Peter Lamborn Wilson (October 20, 1945 – May 23, 2022) was an American

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

author and poet, primarily known for his concept of

Temporary Autonomous Zone ''T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone'' is a book by the anarchist writer and poet Hakim Bey (Peter Lamborn Wilson) published in 1991 by Autonomedia and in 2011 by Pacific Publishing Studio (). It is composed of three sections, "Chaos: The Bro ...

s, short-lived spaces which elude formal structures of control. During the 1970s, Wilson lived in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, where he explored mysticism and translated Persian texts. Starting from the 1980s he wrote (under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of ''Hakim Bey'') numerous political writings, illustrating his theory of "ontological anarchy". His style of anarchism has drawn criticism for its emphasis on individualism and mysticism, as did some of his writings where he defended

pederasty Pederasty or paederasty ( or ) is a sexual relationship between an adult man and a pubescent or adolescent boy. The term ''pederasty'' is primarily used to refer to historical practices of certain cultures, particularly ancient Greece and an ...

Life

Wilson was born in Baltimore on October 20, 1945. While undertaking a classics major at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, Wilson met

Warren Tartaglia Warren Tartaglia (also known as Walid al-Taha) (March 13, 1944 – November 1965) was an American jazz musician, poet and one of the six founders of the Moorish Orthodox Church of America.Folsom, M."Heroin Shot Kills Youth in Hospital: Mount Ve ...

, then introducing Islam to students as the leader of a group called the Noble Moors. Attracted by the philosophy, Wilson was initiated into the group, but later joined a group of breakaway members who founded the

Moorish Orthodox Church The Moorish Orthodox Church of America is a syncretic, non-exclusive, and religious anarchist movement originally founded in New York City in 1965 and part of the burgeoning psychedelic church movement of the mid to late 1960’s in the United ...

. The Church maintained a presence at the League for Spiritual Discovery, the group established by Timothy Leary. Appalled by the social and political climate, Wilson had also decided to leave the United States, and shortly after the

assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at ...

, in 1968 he flew to Lebanon, eventually reaching India with the intention of studying

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality ...

, but became fascinated by

Tantra Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the India ...

, tracking down Ganesh Baba. He spent a month in a

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

missionary hospital being treated for

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes ( jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal ...

, and practised meditation techniques in a cave above the east bank of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

. He also allegedly ingested significant quantities of cannabis.Knight, Michael M. ''William S. Burroughs vs. The Qur'an'', Soft Skull Press, Berkley 2012, pp11-78 Wilson travelled on to Pakistan. There he lived in several places, mixing with princes, Sufis, and gutter dwellers, and moving from teahouses to opium dens. In

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of th ...

he found "a total disregard of all government", with people reliant on family, clans or tribes, which appealed to him. Wilson then moved to Iran. It was here that he developed his scholarship. He translated classical Persian texts with French scholar Henry Corbin, and also worked as a journalist at the ''Tehran Journal''. In 1974, Farah Pahlavi Empress of Iran commissioned her personal secretary, scholar

Seyyed Hossein Nasr Seyyed Hossein Nasr (; fa, سید حسین نصر, born April 7, 1933) is an Iranian philosopher and University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University. Born in Tehran, Nasr completed his education in Iran and the Unite ...

, to establish the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy. Nasr offered Wilson the position of director of its English language publications, and editorship of its journal ''Sophia Perennis''. This Wilson edited from 1975 until 1978. Following the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

in 1979, Wilson lived in New York City, sharing a brownstone townhouse with William Burroughs, with whom he bonded over their shared interests. Burroughs acknowledged Wilson for providing material on

Hassan-i Sabbah Hasan-i Sabbāh ( fa, حسن صباح) or Hassan as-Sabbāh ( ar, حسن بن الصباح الحميري, full name: Hassan bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Ja'far bin al-Husayn bin Muhammad bin al-Sabbah al-Himyari; c. 1050 – 12 June 1124) was the ...

which he used for his novel ''

The Western Lands ''The Western Lands'' is a 1987 novel by William S. Burroughs. The final book of the trilogy that begins with ''Cities of the Red Night'' (1981) and continues with '' The Place of Dead Roads'' (1983), its title refers to the western bank of the N ...

