mind, but at the same time, if you take only the sword of reason without the cup of sympathy, you will lose your heart. Even more remarkably, if you approach without the wand of intuition, you can stand at the door for decades never realizing you have arrived. You might think you are just waiting for a bus, or wandering from room to room looking for your cigarettes, watching a TV show, or reading a cryptic and ambiguous book. Chapel Perilous is tricky that way." RAW in Cosmic Trigger.
well, Information seems to travel faster than the speed of light..!
Thank you both.
I talk to you soon, Eric.
I'm excited too.
Do you have any idea about the time of study needed per week - it's going to be at the same time than my finals, and I am a non-native english speaker.
- I also asked a question about the Berlin meeting on the forum..
Hello. The class has less than seventy pages a week of reading, so one could get by with limited study time (however long it would take to read 70 pages in English). Of course, one could devote a great deal of time to the course, following sombunall the curlicues of the readings and the forum discussions
well... I am enrolled for the class but i don't seem to get any info on how to participate to the class.
that is, i paid but don't receive any email with the procedure to log in the forum.
could you please help?
thanks
oooops..
never mind.
I guess the info was delayed because of my mixed email addresses or something. it took a while but I just got the email.
maybe it is because i asked for..
heh heh
Chapel Perilous can prove tricky like that - are you inside, RU outside...?
See you inside!
Hello, I forwarded your post to the MLA Adminsitration. They should - oops, I just read your new post and Bogus's answer. Well to the Chapel!
We have just about reached the end of week one, and I reckon you could still sign up, catch up, and enjoy.
We had a great first week, and some very stimulating minds, and links, conversations and ideas.
I already have a list of stuff to catch up with, and to do, and feel happily enthused all over again.
Glad to hear that, Bogus. I've thoroughly enjoyed week one and I look forward to a wonderful trip the rest of the way.
On a note unrelated to the course: I'm trying to remember that part in the book in which RAW says "heh-heh-heh" to imply something seedy/conspiratorial. It made me bust a gut and I say it all the time now to imply such things. Anyone know the page number?
Um, are you sure it came from Cosmic Trigger? And if so, did he spell it 'heh'?
I just skimmed through my PDF and couldn't find the reference.
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