It is a great privilege to be conscious in this universe. Those who understand, shine like stars. Robert Anton Wilson More Quotes by Robert Anton Wilson More Quotes From Robert Anton Wilson Perhaps the final secret of the Illuminati is that you don’t know you're a member until it’s too late to get out. Robert Anton Wilson finals secret too-late We're living on the Planet of the Apes. Is that funny or serious? Robert Anton Wilson apes planets serious Try living forever with the metaprogram, 'Everything works out more perfectly than I plan it. Robert Anton Wilson work-out forever trying On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jail break. Robert Anton Wilson jail intelligent choices Bad critics judge a work of art by comparing it to pre-existing theories. They always go wrong when confronted with a masterpiece because masterpieces make their own rules. Robert Anton Wilson theory judging art How many times... have you encountered the saying, 'When the student is ready, the Master speaks?' Do you know why that is true? The door opens inward. The Master is everywhere, but the student has to open his mind to hear the Masters Voice. Robert Anton Wilson voice mind doors Most of the characteristics which make for success in writing are precisely those which we are all taught to repress ... the firm belief that you are an important person, that you are a lot smarter than most people, and that your ideas are so damned important that everybody should listen to you. Robert Anton Wilson writing people ideas The worst that can happen under monarchy is rule by a single imbecile, but democracy often means the rule by an assembly of three or four hundred imbeciles. Robert Anton Wilson democracy three mean Every kind of ignorance in the world all results from not realizing that our perceptions are gambles. We believe what we see and then we believe our interpretation of it, we don’t even know we are making an interpretation most of the time. We think this is reality. Robert Anton Wilson ignorance believe thinking In order to eat, you have to be hungry. In order to learn, you have to be ignorant. Ignorance is a condition of learning. Pain is a condition of health. Passion is a condition of thought. Death is a condition of life. Robert Anton Wilson passion pain ignorance Most people live in a myth and grow violently angry if anyone dares to tell them the truth about themselves. Robert Anton Wilson dare truth people I see anarchism as the theoretical ideal to which we are all gradually evolving to a point where everybody can tell the truth to everybody else and nobody can get punished for it. That can only happen without hierarchy and without people having the authority to punish other people. Robert Anton Wilson hierarchy anarchy people My own opinion is that belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence. Robert Anton Wilson faith believe thinking Are traditional schools very much like mini-prisons? Do they stifle imagination, cramp the child physically and mentally, and run on various forms of overt or covert terrorism? Of course, the answer is an unambiguous YES. Robert Anton Wilson running children school part of the humor of living on this backward planet is listening to the hominids rationalize their predations. Robert Anton Wilson hominids planets listening We are all giants, raised by pygmies, who have learned to walk with a perpetual mental crouch. Robert Anton Wilson raised giants walks People who've been through our educational system, they think they're thinking, when they're just repeating like parrots. Robert Anton Wilson educational people thinking Hysteria is a chaotic and irrational emotional state caused by seeing how the world really operates. Robert Anton Wilson hysteria emotional world If you want to become a concert pianist, do it every day. You want to be a writer, do it every day. You want to become depressed, think depressing thoughts every day. You want to become an optimist, think a cheerful thought every day. Do it every day. Robert Anton Wilson cheerful depressing thinking Human society as a whole is a vast brainwashing machine whose semantic rules and sex roles create a social robot. Robert Anton Wilson robots roles sex