Patapsychology and Maybe Logic
The dubious ascend of Mount Wilson

By borsky

The following text was originally written in French and send for maybe publication to Thieri Foulc, Provéditeur-Editeur Général of the Cahiers du Collège de 'Pataphysique. Whether this gets printed does not depend on me. I may have been a member for the past ten years at least, though the College is a very secretive and closed organisation and one does not just knock on a door and walk in. So I was very pleased to receive a friendly reply on 19 Pédale 134.
I thought it might prove useful to explore the 'Pataphysical side of RAW in this issue of MQ as well, a side which for some reasons hasn't been apprehended at all, at all by the English-speaking audience.
I did my best to identify with the circumvoluted way in which most texts in the Cahiers have been written. The language creates the reality tunnel, words create worlds; I tend to realize more and more the metalinguistics of Benjamin Lee Whorf. I have no idea how bizarre this might look when translated.

"If my books do what I intend, they should leave the reader feeling that the universe is capable of doing something totally shocking and unexpected in the next five minutes" - Robert Anton Wilson

A branch of the Science has lost an important propagator^[1] on the other side of the Atlantic. Robert Anton Wilson made the gesture of dying^[2] on the 14 décervelage 134 E.P. Phlegmatic as ever, the last comment on his Blog five days previously was: "Please excuse my levity...but I just can't take dying seriously". Until now none of his writings has been translated into French. Fortunately, since it implies a hexagonal virginity expecting to be deflored. It does not seem that he was a full member of the College, nevertheless the value of his writings should at least qualify him as a contemporary patacessor^[3] . A Discordian Pope, a philosopher banned by all the classical schools of thought, an expert on the use of brain machines and psychotropic substances, a writer evading every attempt to classify, an explorer of the exceptions in all things, a questionner of doubt, a propagator of the approximate and the Maybe, Wilson published 35 works with subjects as diverse as quantum philosophy, the 8 Circuits of the Mind (following the inspiration given by Timothy Leary), the thorough study of the numbers 5^[4] and the number 23^[5], conspiracy theories (more particularly concerning the Illuminati of Bavaria), Joycian^[6] and Poundian studies, the discovery of time according to different calendars (including the 'pataphysical one), the study of Crowleyian Magick^[7], E-prime^[8], non-euclidian politics, etc. However his two main contributions to the ['pataphysical] Science might be the exhaustive study of Maybe Logics and the invention of Patapsychology.

Maybe Logic

Theories on "Fuzzy Logic" started with the first studies of artificial intelligence in about 1965. Fuzzy logic is based on the mathematical theory of fuzzy subsets and found its praxis in domains as varied as automatism, robotics, management of road traffic, air control, the environment, the merdical science and more. Fuzzy logic, in contrast with Boolean logic, allows an intermediate state between the two absolutes of truth or false. Wilson's endeavor in this field was to combine this idea of the intermediary truth with both the various quantum theories as well as with count Korzybski's General Semantics. Where in aristotelian only two extremes of truth are accepted, potential logic allows a multitude of intermediate tonalities offering the freedom of doubt and construction.

"Every belief system is true in a sense, false in a sense, meaningless in a sense, true and false in a sense, true and meaningless in a sense, false and meaningless in a sense, and true, false, and meaningless in a sense; never fully beLIEve in anyones belief system, and more importantly never fully believe in your own belief system."

When abandoning the dictature of faith, imaginary solutions are delivered; hir who does not stick to a dogma does not fail to realize the full potential of reality. Hir who allows hirself to see and accept hirs system of values and of standards becomes aware of their ultimate relativity and can thus adapt hirs reality tunnel. But it is also a question of being able to separate the opinion from the faith, the perceived fact from the deductive act, the assumption from the imagination. All subjective evaluations of any given event can prove useful in certain circumstances but they get confused by the masses and thus become a source of conflicts. It seems generalizations lead to the submersion, the particular to illumination.
In the last few years Wilson was able to bring together individuals involved in his non-aristotelician logic, communicating through a cybernautic grid, the 'Maybe Logic Academy'.

Patapsychology

Brian O' Nolan writing under the name of feather Flann O' Brien or Myles Na Gcopaleen was the posthumous author of one of the strangest Irish novels (after Finnegans Wake), 'The Third Policeman', which to me tastes like some of Raymond Roussel's works. He was the creator of professor de Selby, the prototype of the heteroclite scientist. Polymathematician, insane inventor, eternally persecuted and vaguely reminding of des Esseintes mingled with Jules Verne, of Selby lived as a novel character mainly in a gigantic cluster of footnotes. Wilson reused this character similarly in his novel 'The Widow's Son', where a young Sigismundo Celine enters a cesspool of conspiracy during the Renaissance, and where his adventures in freemason, rosicrucian and other circles are enlightened or obscured by footnotes featuring historical figures and authors, intersected by sometimes inopportune or eccentric appearances of de Selby. As a nonconventional scientist, the professorship of Selby seems to have similar features to the doctorate of doctor Faustroll. The theory of teratological molecules in particular has links to the concept of Clinamen. According to de Selby, certain molecules evolve/move in a reversed timewave, and appeared at the moment of the Big-bang, which seems then to appear at the end of times and not at the beginning and cause and effect, ontology and eschatology appear equivalent. I quote de Selby, who becomes the apostle of Wilson's imaginary solutions:

