+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 15 of 15

Thread: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

  1. Link to Post #1
    United States Avalon Member Bluegreen's Avatar
    Join Date
    18th July 2014
    Location
    Ø
    Language
    ¿
    Posts
    10,817
    Thanks
    45,830
    Thanked 52,169 times in 10,102 posts

    Default The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick illustrated by R Crumb


  2. The Following 31 Users Say Thank You to Bluegreen For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (21st June 2020), Billy (21st June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Chip (25th October 2021), Dorjezigzag (24th October 2021), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Franny (22nd June 2020), GMB1961 (21st June 2020), gnostic9 (22nd June 2020), gord (21st June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), haroldsails (23rd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), Ioneo (21st June 2020), Ivanhoe (21st June 2020), Johan (Keyholder) (21st June 2020), leavesoftrees (23rd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (21st June 2020), palehorse (23rd June 2020), Peace in Oz (25th October 2021), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Sirus (22nd June 2020), Sue (Ayt) (25th October 2021), the_real_dave-id (21st June 2020), Tintin (22nd June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), Violet3 (21st June 2020), wegge (21st June 2020), william r sanford72 (21st June 2020), XelNaga (22nd June 2020)

  3. Link to Post #2
    United States Avalon Member Bluegreen's Avatar
    Join Date
    18th July 2014
    Location
    Ø
    Language
    ¿
    Posts
    10,817
    Thanks
    45,830
    Thanked 52,169 times in 10,102 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb



  4. The Following 27 Users Say Thank You to Bluegreen For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (21st June 2020), Billy (21st June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Chip (25th October 2021), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Franny (22nd June 2020), gnostic9 (22nd June 2020), gord (21st June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Harmony (22nd June 2020), haroldsails (23rd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), Ioneo (21st June 2020), Ivanhoe (21st June 2020), Kryztian (21st June 2020), leavesoftrees (23rd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (21st June 2020), palehorse (23rd June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Sirus (22nd June 2020), the_real_dave-id (21st June 2020), Tintin (22nd June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), wegge (21st June 2020), william r sanford72 (21st June 2020), XelNaga (22nd June 2020)

  5. Link to Post #3
    United States Avalon Member Bluegreen's Avatar
    Join Date
    18th July 2014
    Location
    Ø
    Language
    ¿
    Posts
    10,817
    Thanks
    45,830
    Thanked 52,169 times in 10,102 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb




  6. The Following 26 Users Say Thank You to Bluegreen For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (21st June 2020), Billy (21st June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Chip (25th October 2021), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Franny (22nd June 2020), gnostic9 (22nd June 2020), gord (21st June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Harmony (22nd June 2020), haroldsails (23rd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), Ioneo (21st June 2020), Ivanhoe (21st June 2020), leavesoftrees (23rd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (21st June 2020), palehorse (23rd June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Sirus (22nd June 2020), the_real_dave-id (21st June 2020), Tintin (22nd June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), wegge (21st June 2020), william r sanford72 (21st June 2020), XelNaga (22nd June 2020)

  7. Link to Post #4
    United States Avalon Member Bluegreen's Avatar
    Join Date
    18th July 2014
    Location
    Ø
    Language
    ¿
    Posts
    10,817
    Thanks
    45,830
    Thanked 52,169 times in 10,102 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb



  8. The Following 29 Users Say Thank You to Bluegreen For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (21st June 2020), Billy (21st June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Chip (25th October 2021), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Franny (22nd June 2020), gnostic9 (22nd June 2020), gord (21st June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Harmony (22nd June 2020), haroldsails (23rd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), Ioneo (21st June 2020), Ivanhoe (21st June 2020), Kryztian (22nd June 2020), leavesoftrees (23rd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (21st June 2020), palehorse (23rd June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Sirus (22nd June 2020), the_real_dave-id (21st June 2020), Tintin (22nd June 2020), ulli (22nd June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), Violet3 (21st June 2020), wegge (21st June 2020), william r sanford72 (21st June 2020), XelNaga (22nd June 2020)

  9. Link to Post #5
    Germany Avalon Member wegge's Avatar
    Join Date
    25th January 2011
    Location
    germany
    Age
    32
    Posts
    513
    Thanks
    3,250
    Thanked 2,829 times in 458 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    Bluegreen you have a knack for creating my favourite threads!

    I didn´t bother to read through the small print. I recall that his experience was caused by megadoses of either Vit D or C?
    And that it supposedly "exploded" the pons, like a bride between left and right brain and thus the cosmic floodgates were opened?

    He´s a trippy writer, I love him! Also quite a druggy, writes a lot about speed/amphetamins, he also did them a lot, this guy turned out book after book after book!

