The unlikely figure behind the Illuminati

The haunting image of Donald Trump with the Saudi king and Egyptian president touching a glowing orb led to suggestions that all are members of the Illuminati, an international conspiracy whose roots are shrouded in mystery. How real were the Illuminati, and who is to thank for their cryptic presence in popular culture such as stories like this?

The notion that there is a hidden conspiracy behind events is a theme that crops up throughout history. It’s a lot easier to buy into the idea that shadowy figures are responsible for what happens to us than accept there is no hand at the tiller. Many names have been given to that supposed Cabal, and the one that’s caught on more than any is Illuminati.

Regardless of the truth of the existence of the Illuminati, how come they play such a role in popular consciousness, referenced everywhere from Marvel comics to the iconography of stadium trance legends The KLF, Dan Brown novels to rants by Alex Jones? An answer to the question takes us back to the late 60s, and a writer called Robert Anton Wilson.

Early years

Born in Brooklyn in 1932 to a Catholic family in an Irish-American neighbourhood, Wilson experienced polio when he was young. The illness was cured by a technique called the Sister Kenny method, an approach considered unorthodox at the time because it was devised by a nurse rather than a doctor, and a female nurse at that. It’s perhaps no surprise that Wilson became fascinated by people and ideas that didn’t fit, and challenged mainstream thinking.

Wilson became a writer, and married Arlen Riley in 1958. She had worked with one of Wilson’s heroes, Orson Welles, known for an ability to turn a thrilling notion into a caper that terrified millions, as with his radio adaptation of War of the Worlds that led to Americans fleeing their homes fearing a Martian invasion. That ability to turn fantasy into fact would prove influential on Wilson’s creativity.

The Illuminati

In the late 60s Wilson got an editorial job at Playboy, where he got to interview countercultural icons including William Burroughs, Alan Watts, and Timothy Leary. The latter became a friend and collaborator, and influenced what many believe to be his greatest work, a non-fiction book called Prometheus Rising which elaborates on Leary’s eight circuit model of human consciousness and draws in references from sociology, history, occultism, and popular culture to bring the ideas to life.

Wilson’s most celebrated fictional work was a trilogy he co-wrote with fellow Playboy editor Robert Shea. The two of them took as their inspiration the eccentric correspondence readers sent to the magazine. One recurrent theme was the notion of a secret society that shaped much of world history, which had its roots in the Bavarian Illuminati, founded in 1776. Wilson and Shea took delight in using conflicting theories of the organisation found both in letters to Playboy and in sources they consulted such as Encyclopedia Brittanica, and concocted a psychedelic spy-fi novel from it all.

A work of satire

The Illuminatus Trilogy, as the books were known, was very much a work of satirical intent, designed to leave the reader questioning everything and to make up their own minds rather than rely on others. That wasn’t how all readers responded to the text however, and Wilson spent the rest of his life fielding questions from people who had gone down the many rabbit holes contained in the story and used it to fuel paranoia. Wilson’s alternative was its opposite: pronoia, the belief that people are out to help you.

In the decades since the trilogy was published, it has gone on to influence creators in many fields, not least Dan Brown, whose books are to Illuminatus what a takeaway burger is to a 23-course banquet. Wilson’s work is undergoing a resurgence since his death in 2007, and the legacy of his thinking will hopefully be seen less in the hotchpotch kind of conspiratorial thinking that’s become a cultural commonplace, than the visionary and compassionate core of his non-fiction, which is published by Hilaritas Press.