Meanwhile there is a mention of Ian Wilson, and one wonders why Colin Wilson isn't mentioned. One begins to read the introduction, and there's so much worth quoting one gives up and sticks to reading and it's so much in accord with what one thought, whether to begin with or especially all the more so after various things, quoting would be preceded or followed by 'as one always thought', sounding silly after a couple of times. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness.

This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as 'blinkered' and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it.

Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.Ĭolin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K.

Mysteries by Colin Wilson