A great thinker who has the rare ability to write in such a way that most people can understand, however I have read his non-fiction books and while they were and are very interesting many of the ideas they contain have become fatally dated over the years. For instance his 1971 book 'The Occult' while considered cutting edge at the time, seems now to be just a collection of fairly innocent ghost stories. But Wilsons grasp of the abilities that lie mostly dormant within us is often stunning.
@ commanche1, maybe so but the academic is in a unique position to rationalise a depressive's pessimism, for example by promoting it as "scepticism", (as if the only sensible attitude to a new possibility is to suspect it of fraud and dismiss the evidence). A phrase such as "if it seems too good to be true..." gives away the sceptic's low expectations and history of personal disappointments; while pretending to a universal applicability, it is deeply rooted in a defective psyche.
It is a sad fact of life that with age men tend to add to the stomach and women to the butt. At the age of 63 Wilson like many men had picked up a bit of a gut, Im sure you will be glad to know that when I recorded him 4 years later, he had slimmed down a bit. But, surely what he has to say is more important than an aging body. Judge me by my size do you?
voidofpurposes' comment is typical of a sort of body-worship, or of the modern obsession with the 'cult of the body beautiful'. "The "inner self" is reflected by the evident slovenliness of his flesh" is an absolutely terrible thing to say, also, simply wrong.
I think void has been reading far too many womens' magazines.
Many thanks. His reference to Terry Waite and his own discomfort points to simple gratitude, I think. He's also the master of metaphor: that 'shilling in the metre' is beautiful.
A very great, very much misunderstood. "Dreaming to Some Purpose" is almost as illuminating an autobiography as Jung's, "Memories, Dreams, Reflections".
The thing is not to try to recapture the peak experience but to live our lives taking it for granted as our natural state. Pessimism, depression, despair, and boredom serve no useful purpose; we should respect them like we respect cancer. Philosphy, apart from Wilson's and Maslows, seeks to normalise these pathological mental states. Because academics are so often depressives (the rest are too busy living) they justify themselves as sages by philosophies of impotence. Wilson calls their bluff.
in the public eye. Say... the modern celebrity, its a fact that many of them suffer depression and turn to drugs. just one example. there are just as many depressives in the too busy living, as there are in academia
well, he's a philosopher, not a cop. Are we so stupid that we need the likes of Colin Wilson to tell us that de Sade was a flawed character, and Brady an evil one? Isn't it obvious? Brady's book has its merits, a superior sense of the topography of the crimes he describes, plus he validates the speculation of Emlyn Williams in "Beyond Belief".
Crime can't invalidate genius - it's not a popularity contest. We don't stop playing "Let it Be" or "Do Do Ron Ron" because Phil Spector shot that lady.
When discussing de Sade in "The Origins of the Sexual Impulse":
"Sadism is plainly connected with the need for self-assertion. At the same time it cannot be separated from the idea of defeat. A sadist is a man, who, in some sense, has his back to the wall. Nothing is further from sadism, for example, than the cheerful, optimistic mentality of a Shaw or Wells."
His interest in occultism grew out of his interest in peak.mystical experiences. he did mention Gurdjieff from his very first book. The problem with philosophy is that its like literary masturbation . . . no matter how much has written, you are no better off than before. In order to take the insights and make any sort of use of them, you need to have some plan of action. This is where his interest in occult disciplines came from.
i read his forward in ian brady's book, the gates of janus. if you didnt know, ian brady was a british serial killer who killed children. in his book, he comes with a moral relativist perspective.
Wilson is too over-intellectual . . . his "reality function" seems to fail when dealing with criminals . . . he seems more interested in how their minds work and less interested in protecting any potential victims.
>>Maybe there isn't really a need to abbreviate it, you could simply upload in a series of parts. >>
It is a teaser, the entire talk as well as others by Wilson and others are available on DVD from the International Fortean Orginization. A link is on the video description, or message me.
Thanks for this clip, it is great - I had never seen film of Colin Wilson speaking before. Maslow and the peak experience concept are very interesting.
I love Peak experiences!!!! I get them ALL THE TIME!!! They're GREAT!!! If only more peole could understand and connect with themselfs in the way these moments let you!!!!
I'm reading his book MYSTERIES right now. Very impressive. He is a very capable and capacious writer. His learning is very vast. Also, ALIEN DAWN is a very interesting book. I must look into reading THE OUTSIDER.
