/lit/ - Literature

Pretty simple set-up to this story, a man wakes up one day and no-one knows who is he is anymore, his life has seemingly disappeared, and we follow him as he seeks answers to his predicament and tries to get his life back.

Set in a police state dystopia following the Second American Civil War, but based much more on outright violence, force and fear than the titanic bureaucracies of Kafka or Orwell, the book presents the future of 1988, 14 years later than the publication, and presents a real interesting vision of what today we can name as a history of the future. A future in which flying cars, not just mind-altering but reality-altering drugs, million mile ceilings and students being thrown into forced labour camps now exist, and yet still so do vinyl players, stamp-collection, music of the early 17th century is referenced not only in the title but in the story itself, and it seems like payphones are still the only way to call people outside of a house

The usual protagonist of these kind of stories, the average peon being crushed by an un-feeling and monstrous system, is not the kind presented here. Instead we follow Jason Taverner, a celebrity singer and late night talk show host, a genetically engineered and improved human, a 'six', one of the very few who can say they are able to live well and succeed even in this kind of oppressive environment, and who therefore, more than most, has reasons to try and claw his way back to his old life. I don't think we ever get any answers to what being a 'six' means apart from a genetically engineered human with in certain ways a more powerful mind than the average human. For what purpose were they created? Seemingly none if they're just left to live their own lives as singers and celebrities, but surely there's more to it than that. Where are the previous generations, we never hear of a 'two' or a 'five' in the story, and even though the 'sevens' are just used as a tactic by the police general to have Taverner in his power the beginning of their interaction, whose to say that the project wasn't carried on in secret after the death of the original maker of these 'sixes' and improved upon.

After 150-or-so pages of utter confusion at Taverner's predicament its finally revealed to have been caused by the taking of a somehow reality-altering drug, KR-3, taken by the the police general's sister, and incestuous lover, Alys, the effects only wearing off, bringing Taverner back to his reality as a musical and television star, once she dies because of the drugs effects on her brain. The way that the drug is supposed to work I honestly just do not fully understand, maybe a re-read or having it explained in different words would sort this out though.

>>21585429
Dick claims it eerily retold a story from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament which he didn’t know at the time of writing it, as well as, simultaneously, a later event in his own life.

>In his undelivered speech "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later," Dick recounts how in describing an incident at the end of the book (end of chapter 27) to an Episcopalian priest, the priest noted its striking similarity to a scene in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible. In Dick's book, the police chief, Felix Buckman, meets a black stranger at an all-night gas station, and uncharacteristically makes an emotional connection with him. After handing the stranger a drawing of a heart pierced by an arrow, Buckman flies away, but he quickly returns and hugs the stranger, and they strike up a friendly conversation. In Acts Chapter 8, the disciple Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch (a black man) sitting in a chariot, to whom he explains a passage from the Book of Isaiah, and then converts him to Christianity.

>Dick further notes that eight years after writing the book, he himself uncharacteristically came to the aid of a black stranger who had run out of gas. After giving the man some money and then driving away, he returned to help the man reach a gas station. Dick was then struck by the similarity between this incident and that described in his book.

Taverner’s dream scene was also inspired by his own dream. He also claims it prophetically, and unbeknownst to him at the time, prefigured the United States becoming a totalitarian police state.

>Dick also recounts an unusual dream he had when writing the book, and how he felt compelled to get it into the text of the novel.[7][8] Years later, he came to interpret this dream as the key to understanding the real meaning of the story, stating:

Deciphered, my novel tells a quite different story from the surface story (…). The real story is simply this: the return of Christ, now king rather than suffering servant. Judge rather than victim of unfair judgment. Everything is reversed. The core message of my novel, without my knowing it, was a warning to the powerful: You will shortly be judged and condemned.

Reading Dick’s works as a young man, including VALIS and passages of his Exegesis (a monumental and monolithic tome) actually inspired me to become a Phildickian Gnostic Christian. I think he had a genuine experience of cosmic God-consciousness. No, I will not take meds.

This is a profoundly clunky and scatterbrained thread but I hope people got something out of it. Philosophy, theology, our approaches and attitudes to religion are mutating — some fear it as “a sign of the End Times,” “a reversion to a primitive stage of religion, a blasphemous New Age spirituality,” but maybe what seems like this, is, in fact, Christianity taking on a newer, more ultimate form through the modern de-isolation of various cultures and the existentialist, phenomenological, relativistic, and postmodern revolutions of modern thought, which we all, consciously or unconsciously, whether we know it or not, are influenced by.

Well, I spent a lot of time and effort on this thread — way too much, maybe — wasted the whole day on it. Yet, I don’t regret it, because I actually haven’t browsed and posted on here in great depth and detail for a very long time, and I sense people probably got something out of it. I’m going to probably abandon this thread and the Internet in general for at least the rest of the day now — the very experience of actually looking at a screen for hours legitimately feels somewhat unhealthy — and get back to my own life, my own experience of VALIS, and enjoying this weekend off work.

Just finished this.
My favourite K Dick so far (High Castle, Ubik, Do Androids Dream).
Will be reading Scanner Darkly next, would love to hear what you guys think. Will I enjoy it more or less than pic related?

About to start reading this.
Anyone have any thoughts to share? I've read, from most to least enjoyed; Ubik, Do Androids and Man in the High Castle. I liked them all though. How does this one compare?

The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
>Matthew 11:19

Anyway, I’ll let you interpret that Biblical quote for yourself. Going on.

PKD began to get fascinated by the Gnostic gospels particularly after his experiences, which inspired him to study all of the world’s religions and mystical traditions dispassionately, without especial attachment to any one of them to see if he could find parallels to what had happened to him. Except, maybe, for “Gnosticism”, which itself is just a vague umbrella term which includes some authentic teachings, teachers, and writings in it, but ALSO almost certainly some inauthentic/corrupted teachings, teachers, and writings. Discerning which is which may be hard for mere scholars and academics, but if you have a sense of mysticism and some intuition, you can do things no mere PhD can, like Elaine Pagels, who hilariously butchers the meaning of Gnosticism in her popularized work she made for respect amongst academics.

Anyway, I’m rambling now. Moving on. PKD believed he had predicted America becoming a fascist police/surveillance state in books of his like “Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said.” In some of his visions, he also felt as if he were in two totally separate places and times at the same time somehow — part of him here on Earth in California, the other part of him back in the days of Jesus in Rome. He saw a parallel between the tyranny of Rome and the tyrannies of the modern day, and, again, he described this as the “Black Iron Prison” which controls the material Earth, just as Satan is said to be the prince of this world. Because of these experiences, he came to believe he was a reincarnated early Christian who had to live in fear of being martyred by the authorities for his religion.

Interestingly, you can see how nowadays how churches have been tyrannically closed because of “coronavirus,” and you can also see how some liberals call for hatred of Christianity, taking down statues of Christ, etc.

Now, it would almost appear as if Social Justice Warriors (SJWs) are actually weak-minded, demonically possessed puppets of a Satanic deep state. This deep state, amazingly enough, works through the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party pretends to care about blacks, minorities, women, etc., more than anyone else does, and shuts down their opponents by calling them “racist,” “sexist,” etc. This is the new 1984, where you have to live in fear of being politically incorrect, and where Democrats are planning to make all your posts on here public, thus ruining your life, and probably also making us all have social credit scores like in China, another fascist police state. Speaking of the Chinese, don’t forget to brush up on traditions like Taoism and Zen Buddhism. Traditions like Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism are also good to read about.

>>9202779
How is that compared to Petersburg?