Colin Wilson, R.I.P.

I was saddened to learn of the death of my idol Colin Wilson this past week. When I first started to explore expanded consciousness, the paranormal, and other unexplained phenomena on the fringes of science, Colin quickly became my go-to writer and thinker. His belief that there's far more to the world than our five senses reveal to us, and that anybody can develop the skills to perceive more has always rung true to me, and I have followed him faithfully over the years as he has explored and refined his philosophy. I am proud to own an autographed copy of his science-fiction novel "The Philosopher's Stone," and even once owned a copy of the movie "Lifeforce," a piece of crap very loosely based on another mind-bending Wilson science-fiction novel, "The Space Vampires" (This book may soon be turned into a TV series, and I hope to God these people do a better job with the material).

Colin Wilson (1931-2013)

Along the way Colin wrote one of the most thought-provoking UFO books I have ever read, "Alien Dawn: An Investigation into the Contact Experience." I'll say straight out that it is not for everybody. Readers may be extremely confused by Colin's attempts to link UFO contact with other mysterious manifestations, and extremely frustrated by Colin's refusal to draw any definite conclusions, as this GoodReads review shows.

But that's one of the reasons I love the book. Colin is smart enough to know that he can't prove any of his theories, but courageous enough to let his expansive imagination take him wherever it will regardless.

And it's not like he was the first writer to talk about the Loch Ness Monster, poltergeists and crop circles in a book that is supposed to be about UFOs. Colin is no more out there than someone like John Keel, whose books left nothing out of bounds and are phenomenally entertaining as a result.

So, anyone willing to entertain the possibility that there is a psychic element to the UFO phenomenon will find "Alien Dawn" an interesting read.

Colin also wrote a book called "Afterlife," and I can't help wondering if Colin is out there somewhere right now, wishing like crazy that he could revise that book...