those who seek the noon blue apples will have their kwisatz haderach

a response to has science fiction cranked your head?

the first science fiction novel i remember reading was the delikon by h.m. hoover. two children are attempting to escape their extraterrestrial slave-masters. but, this wasn’t the book that blew the top of my head, just the bedrock which formed my lifelong love of science fiction. that honor would be a tie between two epic series, still blowing minds to this day.

frank herbert’s dune, with its mix of political intrigue, environmentalism, and religious philosophy really popped the lid off and made me conscious of the interconnections of power, particularly in environmental ethics, politics and religion. the ‘litany against fear’ remains a potent touchstone to ward and center me in moments of chaos. the bene gesserit and their use of prana-bindu techniques of mind-body control are one of the skill sets i envision a secret society of modern occultists would/should study. and then there are their sexual techniques and use of consciousness altering substances which make my hedonistic heart sing.

one science fiction book which has shaped my world view more than any other book, save perhaps buckminster fuller’s critical path, would be robert shea’s and robert anton wilson’s illuminatus. it was the perfect antidote to the miserable and mind-numbing indoctrination we were spoon-fed, like castor oil, in the institutional education system...whose sole purpose was to make us good little monkeys content with our peasant lives (getting us ready for those aforementioned extraterrestrial overlords). the glories of discordianism, the hyper-conspiratorial games of the factions and factions and splinter factions of the golden apple and the five-sided temple cabals helped me to see beyond the manichean dys-function of either/or thinking. not to mention the wealth of magickal an occult information in them.

neither of these series are for the feint of heart. they are dense, complicated, and raise serious questions about the world-view we labor under daily. they in many ways speak truth to power, albeit coached in the language of histories obfuscated or fabricated, worlds of tomorrows beyond all our collective tomorrows. most importantly though they turn their readers on to information they might not ever encounter reading the tried and true adventure stories that pass for most droll science fiction. they pose philosophically rich questions about who we are, and to what we owe our allegiances. fnord!

hail eris! all hail discordia!