July 23rd, 2004
Today is July 23rd.
Exactly one year ago, I was in Santa Cruz to attend the world premiere of Maybe Logic, a documentary about Robert Anton Wilson. Santa Cruz Mayor Emily Reilly was there too, and she officially proclaimed that day "Robert Anton Wilson Day", managing to flatter even further an already warmly celebrated Wilson.
On July 23rd, 1973, Wilson had an experience that appeared to be a communication with an alien intelligence from Sirius, and that served as foundation for his trilogy The Cosmic Trigger (one, two and three). This wouldn't have sounded particularly weird at all to the ancient Egyptians, as they believed that the connection with Sirius is at its strongest on July 23rd, day on which the star first rises from behind the sun. Sirius is also known as the "Dog Star", and its rising on today's date marks the beginning of the "Dog Days" of Summer. The Dogon people of Africa also have had, historically, quite a relationship with Sirius. If you'd like some more information about that, LVX23 has some related quotes up today.
Incidentally, Sirius has an astronomical luminosity of 23.5 as well. But I'm going to stop here, and right away — before this becomes yet another endless list of 23's. If you would like one of those, may I direct you here... it's more fun that way.
Anyway. Coming back to the present... today, July 23rd, 2004, the doors of Robert Anton Wilson's Maybe Logic Academy have opened, and 44 people (including myself) are beginning RAW's course on '8 Dimensions of "Mind"'. Course text is Wilson's masterpiece Prometheus Rising. A forum has been set up for people that are enrolled in the course to share insights and discuss this or that point, and RAW is already encouraging such interactions. As the course progresses, I might sporadically blog about it whenever a particularly interesting discussion or statement enters my radar. So stay tuned and, if you feel so inclined, you might consider joining of the other, upcoming courses. If you end up in the Illuminatus! course, I'll see you there — be sure to say hi!