  10. The Following 23 Users Say Thank You to wegge For This Post:

    Anka (25th June 2020), Bill Ryan (21st June 2020), Bluegreen (21st June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Franny (22nd June 2020), gnostic9 (22nd June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Harmony (22nd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), Ivanhoe (21st June 2020), Johan (Keyholder) (21st June 2020), Kryztian (22nd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (21st June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Sirus (22nd June 2020), the_real_dave-id (21st June 2020), Tintin (22nd June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), Violet3 (21st June 2020), william r sanford72 (21st June 2020), XelNaga (22nd June 2020)

  11. Link to Post #6
    Belgium Avalon Member Johan (Keyholder)'s Avatar
    Join Date
    31st January 2018
    Posts
    537
    Thanks
    7,431
    Thanked 4,746 times in 531 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    Phildickian Gnosticism. VALIS, Exegesis... and many other good books, definitely worth reading.

    Interesting anecdote: in 1990 I was on a journey with a group of others in Israël. Visiting the old city in Jerusalem, we stopped to watch a coppersmith at work.

    He had a small piece of copper, about 4 inch by 4 inch. He said "Whoever can guess first what I am making, may have it". He had hardly begun, and after about a minute I said "It is a fish, also the secret sign the first christians had to recognize one another". So, I got the prize! How's that for a phildickian experience? I didn't know about him then. And no, I had no "2-3-74"-experience either. Nevertheless, it is an interesting synchronicity I think.

    By the way, the early christians - when they met someone who they thought was a secret member too, made the ~sign, or half a fish. The other person would then complete "the fish" with a second ~. And they would know that they were both early christians.

  12. The Following 20 Users Say Thank You to Johan (Keyholder) For This Post:

    Anka (25th June 2020), Bill Ryan (22nd June 2020), Bluegreen (22nd June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Ernie Nemeth (23rd June 2020), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Franny (22nd June 2020), gnostic9 (22nd June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Harmony (22nd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), Kryztian (23rd June 2020), leavesoftrees (23rd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (22nd June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Tintin (22nd June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), william r sanford72 (21st June 2020), XelNaga (22nd June 2020)

  13. Link to Post #7
    UK Moderator/Librarian/Administrator Tintin's Avatar
    Join Date
    3rd June 2017
    Location
    Project Avalon library
    Language
    English
    Age
    54
    Posts
    5,447
    Thanks
    64,676
    Thanked 46,617 times in 5,415 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    That's a great story Keyholder
    “If a man does not keep pace with [fall into line with] his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” - Thoreau

  14. The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to Tintin For This Post:

    Anka (25th June 2020), Bill Ryan (22nd June 2020), Bluegreen (22nd June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), Johan (Keyholder) (22nd June 2020), Kryztian (24th October 2021), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (22nd June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), william r sanford72 (23rd June 2020)

  15. Link to Post #8
    United States Avalon Member Bluegreen's Avatar
    Join Date
    18th July 2014
    Location
    Ø
    Language
    ¿
    Posts
    10,817
    Thanks
    45,830
    Thanked 52,169 times in 10,102 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    I read Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, but apparently I am out of the loop, no idea what it "meant". Anyone else?
    Last edited by Bluegreen; 22nd June 2020 at 04:14.

  16. The Following 15 Users Say Thank You to Bluegreen For This Post:

    Anka (25th June 2020), Bill Ryan (22nd June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Franny (22nd June 2020), gnostic9 (22nd June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Harmony (22nd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), O Donna (22nd June 2020), palehorse (23rd June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Tintin (22nd June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), william r sanford72 (22nd June 2020)

  17. Link to Post #9
    Avalon Member gord's Avatar
    Join Date
    13th October 2015
    Location
    The Vampire State
    Language
    English
    Age
    61
    Posts
    694
    Thanks
    14,972
    Thanked 4,603 times in 673 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    Philip K. Dick has been my favorite Science Fiction since the late 80s, though I really haven't read any Science Fiction since maybe late 1995. Prior to Philip K. Dick, my favorite was Robert Silverberg, whose books I've collected in the hundreds. Sometime during the week or 10 days following July 4, 1995, I was in the back yard reading A Scanner Darkly, when a locust tree about a foot in diameter, fell over and missed my head by about two feet. During that time, I was also reading Seth Speaks, by Jane Roberts, and The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon. Weird week.
    The only place a perfect right angle ever CAN be, is the mind.

