Prometheus Rising was published by Falcon Press in 1983, and it is Wilson’s most systematic work — a manual rather than a narrative, designed to be used rather than merely read. Each chapter ends with exercises that require the reader to actually do things (meditate, keep journals, change habits, perform thought experiments) rather than merely absorb information.
The book’s framework is Timothy Leary’s eight-circuit model of consciousness, which proposes that the human nervous system operates on eight “circuits” or levels: the bio-survival circuit (security/anxiety), the emotional-territorial circuit (dominance/submission), the time-binding semantic circuit (language/reason), the socio-sexual circuit (moral rules), and four “higher” circuits (neurosomatic, neuroelectric, neurogenetic, and non-local) that are normally latent but can be activated through various practices.
Wilson uses this model not as dogma but as a map — one of many possible maps, no more “true” than any other but useful for understanding how human behavior is organized and how it can be changed. His central argument is that most people operate on only the first four circuits (survival, power, language, morality) and mistake these conditioned responses for “reality” — when they are actually programs installed by culture, family, and accident.
The exercises are designed to make these programs visible — to allow the reader to observe their own nervous system’s automatic responses rather than being controlled by them. Wilson’s name for this process is “metaprogramming” — the ability to program the programmer.
Collecting Prometheus Rising
First edition (Falcon Press, Phoenix, 1983): Softcover original.
Market values:
- First printing (Falcon Press): $25–$60
- Signed copies: $60–$150
- Later New Falcon printings: $10–$20