The older we get and the less novelty we perceive in the world around us, the more time seems to speed past. It's a psychological illusion but a compelling one. It has been a year now since Bob Wilson died. Bob was more than a friend and friendly email companion. He was a kind of spiritual uncle to many of us (I won't say spiritual father ... an uncle lets you get away with stuff your father wouldn't lol). He also was the least belief-bound person I've ever known, compelled as he was to go right on thinking his way through any wall he accepted as truth. I'll never forget his admonitions to Terence McKenna whenever Terence started falling in love with his ideas (which we're all at risk of) that doubt was the best friend the mind has.

Bob was, of course, the co-father of discordianism, the best friend of Eris goddess of chaos, and the inspiration for JR Bob Dobbs. Beyond all that, Bob was funny, resilient, endlessly optimistic, and a brilliant, brilliant writer. Despite having his daughter viciously murdered, he fought against the temptation to hate her attacker and instead learned to truly forgive the man who murdered her (not merely give lip-service to forgiveness as a lot of fundamentalist Christians I know do). When people would point out the value of belief, he would point out his own successful cure from childhood polio via the Sister Kenny method and that had come about by questioning the whole concept of disease.

In later years, after his beloved adversaries suggested he probably didn't have polio when he was a child and thus the "cure" wasn't one, he almost rejoiced in his post-polio syndrome that returned to him. He said it was "proof yet again to question". He died from it which is sort of the ultimate validation of that quest.

I miss him terribly in the world. I think I somewhat consciously blocked out the anniversary of his passing. Naturally, Bob wouldn't want us to do anything but celebrate it, as we all did his passing with the great Viking funeral that was held. If you have a friend whose insight you value, please hug them for me. That'll be my best gift I can give to Bob.

To check out his website, it is here.