  18. The Following 12 Users Say Thank You to gord For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (22nd June 2020), Bluegreen (22nd June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (22nd June 2020), palehorse (23rd June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Valerie Villars (23rd June 2020), william r sanford72 (22nd June 2020)

  19. Link to Post #10
    UK Avalon Founder Bill Ryan's Avatar
    Join Date
    7th February 2010
    Location
    Ecuador
    Posts
    34,268
    Thanks
    208,995
    Thanked 457,534 times in 32,788 posts

  20. The Following 17 Users Say Thank You to Bill Ryan For This Post:

    Bluegreen (22nd June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Forest Denizen (22nd June 2020), Gracy (22nd June 2020), Harmony (23rd June 2020), haroldsails (23rd June 2020), Hym (22nd June 2020), Johan (Keyholder) (24th October 2021), kudzy (23rd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), O Donna (22nd June 2020), palehorse (23rd June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Sirus (22nd June 2020), wegge (23rd June 2020), william r sanford72 (23rd June 2020), Yoda (22nd June 2020)

  21. Link to Post #11
    Avalon Member palehorse's Avatar
    Join Date
    13th April 2020
    Location
    Gaia
    Language
    English
    Age
    46
    Posts
    1,630
    Thanks
    12,042
    Thanked 11,413 times in 1,572 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    Philip K Dick were a genius, all his works is just great, he was a huge influencer for many arts include writers, theater, music, radio and cinema (hollywood), movies were based on his novels, my favorite one is Blade Runner (based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?") and A Scanner Darkly.

    sorry a lit bit off topic here:
    I am surprised didn't find any thread about William Gibson, Vernor Vinge, Neal Stephenson, Cline and even Frank Herbert(found 1 thread) they are all great novelist.

    Amazing thread by the way!!!


    Quote Posted by Bluegreen (here)
    I read Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, but apparently I am out of the loop, no idea what it "meant". Anyone else?
    Interesting..

    "So my novel contained material from other parts of the Bible, as well as the sections from Acts. Deciphered, my novel tells a quite different story from the surface story (which we need not go into here). 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." PKD

    Here is the reference: https://web.archive.org/web/20150417...oliceman-said/
    Last edited by palehorse; 23rd June 2020 at 11:15.
    --
    A chaos to the sense, a Kosmos to the reason.

  22. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to palehorse For This Post:

    Bluegreen (23rd June 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (23rd June 2020), Forest Denizen (23rd June 2020), Harmony (23rd June 2020), Johan (Keyholder) (24th October 2021), leavesoftrees (23rd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Sirus (23rd June 2020), wegge (23rd June 2020), william r sanford72 (23rd June 2020)

  23. Link to Post #12
    United States Avalon Member Valerie Villars's Avatar
    Join Date
    16th November 2017
    Age
    62
    Posts
    2,885
    Thanks
    32,001
    Thanked 20,435 times in 2,846 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    I didn't know who Phillip K. Dick was, until my still inexplicable experiences of 2013.

    I went out with a musician one evening and he asked me if I knew what a pink beam was. Someone got "pink beamed" by me, apparently.

    I looked it up the next day and found Phillip K. Dick.

    A few years later I read his "Exegisis" and knew he was a soul brother. I had the same understandings as he. About his experience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ex...Philip_K._Dick

    It can be (or was fairly recently) available for free somewhere on the web. A brilliant, brilliant man.
    "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone when we are uncool." From the movie "Almost Famous""l "Let yourself stand cool and composed before a million universes." Walt Whitman

  24. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to Valerie Villars For This Post:

    Bluegreen (23rd June 2020), Forest Denizen (23rd June 2020), happyuk (23rd June 2020), Harmony (23rd June 2020), Johan (Keyholder) (24th October 2021), Kryztian (23rd June 2020), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), palehorse (24th June 2020), Shadowman (24th June 2020), Sirus (23rd June 2020), william r sanford72 (23rd June 2020)

  25. Link to Post #13
    Avalon Member Shadowman's Avatar
    Join Date
    14th March 2012
    Posts
    301
    Thanks
    4,587
    Thanked 1,813 times in 292 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    Quote Posted by Bluegreen (here)
    I read Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, but apparently I am out of the loop, no idea what it "meant". Anyone else?
    Edit, Palehorse already provided link explaining meaning. (Many thanks Palehorse!)

    My own interesting synchronicity with "Flow My Tears..";

    https://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...=1#post1362570
    Last edited by Shadowman; 24th June 2020 at 03:54.
    Minimum Awareness, Maximum Problems
    Maximum Awareness, Minimum Problems
    Total Awareness, No Problems!

