Quotes from book
The Philosopher's Stone

The Philosopher's Stone is a 1969 novel by the English writer Colin Wilson. It tells the story of two researchers who find a way to reach a higher state of consciousness, which leads to frightening revelations about humanity's distant history. Like Wilson's 1967 novel The Mind Parasites, The Philosopher's Stone uses motifs from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.


Colin Wilson photo
Colin Wilson photo

“Man should possess an infinite appetite for life. It should be self-evident to him, all the time, that life is superb, glorious, endlessly rich, infinitely desirable.”

Source: The Philosopher's Stone (1969), p. 317-318
Context: Man should possess an infinite appetite for life. It should be self-evident to him, all the time, that life is superb, glorious, endlessly rich, infinitely desirable. At present, because he is in a midway position between the brute and the truly human, he is always getting bored, depressed, weary of life. He has become so top-heavy with civilisation that he cannot contact the springs of pure vitality. Control of the prefrontal cortex will change all of this. He will cease to cast nostalgic glances towards the womb, for he will realise that death is no escape. Man is a creature of life and the daylight; his destiny lies in total objectivity.

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