''. Wilson lived in upstate New York. A family trust fund enabled him to live in a state he termed "independently poor". He has been described as "a subcultural monument". In 2020, in a personal letter to Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order, Wilson requested and was accepted as a Bayānī or Azali, a fact which he obliquely alluded to in his two final books published in early 2022. Wilson died of heart failure on May 22, 2022, in

Saugerties, New York Saugerties () is a town in the northeastern corner of Ulster County, New York. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 Census, a decline from 19,482 in 2010. The village of the same name is located entirely within the town. Part o ...

Hakim Bey

Wilson took an interest in the 'zines' subculture flourishing in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in the early 1980s, 'zines' being tiny hand-made photocopied magazines published in small quantities concerning whatever the publishers found compelling. "He began writing essays, ''communiqués'' as he liked to call them, under the pen name Hakim Bey, which he mailed to friends and publishers of the 'zines' he liked.... His mailouts were immediately popular, and regarded as copyright-free syndicated columns ready for anyone to paste into their photocopied 'zines'..." Wilson's occasional pen name of ''Hakim Bey'' is derived from il-Hakim, the alchemist-king, with 'Bey' a further nod to Moorish Science. Wilson's two personas, as himself and Bey, are facilitated by his publishers who provide separate author biographies even when both appear in the same publication. His ''Temporary Autonomous Zones'' work has been referenced in comparison to the " free party" or teknival scene of the

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mu ...

subculture. Wilson was supportive of the rave connection, while remarking in an interview, "The ravers were among my biggest readers ... I wish they would rethink all this techno stuff — they didn't get that part of my writing." According to Gavin Grindon, in the 1990s, the British group Reclaim the Streets was heavily influenced by the ideas put forward in Hakim Bey’s ''The Temporary Autonomous Zone''. Their adoption of the carnivalesque into their form of protest evolved eventually into the first “global street party” held in cities across the world on 16 May 1998, the day of a G8 summit meeting in Birmingham. These “parties,” explains Grindon, in turn developed into the Carnivals Against Capitalism, in London on June 18, 1999, organized by Reclaim the Streets in coordination with worldwide antiglobalization protests called by the international network People’s Global Action during the G-8 summit meeting in Cologne, Germany. More recently, he has commented on the

Occupy Movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...

in an interview with David Levi Strauss of '' The Brooklyn Rail'':

I was beginning to feel that there would never be another American uprising, that the energy was gone, and I have some reasons to think that might be true. I like to point out that the crime rate in America has been declining for a long time, and in my opinion it's because Americans don't even have enough gumption to commit crimes anymore: the creative aspect of crime has fallen into decay. As for the uprising that takes a principled stand against violence, hats off to them, I admire the idealism, but I don't think it's going to accomplish much.

In another interview with David Levi Strauss and Christopher Bamford in ''The Brooklyn Rail'', Bey has discussed his views on what he calls "Green Hermeticism":

We all agreed that there is not a sufficient spiritual focus for the environmental movement. And without a spiritual focus, a movement like this doesn't generate the kind of emotional energy that it needs to battle against global capitalism—that for which there is no other reality, according to most people. It should be a rallying call of the spirit for the environmental movement, or for as many parts of that movement as could be open to it.

Notable theories

Ontological anarchy

In the compilation of essays called "Immediatism" Wilson explains his particular conception of anarchism and anarchy which he calls "ontological anarchy". In the same compilation he deals with his view of the relationships of individuals with the exterior world as perceived by the senses and a theory of liberation which he calls "immediatism".

Temporary autonomous zones

Wilson penned articles on three different types of what he called temporary autonomous zones (TAZ). Regarding his concept of TAZ, he said the following in an interview:

... the real genesis was my connection to the communal movement in America, my experiences in the 1960s in places like Timothy Leary's commune in Millbrook ... Usually only the religious ones last longer than a generation—and usually at the expense of becoming quite authoritarian, and probably dismal and boring as well. I've noticed that the exciting ones tend to disappear, and as I began to further study this phenomenon, I found that they tend to disappear in a year or a year and a half.

