The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 20, 1979, Page Page 9, Image 9
m k m m
Wil:
By Mark Che'
Myst?ri?e by Colin Wilson; G.P. Putna
Before reviewing Colin Wilson
would like to take the liberty to e
development and the significance
develoDment.
Wilson is, above all else, a wr
during faith in the potential of I
somewhat ironic that the stoi
generally considered the pessirr
philosophy known as existentialis
For myself, Friedrich Nietzscl
sent me into a kind of mental am
within me a vast re-evaluation c
my psychic. Although the noti<
tialism both terrified and intrigu
have doubts about adopting s
overview of life.
Perhaps as a counter-react
detachment and inevitability, I s
of Hermann Hesse. I was later tc
discovered Hesse some time ea
tensively on his intriguing
spirituality.
It was during the peak of m>
friend suggested that I locate two
Existentialism and The Outsider
Nietzsche and Hesse came
proclaiming that the path ou
mysticism.
I would like now to outline brie
which begins with the book menti
The Outsider was published
remains Wilson's bestselling an<
The Outsider, Wilson develops li
philosophy, a philosophy that h
expanded in numerous follow-up i
Wilson also develops here hii
tation; a very readable blend ol
sonal impact. He leaves you wi
somehow experienced the know
reiterating "another's" findings.
Wilson presents his idea by wa
endless numbers of examples ?
theories or notions which add t
theme.
In The Outsider, Wilson trac<
lives of great writers, stressing t
m
Good
By Gwendolyn Broome
Qoobersvlll* Breakdown by Robert
Lleberman; Gamma Books; $4.95.
Robert Lieberman's new boo]
Goobersville Breakdown, is at th
very least a quite unusual om
Upon opening the book and readir
the first page you say to yourse
that this can't be for real. 1
Goobers ville Breakdowr
Lieberman plays on all yoi
senses. He teases all your sei
sitivities and completely flirts wit
your mind. At the end of the boo
you wonder how this strange
knows you so well.
Neil H. Nudelman is the mai
character in Lieberman's book,
is Nudelman who takes us on a tri
into a world that we've lived in fc
years but know so little about. H
introduces us to all of life's littl
negatives. His experiences ar
those we all fantasize about but ar
son e>
trailer
im's Sons; $15.00.
i s new dook Mysteries, l
stablish both my personal
! Wilson has played in that
iter who possesses an enthe
human spirit. So it is
ry begins with what is
listic extreme, a body of
m.
le's The Birth of Tragedy
i moral shock and caused
>n virtually every level of
)ns ingrained in existen
led me, in time I began to
?uch a terribly nullistic
ion to such themes of
tumbled on to the writings
> learn that Wilson too had
rlier and had written exsuggestions
of internal
r interest in Hesse that a
u?i... u.. rn... xr
uuuiva uy wuauii,
. It was in these books that
together, with Wilson
it of existentialism was
ifly Wilson's development,
oned above, The Outsider,
in 1956 and to this day
i most discussed work. In
terally every aspect of his
as been re-evaluated and
studies.
s unique style of presenf
scholarly order and perth
the feeling that he has
ledge, rather than simply
ty of combining seemingly
ind from these compiling
;o an overall structure or
is the characters and the
:heir relationship to a type
ersville*
too locked up in life eve
ceive trying.
Nudelman unlocks
k, inhibitions. He frees all o
le selves. Nudelman wakes
e. morning with a case o
ig along with his kidney
If heart condition, brain tui
n halitosis. "And on top of?
i. he remarks. "I feel c
v , - 0
ir feeling so good."
n- He destroys a man's hoi
;h putting in a window. He
k man's harmless boot
;r businessmen and rewrite;
pornographic novel. He v
n chairman of the People's
It of China and asks for a
p fourth-grade teacher. Nuc
>r quite impoverished,
[e believes thai he will ont
le very wealthy and gives i
e last penny to beggars oi
e who drops by his house.
:plainss
fPililB
Bp] Bfc?HH^WIWIl^?EpiS
of existential detachment from the wor
throughout these studies Wilson cites f
their seemingly total pessimistic nature
We are all familiar with even the
characters of fiction or drama expr
redeeming quality or feeling sometime
play. For Wilson, this is important ? tl
affirmation," those times, when ever
personalities can see reason, or happin
fleeting moments.
could be u
r to con- Upon first being introd
Nudelman, you feel that t
all our has got to be a lunatic and y
ur secret no pity for him. After all,
? up one working. He has a wife and
f cancer He has bundles of bills
trouble, always complaining of s<
nors and visible illness, and he seer
all that," the soft touch for anyone i
uilty for However, at the end of t
you are feeling quite
use while passionate toward Nudel
t takes a you slowly come to real
c about Nudelman could be you.