"Naive realism, such as is found among savages and some Germanic scholars, accepts the data of perception without question. Philosophy began with the distinction between the 'apparent universe' - the universe made up of the data of perception - and the 'real universe' - which allegedly underlies the universe of perception and 'explains' it. The 'real universe', is assumed to be by definition more 'real' than the 'apparent universe'. But philosophy turns on itself and mind whirls when we remember suddenly that this so-called universe is made up entirely of our theories, our guesses, and, as I have explained previously, the instinct to gossip. It then appears that the 'real universe' like the 'apparent universe' is the creation of our brains. We then have to assume a triple, or three-headed cosmology, made up of the 'apparent universe', created by our senses, and the alleged 'real universe', created by our guesses and gossip, and the real 'real universe', which our 'real universe' may or may not resemble greatly. But if the 'real universe' is made up of theories, this 'real real universe' can only be a theory about theories, namely a theory that some thing may correspond to some theories. Thus we go from inference to inference, and find certainty nowhere."

"Patapsychology begins from the detached, objective and passionless contemplation of unique neurological events that can neither be forecast nor remembered if one is asked about them later. (…) De Selby defines 'existence' (he did not believe in 'the universe' as an object) as 'the sum total of such states as encountered and endured, before magnification or exaggeration by the instinct to gossip."

Another text of Wilson studies the patapsychology via the character Timothy F.X. Finnegan, another avatar of the scientist of the exceptional. In his short story 'The Committee for Surrealist Investigation of Claims of the Normal (CSICON)', Wilson parodies the associations of American skeptics, and describes the following:

“CSICON began with a conversation Finnegan heard in a pub between two men named O'Brian and Nolan. They were discussing the strange weather. Another man named Sean Murphy interjected, 'Ah, Jaysus. I've never seen a boogerin' normal day. And I never met a fookin' average man neither.' This inspired Finnegan, and the next day he wrote a two-page outline on a new science he dubbed patapsychology. The paper began with the sentence, "The average Canadian has one testicle, just like Adolf Hitler-or, more precisely, the average Canadian has 0.96 testicles, an even sadder plight than Hitler's, if the average Anything actually existed.”

Patapsychology's principle is called Murphy's Law, as Finnegan called the First Axiom, adopted from Sean Murphy. This states

"The normal does not exist. The average does not exist. We know only a very large but probably finite phalanx of discrete space-time events encountered and endured." In less technical language, the Board of the College of Patapsychology offers one million Irish punds [around $700,000 American] to any "normalist" who can exhibit "a normal sunset, an average Beethoven sonata, an ordinary Playmate of the Month, or any thing or event in space-time that qualifies as normal, average or ordinary. (…) Thus, unless you're an illiterate and malnourished Asian with exactly 1.04 vaginas and 0.96 testicles, living in substandard housing, you do not qualify as normal but as abnormal, subnormal, supernormal, paranormal or some variety of nonnormal."

Wilson mentions two other Irish patacessors, Jonathan Swift, who once managed to prove by the use of the horoscope that an astrologer named Partridge had just died, in spite of Partridge's vehement written protests; and bishop Berkeley, who proved that the world didn't exist and was merely the persistent illusion of God.
Above all we need to refrain from generalisation in any given circumstance, and accept each and every event in spacetime as exceptional.
By presenting Korzybskian semantics in every moment of the spirit, the pataphysics present in the spirit of the moment become visible.

"Personally, I see two or three UFOs every week. This does not astonish me, or convince me of the spaceship theory, because I also see about 2 or 3 UNFOs every week --Unidentified Non-Flying Objects. These remain unidentified (by me) because they go by too fast or look so weird that I never know whether to classify them as hedgehogs, hobgoblins or helicopters-- or as stars or satellites or spaceships -- or as pookahs^[9] or pizza-trucks or probability waves. Of course, I also see things that I feel fairly safe in identifying as hedgehogs or stars or pizza trucks, but the world contains more and more events that I cannot identify fully and dogmatically with any norm or generalization. I live in a spectrum of probabilities, uncertainties and wonderments."

For fans of Wilson's writings, July the 23rd is a particular date. It is the day that the township of Santa Cruz chose to honour its most famous resident.
As a way to celebrate he whose initials offered the cybernautic nickname of RAW, and on the pataphysical date of 10 Tatane, day of the “SS Pieds Nickelés, trinité”, I propose on a pure personal level - and of “S. Cru, patapsychologue”.

Many other ascensions of Mount Wilson seem possible, if given enough patience to follow the spirals leading to the summits.
Summits in plural, as seems fitted for the for the apostle of Maybe.