It has been a while since I read the 1956Outsider book, but I do not think Wilson intended to take the word in strict duality terms - outsider versus insider and so forth. In regards to healthy people having more frequent peak experiences - what have you found in your own personal experience ? It is very difficult to discuss these things only in the hypothetical. Presumably, if this topic interests you, then it connects with something in your own life.
emmalema18 said: "it isn't brisk, it's just been edited" That is correct, the original talk (available from INFO) was about an hour long. I have included some of the key points in this re-edited version.
A great thinker who has the rare ability to write in such a way that most people can understand, however I have read his non-fiction books and while they were and are very interesting many of the ideas they contain have become fatally dated over the years. For instance his 1971 book 'The Occult' while considered cutting edge at the time, seems now to be just a collection of fairly innocent ghost stories. But Wilsons grasp of the abilities that lie mostly dormant within us is often stunning.
river2walk 10 months ago
hes a psychopath
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love this man, he's such a genius
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mokilasorki 1 year ago
Life is indeed a battle for happiness :() War of Truth !!
Tomorer 1 year ago
@ commanche1, maybe so but the academic is in a unique position to rationalise a depressive's pessimism, for example by promoting it as "scepticism", (as if the only sensible attitude to a new possibility is to suspect it of fraud and dismiss the evidence). A phrase such as "if it seems too good to be true..." gives away the sceptic's low expectations and history of personal disappointments; while pretending to a universal applicability, it is deeply rooted in a defective psyche.
puddleg 1 year ago
It is a sad fact of life that with age men tend to add to the stomach and women to the butt. At the age of 63 Wilson like many men had picked up a bit of a gut, Im sure you will be glad to know that when I recorded him 4 years later, he had slimmed down a bit. But, surely what he has to say is more important than an aging body. Judge me by my size do you?
VideoDave2 2 years ago
voidofpurposes' comment is typical of a sort of body-worship, or of the modern obsession with the 'cult of the body beautiful'. "The "inner self" is reflected by the evident slovenliness of his flesh" is an absolutely terrible thing to say, also, simply wrong.
I think void has been reading far too many womens' magazines.
sliceofsand 2 years ago 4
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Shouldn't Colin's "peak experience" have made him aware of the need to avoid getting a potbelly?
Mens sana in corpore sano.
The "inner self" is reflected by the evident slovenliness of his flesh.
In effect, Wilson's own body refutes his own supposed belief in his tough-minded theorizing.
I expected him to look more like a lean, yogic figure, not a roly-poly professor of pudding studies.
Epic fail.
voidforpurpose 2 years ago
voidforpurpose, what an ignorant, shallow fool you are.
TheSamara89kitten 2 years ago
Many thanks. His reference to Terry Waite and his own discomfort points to simple gratitude, I think. He's also the master of metaphor: that 'shilling in the metre' is beautiful.
Guedingen 2 years ago
3:12
Lanark8 2 years ago
A very great, very much misunderstood. "Dreaming to Some Purpose" is almost as illuminating an autobiography as Jung's, "Memories, Dreams, Reflections".
GordonMorrice 2 years ago
The thing is not to try to recapture the peak experience but to live our lives taking it for granted as our natural state. Pessimism, depression, despair, and boredom serve no useful purpose; we should respect them like we respect cancer. Philosphy, apart from Wilson's and Maslows, seeks to normalise these pathological mental states. Because academics are so often depressives (the rest are too busy living) they justify themselves as sages by philosophies of impotence. Wilson calls their bluff.
puddleg 2 years ago 8
@puddleg you look at non academics
in the public eye. Say... the modern celebrity, its a fact that many of them suffer depression and turn to drugs. just one example. there are just as many depressives in the too busy living, as there are in academia
thecomanche1 1 year ago
well, he's a philosopher, not a cop. Are we so stupid that we need the likes of Colin Wilson to tell us that de Sade was a flawed character, and Brady an evil one? Isn't it obvious? Brady's book has its merits, a superior sense of the topography of the crimes he describes, plus he validates the speculation of Emlyn Williams in "Beyond Belief".
Crime can't invalidate genius - it's not a popularity contest. We don't stop playing "Let it Be" or "Do Do Ron Ron" because Phil Spector shot that lady.
puddleg 2 years ago
When discussing de Sade in "The Origins of the Sexual Impulse":
"Sadism is plainly connected with the need for self-assertion. At the same time it cannot be separated from the idea of defeat. A sadist is a man, who, in some sense, has his back to the wall. Nothing is further from sadism, for example, than the cheerful, optimistic mentality of a Shaw or Wells."
