Free Colin Wilson's 'Occult Trilogy': A Guide for Students by Colin Stanley

lies through the development of language” (Wilson (2), 183), is repeated here at the conclusion of his ‘Occult Trilogy’: “The basic weapon in this evolutionary struggle is language” (354).As we learn the method of putting these moments of vision into words “…we become aware that there is a vital link between mystical experience, paranormal experience and the unexplored powers of the imagination.”(361)
    In conclusion, Mankind has:
“…climbed the world’s highest mountains and explored its most inhospitable wildernesses, yet where consciousness is concerned he has hardly ventured beyond his own backyard….he accepts peak experiences as a pleasant kind of bonus instead of recognising their implications: that all life could be a kind of continual peak experience….He accepts stagnation as a norm (for that is what ordinary consciousness amounts to)….
As long as this remains true man will continue to mark time at this present stage of evolution.The moment it ceases to be true, the next stage of human evolution will commence.”(362)
    Once again, as with most of Wilson’s output, reactions to Beyond the Occult were mixed.Since the publication of the first book in his ‘Occult Trilogy’ The Occult , in 1971, he had accepted many commissions for ephemeral works and published copious popular volumes on the subject.As a result of this, the serious critics deserted him again and he laid himself open to the criticism of fanatical sceptics like Martin Gardner.When Wilson provided two articles for The Oxford Companion to the Mind (Oxford: OUP, 1987) on ‘Astrology’ and ‘Paranormal Phenomena and the Unconscious Mind’, Gardner unleashed a scathing attack: “Colin Wilson invades an Oxford Companion” (Gardner, 155-57) in which he lambasted the editors for commissioning articles from, in his opinion, such an unreliable source![Students are referred to Howard F.Dossor’s comments about Gardner’s criticism of Wilson on pages 213-215 of his study Colin Wilson: the man and his mind and Damon Wilson’s Foreword to The Mammoth Book of the Supernatural .London: Robinson Publishing, 1991.]
    George C.Poulos, in his essay for Around the Outsider , provides his objections to the book, singling out the spirit hypothesis to explain poltergeists and The Laurel and Hardy Theory of Consciousness as its weak points and asks:
“Is Beyond the Occult Wilson’s best book?The detracting elements …would lead me to say definitely not.Nor does it possess the driven inspiration of The Occult or Mysteries .It has the feeling of a mopping-up operation, a farewell to the subject.You gain the impression that after 20 years ‘in the cycle’, Wilson has said enough about the occult….Creatively and philosophically, Wilson had already moved beyond the occult , at the time he wrote the book …” ( Around , 236)
    David Tame, in his review for Critique (no.31, June-Sept 1989, p.86-88) disagrees: “In this reviewer’s opinion it is Wilson’s most important book to date …”.Howard F.Dossor, in his review for Resurgence (Issue 136, Sept./Oct.1989, p.50-51) concurs.It is, however, significant that Dossor concentrates fully on the first half of the book citing Wilson’s important theories of ‘Faculty X’, ‘peak experience’, ‘upside-downness’, ‘completing’ and the ‘seven levels of consciousness’ as the book’s strengths, making no mention of the ‘spirit hypothesis’:
“Wilson’s study of the occult is profoundly important.In an age dominated by an intellectual persuasion that resists even an invitation to explore the totality of the evidence to hand, his work constitutes a major challenge.”(Dossor, 213)
    Whatever the critical response, there can be little doubt that, when considering Wilson’s work as a whole, the three solid books that make up the ‘Occult Trilogy’ form an important and imposing edifice.
    *All page numbers refer to the first edition of Beyond the Occult (London: Bantam Press,