My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
The only way to stave off boredom, in a complex domesticated primate like humankind, is to increase one's intelligence. This is not appealing to the average primate, who instead invents emotional games (soap opera and grand opera dramatics).
Interpretation
What this quote means
To overcome boredom, humans must seek to enhance their intelligence rather than engaging in trivial emotional dramas.
In this quote, Robert Anton Wilson suggests that boredom is an inherent challenge for humans, a species that requires mental stimulation to thrive. He argues that rather than pursuing intellectual growth, many people may fall into the trap of creating emotional distractions, such as soap operas and dramatic arts, which ultimately serve as temporary fixes instead of genuine solutions to their ennui. The quote prompts a reflection on the importance of intelligence and meaningful engagement in life.
Themes
BoredomIntelligenceEmotionsHuman BehaviorDistraction
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of intellectual growth vs. escapism in modern society.
More from Robert Anton Wilson
All quotes →There is no governor anywhere. You are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped. If anybody could go into dhyana at will, nobody could be controlled - by fear of prison, by fear of whips or electroshock, by fear of death, even. All existing society is based on keeping those fears alive, to control the masses. Ten people who know would be more dangerous than a million armed anarchists.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
I see anarchism as the theoretical ideal to which we are all gradually evolving to a point where everybody can tell the truth to everybody else and nobody can get punished for it. That can only happen without hierarchy and without people having the authority to punish other people.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
To work for libertarianism - to oppose the growth of government and aid the liberation of the individual - used to be an idealistic choice taken for purely idealistic reasons. Now it is an act of intelligent and almost desperate self-defense.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
The abandoned infant's cry is rage, not fear.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
If one can only see things according to one's own belief system, one is destined to become virtually deaf, dumb, and blind.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
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