Notes

for the English version:
In the French version I didn't want to use the word 'potentiel' here as it is used in the OuLiPo, the 'Ouvroir de Litérature Potentielle' or Potential Literature Workshop, one of the most famous commissions of the Collège de 'Pataphysique; in this fellowship, several writers (amongst them once were famous names as Marcel Duchamp, Italo Calvino, Raymond Queneau) explore new techniques and structures for writing literature.
Maybe Logics as used by RAW and in the MLA seems to me a set of resources to explore new techniques and reality tunnels for shifting consciousness and seems very individualistic. In this definition as Thieri Foulc wrote to me it seems difficult to use the term of 'potentiel' as precisely defined by François Le Lionnais, resulting in OuTrapo for theatre, OuBaPo for comics, OuPolPot for crime literature etc, and in the general concept of “Ou-X-Po”. Maybe one day researchers on the MLA will be able to attempt to provide a catalog of paradigmal techniques, providing choices (but not paths) for everyone to explore by offering models made up entirely from the techniques they describe, and as such coming closer to the pataphysical concept of potentiality.
1. This was originally written in French for a French audience. In French the title of 'Propagateur' is used for people who represent the Science of 'Pataphysics in any other country than France. Talk about chauvinism…
2. 'Pataphysicians only lose their earthly shelf when dying; as such a physical death is considered an illusion, a pure formal matter; and it is said they 'make the gesture of dying' as if saluting when leaving the stage. Endlessly worse is the 'pataphysical death: it happens to those few who disappear into absolute oblivion by revoking their membership to the Collège. Such a terrible fate happened to French Art Brut artist Jean Dubuffet.
3. A patacessor is someone who consciously or not promotes the Science without being a member of the Collège or of any daughter organisation. Ancient philosophers who seem to show a similar vein are called 'anticipative patacessors', since the Science was started by Alfred Jarry in the 1880ies and the Collège was founded in 1958.

for the French version:
4. According to the Principia Discordia, a collection of texts from 1965 with probable contributions by Wilson, and inspired by revelations from Eris, the Greek goddess of discord and confusion, the Erisean Mysteries are stated as follows:
"Everything in the universe relates to the number 5, one way or another, given enough ingenuity on the part of the interpreter."
5. Wilson shared his obsessive interest for the number 23 with William Burroughs.
"When he was in Tangiers in the 1960s, Burroughs met one Captain Clark, a ferry captain who boasted of not having had an accident for 23 years. That night the boat sank, killing Clark and everyone aboard. Later that evening, Burroughs heard a radio broadcast about a plane crash. The pilot's name was Captain Clark. The flight number was 23."
6. According to William Anastasi, Faustroll contains stream of consciousness passages, which look forward to Joyce's Ulysses, and numerous invented words, which help prepare us for Finnegans Wake. Joyce refers to Alfred Jarry as "me innerman monophone" and "me altar's ego in miniature," and retells or recalls various scenes from the life, as well as from every novel and theater piece, of the French author. In addition (still accrding to Anastasi's theory), one of the book's four main characters, Shem (a.k.a. Jerry), is based in the largest part on Jarry himself.
7. "But though FRATER PERDURABO laughed openly, He also at the same time wept secretly; and in Himself He neither laughed nor wept. Nor did He mean what He said." - Aleister Crowley, the Book of Lies
8. Issued from the Korzybski 's General Semantics, in E-prime the English language avoids any use of the verb 'to be' Identity, Predication, Auxiliary, Existence or Location. By raising one's awareness of structural issues relating to the language, E-prime helps to destroy the dogmatism in any expression, thereby reducing considerably the risks of misunderstanding and conflict.
9. 'Pookah' is the name given to a creature from the Irish mythology, who often appears as a human-sized rabbit, and who likes to confuse men and play with their idea of reality. On July 23, 1973 Wilson met his Pookah.
"The Pookah plays the same role as the Holy Guardian Angel in cabalistic magic, or the extraterrestrial in the Whitley Strieber type of experience, or the ghosts of dead relatives speaking through seance in 19th century spiritualism, or Ramtha speaking through J. Z. Knight. These are all different metaphors for basically the same experience.
I spent a year and a half, at least, half believing that I was in telepathic communication with a higher intelligence from the Sirius double star system, and as a matter of fact, I still believe that every Thursday for two hours. No, not really. I'm really cured on that one. I'm still an optimist, though. In the age of George Bush, that's roughly equivalent of thinking you're talking to intelligent dogs from Sirius.
You might say it hasn't ended yet. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I like the giant rabbit from County Kerry because there's no chance anybody will take that literally. Anything else I say they might take literally.” (from the Maybe Logic DVD)
When later he heard an Irish Farmer being interviewed on the radio, the farmer was asked whether he believed in the Pookha and he replied "I don't, and I'm sure he doesn't beleive in me either", Wilson was convinced it was a good idea to move to Ireland after all.

All RAW quotes in bold purple from either "The Committee for Surrealist Investigation of Claims of the Normal", "The Widow's Son", "Robert Anton Wilson explains everything" or the "Maybe Logic" DVD.

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