Hardly complimentary.
olduvaisampson 2 years ago
Colin Wilson is a genius.
iloveterriers 2 years ago 4
geniuses are surrounded by fools
loonasy 2 years ago 5
His interest in occultism grew out of his interest in peak.mystical experiences. he did mention Gurdjieff from his very first book. The problem with philosophy is that its like literary masturbation . . . no matter how much has written, you are no better off than before. In order to take the insights and make any sort of use of them, you need to have some plan of action. This is where his interest in occult disciplines came from.
olduvaisampson 3 years ago 2
Thank you for clarifying that. I have a deep appreciation for Colin Wilson's ideas.
iloveterriers 2 years ago
Everytime Wilson mentioned de Sade it was in criticism of him.
olduvaisampson 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
posh suck
kurtanglerocks555 3 years ago
i read his forward in ian brady's book, the gates of janus. if you didnt know, ian brady was a british serial killer who killed children. in his book, he comes with a moral relativist perspective.
scatcoitus 3 years ago
Wilson is too over-intellectual . . . his "reality function" seems to fail when dealing with criminals . . . he seems more interested in how their minds work and less interested in protecting any potential victims.
olduvaisampson 3 years ago
Fantastic video. Maybe there isn't really a need to abbreviate it, you could simply upload in a series of parts.
We certainly need more videos of this man, as YouTube seems to be lacking in English language ones.
sliceofsand 3 years ago 3
>>Maybe there isn't really a need to abbreviate it, you could simply upload in a series of parts. >>
It is a teaser, the entire talk as well as others by Wilson and others are available on DVD from the International Fortean Orginization. A link is on the video description, or message me.
VideoDave2 3 years ago
Thanks for this clip, it is great - I had never seen film of Colin Wilson speaking before. Maslow and the peak experience concept are very interesting.
01iv8r 3 years ago
Comment removed
01iv8r 3 years ago
Fuck this DUDE!!!
I love Peak experiences!!!! I get them ALL THE TIME!!! They're GREAT!!! If only more peole could understand and connect with themselfs in the way these moments let you!!!!
PEACE!!!
PLUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
reevolution 3 years ago
i would very much like to see some more footage of colin wilson
wrongstring 3 years ago
I'm reading his book MYSTERIES right now. Very impressive. He is a very capable and capacious writer. His learning is very vast. Also, ALIEN DAWN is a very interesting book. I must look into reading THE OUTSIDER.
arcticfox1 3 years ago
His 1969 book on Shaw, "Bernard Shaw: A Reassessment", is one of the clearest and best statements of his philosophy.
donoharvey 3 years ago 2
Maslow says he studied 'healthy' people and they had more frequent 'peak experiences'.
By 'healthy' does he mean 'insiders'?
Colin Wilson describes the 'Outsider' as 'seeing too deep and too much'
He also describes a peak experience as reaching a higher state of consciousness for a brief amount of time.
Can a 'healthy' person have a peak experience of this description? Would this not be seeing too much?
Could it not be argued that the peak experiences Maslow spoke of were not the same thing?
Svidrigailoff 3 years ago
It has been a while since I read the 1956Outsider book, but I do not think Wilson intended to take the word in strict duality terms - outsider versus insider and so forth. In regards to healthy people having more frequent peak experiences - what have you found in your own personal experience ? It is very difficult to discuss these things only in the hypothetical. Presumably, if this topic interests you, then it connects with something in your own life.
01iv8r 3 years ago
it isn't brisk, it's just been edited
emmalema18 3 years ago
emmalema18 said: "it isn't brisk, it's just been edited" That is correct, the original talk (available from INFO) was about an hour long. I have included some of the key points in this re-edited version.
VideoDave2 3 years ago
niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice
Mandarin2099 3 years ago
I have met this guy - he is a genius!
rickygriggs 3 years ago 2
he did an awesome job on his book "history of the occult"
psychicvarmont 3 years ago 2
Colin Wilson set up way too many philosophical questions--in an exciting way--and then degenerated into occultism and BS
strands333 3 years ago
This is an absolutely fascinating (if rather brief) talk, i'd never previously heard of Colin Wilson, i'll be sure to look into his work. Thanks!
ExMachine 4 years ago 2
Many thanks for sharing this! There has been a distinct lack of Colin Wilson presence on Youtube, and this certainly begins to redress the balance!
CultOfByron 4 years ago 2