In an article on obsessive love, Wilson posited a

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island soc ...

based on generosity as well as obsession and wrote:

I have dreamed this (I remember it suddenly, as if it were literally a dream) — and it has taken on a tantalizing reality and filtered into my life—in certain Temporary Autonomous Zones—an "impossible" time and space ... and on this brief hint, all my theory is based.

As such, it may be said that it is part of the eternal vision of an arcadia where desires are fulfilled without reference to the world, and the search for a means of realising it. The concept of TAZ was presented in a long elaboration in the book ''TAZ: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism''.

Criticism and controversy

Murray Bookchin included Wilson's work (as Bey) in what he called " lifestyle anarchism", where he criticized Wilson's writing for tendencies towards

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...

, occultism, and irrationalism. Wilson did not respond publicly.

Bob Black Robert Charles Black Jr. (born January 4, 1951) is an American anarchist and author. He is the author of the books '' The Abolition of Work and Other Essays'', ''Beneath the Underground'', ''Friendly Fire'', ''Anarchy After Leftism'', and ''Def ...

wrote a rejoinder to Bookchin in ''Anarchy after Leftism''. Some writers have been troubled by Bey's endorsement of adults having sex with children.

Michael Muhammad Knight Michael Muhammad Knight (born 1977) is an American novelist, essayist, and journalist. His writings are popular among American Muslim youth. The '' San Francisco Chronicle'' described him as "one of the most necessary and, paradoxically enough, ...

, a novelist and former friend of Wilson, stated that "writing for

NAMBLA Nambla is a census village in Baramula district, Jammu & Kashmir, India. As per the 2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House ...

amounts to activism in real life. As Hakim Bey, Peter creates a child molester's liberation theology and then publishes it for an audience of potential offenders" and disavowed his former mentor. John Zerzan described Bey as a "postmodern liberal", possessing a "method" that was "as appalling as his claims to truthfulness, and essentially conforms to textbook postmodernism. Aestheticism plus knownothingism is the ..formula; cynical as to the possibility of meaning, allergic to analysis, hooked on trendy word-play", and "basically reformist". John Zerzan – "Hakim Bey," Postmodern Anarchist
/ref>

Works

*''The Winter Calligraphy of Ustad Selim, & Other Poems'' (1975) (Ipswich, England) *''Science and Technology in Islam'' (1976) (with Leonard Harrow) *''Traditional Modes of Contemplation & Action'' (1977) (editor, with Yusuf Ibish) *''Nasir-I Khusraw: 40 Poems from the Divan'' (1977) (translator and editor, with

Gholamreza Aavani Gholamreza Aavani (born 1943) is an Iranian philosopher and emeritus professor of philosophy at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. A former head of the Institute for Research in Philosophy, Aavani is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Iran ...

) *''DIVAN'' (1978) (poems, London/Tehran) *''Kings of Love: The Poetry and History of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order of Iran'' (1978) (translator and editor, with

Nasrollah Pourjavady Nasrollah Pourjavady is an Iranian philosopher, Sufi scholar and a professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran in Tehran, Iran. He is the founder and former head of the Iran University Press and a permanent member of the Academy of Persia ...

; Tehran) *''Angels'' (1980, 1994) (abridged edition: ) *''Weaver of Tales: Persian Picture Rugs'' (1980) (with Karl Schlamminger) *''Loving Boys: Semiotext(e) Special'' (1980) (editor as Hakim Bey; Semiotext(e) (New York)) *''Divine Flashes'' (1982) (by

Fakhruddin 'Iraqi Fakhr al-Din Iraqi (also spelled Araqi; fa, فخرالدین عراقی; 1213/14 – 1289) was a Persian Sufi poet of the 13th-century. He is principally known for his mixed prose and poetry work, the ''Lama'at'' ("Divine flashes"), as well as ...

, translated and introduced with

William C. Chittick William C. Chittick (born 29 June 1943) is an American philosopher, writer, translator and interpreter of classical Islamic philosophical and mystical texts. He is best known for his work on Rumi and Ibn 'Arabi, and has written extensively on the ...

