I have had an overflow of thoughts and ideas since studying the life and work of William S Burroughs recently, and I will attempt to form them into a clear and concise record here.

I am doing some research for my 2nd book of the ‘United Zones of America’ trilogy and the events mostly occur in St. Louis. Since Burroughs was born there and his most prominent work talks about an ‘Interzone’, it naturally clicked with me. He has written about a world between worlds and that lines up perfectly with the dream state I established in book 1’s ‘DreamX’.

But at the moment I’m most interested in how his work and theories evolved over time, and not many people talk about that, they just remember the junky queer.

I find people who have had some kind of spiritual awakening, by one way or another, to be fascinating studies on how to deal with life presently. People like Kurt Vonnegut or Nikola Tesla who have gone down in history and broken ground with their work. I certainly believe William S Burroughs was a pioneer as well, he had been in this ‘Warrior Role’ most of his life battling against a sense of ‘Cosmic Control’, and his conclusion was that there was some sort of ‘Algebra of Addiction (or Need)’. His internal struggle with guilt after the death of his wife, which he acknowledges as the primary driver to his writing, combined with with his various drug addictions, led to this constant state of conflict. But he was able to find his ‘limitations‘ and was able to live a long and fruitful life.

But he began to have a change of heart when he moved to Lawrence, Kansas later in life, where he could “go shooting and keep cats”. His personal assistant at this time credited Burroughs’ relationship with his cats as the primary force that helped him attain a state of ahimsa—a profound compassion for suffering—and move past his habitual “warrior’s role”.

I believe everyone naturally has this warrior mentality early in life to help carve out their position in this world, but like cats that have been domesticated, we must acknowledge a higher power and realize our dependence on it. We can spend our entire life battling against this ‘Cosmic Control’ or we can reach toward ahimsa ourselves and find that we are all connected in many unseen ways.

Burroughs final journal entry, written three days before his death in August 1997, concluded: “There is no final enough of wisdom, experience—any fucking thing. No Holy Grail, No Final Satori, no solution. Just conflict. Only thing that can resolve conflict is love… Most natural painkiller what there is. LOVE“

I have struggled myself for many years with addiction, and then toiled at various labors with a sense of guilt and duty. My hope was that my humility would be repaid eventually, and all the suffering would have meaning. But maybe now is that time, I have been given a window of clarity where my work and my passions align. Today I feel my duty is to keep that spark alive in a responsible manner, because I too believe that LOVE truly is the only answer.