?it into a Goobersville Breakdown
/rites the the title of the book
Republic Nudelman has been workir
job as a years. The question tha
lelman is haunting Nudelman is whe
but he his town. Goobersville. or h
* day be on the verge of a breakdo\
away his is a question that runs thr<
r anyone minds of all of us while rea<
book. Is it our country or
>upern<
a?MSLqjj ^ 6Xpcr
"civth
! because of
! lost it via ei
It should
! existentiali
jiearl^ the^l
i v concentrati
proved futi
lower and
: 11 counter the
M upon a mor
Bringing
j "I's," Wils<
of a ladder,
so the high
extraneous
whereas u
voking such
Id around them. Yet The pren
laws or loopholes in selves." th<
is. With the
most down-and-out parisons th
essing at least one Mysteries
; in a given story or occult, the ]
hose feelings of "re- It begins
i the most nullistic dowsing, 1
ess, if only for a few
our town
uced to town that is going craz
he man somehow losing control
rou have Goobersville is a to^
he's not millions in America. It
family, its poor, its bigots, its
. He is varitible sexual prefe
[>me in- its good and bad. C
ns to be shoves under our nose
in town, which we would mi
he book sweep under the rug. G
; com- through its continuous
man as shows us life at its wors
ize that Robert Lieberman he
an unusual ana oriius
i is also work in this book. It I
which both barrels. A little <
lg on for can be found in some c
t keeps the book. Through hi
theritis violence, sex, reli
.~ iL.4 1 ii.- _ \\ A i? -
ic witti is pruianuy, ail laKen 10
vn. This he offers us a mil
High the meaning. The absurd v
ding this it can only be descrifc
city or madness at its most sar
aturcxL
imental psychologist Abraham
ire termed "peak experiences,
as these performing an import;
ure, perhaps as the fundamenta
itivity and will.
ainifests this notion in what he ca
:th sense. A full explanation of
:annot be expounded upon here, bi
Wilson believes at one time we al
se" (and perhaps mystics still
urbanization and numerous oth
/olution.
I be clear now how Wilson pr
sm to mysticism and the occu
last fifteen years, since he publis
has wholeheartedly directed lite
ward the investigation and the
mena. This brings us to his most
his most comprehensive study, IV
jgins Mysteries by describing a s
le experienced in the autumr
he attack as a tightening of the ch
1 heartbeat "to a point that te
to rnntrnl this nprvnns pnprcrv
. v -OJ
jbvious ways, such as willing tl
ing on some extraneous affair
le, he realized the attacks were
more "childish" self. He found
; attacks by "waking myself up fi
e purposive 'me.' "
in Gurfjieff's notion that we all cc
on suddenly sees these 4Ts" as b
For Wilson the ladder is shaped
er one ascends upon the ladder, l
me. The size of the rungs relates t
concerns one must deal wit
the ladder, concentration and ii
pon descent, intent and directi
i "panic attacks."
nise of Mysteries is that on sue
j puzzle of the occult may be foun<
same incredible range of exam
at have become the hallmark of
probes through virtually every
[>aranormal and the supernatural
with an extensive study into f
tu
wiui sptrcuiv; energy uirccieu
See Af]
H I gill
y, or are we
phonies, its Qf|rfl j
rences and I
ioobersville & %$
those things
? craziness,
is done both
> r\f /\f
nil U1
flings it out 1
i)f everyone
;haracter in : 4
s usage of
igion and \
their limits,
.ch deeper Robert , Lie
vay he does '
ed as total mum >f
le.
Maslow, such
" He sees exint
function in
1 driving force
lis Faculty X, a
the nature of
ut it will suffice
I possessed this
do) and that
ler factors, we
ogressed from
It. In fact, for
hed The Occult
:rally all of his
irrmliratinns of
r ? ? ?
; recent, and in
lysteries.
leries of "panic
i of 1973. He
lest and a rapid
rrified." After
in a number of
lem to stop or
, all of which
a product of a
he could then
illy and calling
mtain dozens of
eing like rungs
like a triangle,
the smaller the
o the amount of
h; thus when
itent increase,
on diffuse, inh
a "ladder of
i.
iples and comWilson's
work,
aspect of the
>endulums and
towards the
/stBti&s, page 17
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