; Paulist Press (Mahwah, New Jersey)) *''Crowstone: The Chronicles of Qamar'' (1983) (as Hakim ey *''CHAOS: The Broadsheets of Ontological Anarchism'' (1985) (as Hakim Bey; Grim Reaper Press (Weehawken, New Jersey)) *''Semiotext(e) USA'' (1987) (co-editor, with Jim Fleming) *''Scandal: Essays in Islamic Heresy'' (1988) (Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) *''The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry'' (1988) (translator and editor, with Nasrollah Pourjavady) *''Semiotext(e) SF'' (1989) (co-editor, with

Rudy Rucker Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (; born March 22, 1946) is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known ...

and

Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilso ...

) *''The Universe: A Mirror of Itself'' (1992?) (Xexoxial Editions (La Farge, Wisconsin)) *''Aimless Wanderings: Chuang Tzu's Chaos Linguistics'' (1993) (as Hakim Bey; Xexoxial Editions (La Farge, Wisconsin)) *''Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam'' (1993) (City Lights Books (San Francisco)) *''The Little Book of Angel Wisdom'' (1993, 1997) *''O Tribe That Loves Boys: The Poetry of Abu Nuwas'' (1993) (translator and editor, as Hakim Bey) *'' Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs and European Renegadoes'' (1995, 2003) (Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) *''Millennium'' (1996) (as Hakim Bey; Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York) and Garden of Delight (Dublin, Ireland)) *''"Shower of Stars" Dream & Book: The Initiatic Dream in Sufism and Taoism'' (1996) (Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) *''Escape from the Nineteenth Century and Other Essays'' (1998) (Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) *''Wild Children'' (1998) (co-editor, with Dave Mandl) *''Avant Gardening: Ecological Struggle in the City & the World'' (1999) (co-editor, with

Bill Weinberg William J. Weinberg (born March 19, 1962) is an American political writer and radio personality based in New York City. He writes journalism focusing on the struggles of indigenous peoples, largely in Latin America, but he has also written on th ...

) *''Ploughing the Clouds: The Search for Irish Soma'' (1999) *'' TAZ: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism, Second Edition'' (2003) (as Hakim Bey; incorporates full text of ''CHAOS'' and ''Aimless Wanderings''; Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) *''Orgies of the Hemp Eaters'' (2004) (co-editor as Hakim Bey with Abel Zug) *''rain queer'' (2005) ( Farfalla Press (Brooklyn, New York)) *''Cross-Dressing in the Anti-Rent War'' (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs chapbook, 2005) *''Gothick Institutions'' (2005) *''Green Hermeticism: Alchemy and Ecology''; (with Christopher Bamford and Kevin Townley, Lindisfarne (2007)) *''Black Fez Manifesto'' as Hakim Bey (2008) *''Atlantis Manifesto'' (2nd edition, 2009) Shivastan Publishing limited edition *''Abecedarium'' (2010) *''Ec(o)logues'' (Station Hill of Barrytown, 2011) *''Spiritual Destinations of an Anarchist'' (2014) *''Spiritual Journeys of an Anarchist'' (2014) *''Riverpeople'' (2014) *''Opium Dens I Have Known'' with Chris Martin (2014) Shivastan Publishing limited edition *''Anarchist Ephemera'' (2016) *''False Documents'' (Barrytown/Station Hill Press, Inc., 2016) *''Heresies: Anarchist Memoirs, Anarchist Art'' (2016) *''School of Nite'' with Nancy Goldring (2016) *''Night Market Noodles and Other Tales'' (2017) *''The Temple of Perseus at Panopolis'' (2017) *''Vanished Signs'' (2018) *''Lucky Shadows'' (2018) *''The New Nihilism'' (

Bottle of Smoke Press A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stopp ...

, 2018) *''Utopian Trace: An Oral Presentation'' (2019) *''The American Revolution as a Gigantic Real Estate Scam: And Other Essays in Lost/Found History'' (2019) *''Cauda Pavonis: Esoteric Antinomianism in the Yezidi Tradition'' (2019) *''Hoodoo Metaphysics'' with Tamara Gonzales (Bearpuff Press, 2019) *''False Messiah: Crypto-Xtian Tracts and Fragments'' (2022) *''Peacock Angel: The Esoteric Tradition of the Yezidis'' (2022)