  26. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Shadowman For This Post:

    Bluegreen (24th June 2020), Forest Denizen (30th June 2020), greybeard (24th June 2020), Johan (Keyholder) (24th October 2021), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), palehorse (24th June 2020), Valerie Villars (24th June 2020), william r sanford72 (24th June 2020)

  27. Link to Post #14
    Belgium Avalon Member Johan (Keyholder)'s Avatar
    Join Date
    31st January 2018
    Posts
    537
    Thanks
    7,431
    Thanked 4,746 times in 531 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    First I considered to create a new thread for a new "remarkable personal experience".
    But then I saw this existing thread and because PK Dick "is involved" in this personal experience, I think it may belong here.
    Another positive effect is that it will "bump" this thread! Which I think is a good thing.

    This afternoon I had an internetchat with a friend, about 20000 kms away, the "antipodes" so to say of where I am now.
    We compared notes on the present situation. And there was really not a whole lot of difference between the two countries.
    The public is as "ignorant" (of reality) in one country, just as it is in the other.
    And then you have those that know "something more", and do their best to do something with it.

    At the same time, today, I was (still am) reading a favorite book of mine.
    It combines three of my favorite subjects: the Gnostics, C.G. Jung and PK Dick (here he is!).

    This book is the single one that I know of that compares the above three.
    Its title: "The Apocalypse of the Reluctant Gnostics" by Stuart Douglas.
    A real "gem" if you ask me.

    The chapter I just finished was entitled: "The self and the homoplasmate".
    The first (introductory) sentence reads as follows: (John 12:46)

    "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness."

    I was making my walk in the afternoon sun. A thought crossed my mind. When you are in a dark room, completely in the dark, then you don't see "anything". It might just as well not be there, but it IS there.

    Then, suddenly, a light shines (the sun for instance). At once, "you" as well as your shadow become visible. Your shadow is an indivisible part of "you", yet it is not "matter" as such, not in 3D either. But 2D and im-material. Without the sun, neither you nor your shadow would be visible. Here C.G. Jung can be mentioned, where one of his major premises is about "individuation", integrating "you" and "your shadow" into "one". But how can we do that?

    The answer came in a pretty strange way, during my walk.

    After about ten minutes I saw - in the middle of a cornfield - a guy with a metal detector. The place and time was well chosen, to provide me with an answer. "Are you looking for coins? I don't think you'll find a whole lot of them here" I said to him.

    "Oh, here not yet, but I always find some coins, here or there." And he showed me a few withered very old coins he had found. I wished him the best of luck with his search and continued my walk. Pondering what it meant, for me.

    So... the guy would be "us", as people or better souls/spirits. The "ground/earth" would then be "existence", the physical world(s).The metal detector would be a tool to find what we are looking for: clues about "what the heck this reality is about" (the coins).

    A coin also reads (shuffling the letters), as an "icon". And a signifier can be an icon, as can be found here:

    https://vanseodesign.com/web-design/icon-index-symbol/

    "Clear your head of what you know about icons for a moment. The icons we use in digital interfaces are all signs and not specifically icons as defined by semiotics (= study of sign processes). Icons as discussed here are one possible type of form a sign might take. An icon is meant as a direct imitation of the object or concept.

    Icons bear a physical resemblance to what’s being represented. A photograph is an example of an icon signifier. Take a picture of a tree and the resulting image will look like that tree.

    With icons there’s a real connection between the signifier and the signified. Magritte’s painting of a pipe, which I talked about last week, may not be an actual pipe, but it certainly looks like one and anyone viewing the painting will understand that what they see represents a pipe.

    When user interfaces were first being created, most of the signs were imitations of real objects. Think documents, folders, and printers. This is possibly why we refer to all signs in user interfaces as icons, but the original signifiers used were icons in that they resembled what they represented."


    The above pretty scientific meaning of an "icon"/"coin" can be translated into a spiritual meaning (it did for me, it can do the same for you).

    My "metal detector" can be a visit to a particular place, a passage in a book, a licence plate on a car, a song that is playing when I put the radio on and a myriad of other "things"/tools. It can actually be great fun to add some tools to your "instrumentarium" (toolbox). There is no limit at all to this.

    In "my" case, the chat, the book and meeting the guy with the metaldetector while walking in the sun (and see my shadow increase), led me to "the coin". I had been thinking about the early Christians (killed in the Colosseum for standing up for their faith), the Cathars in Montségur for being and wanting to remain Gnostics, the political "enemies" of nazism defending Freedom against "the régime". And now, on a worldwide scale, those that still think for themselves (information-->thinking about it-->conclusion) versus those that take any information AS a conclusion itself (MSM). There is not a lot of difference.

    What forms the result for me, is an almost alchemical "athanor" - the walk in the afternoon sun - (=In alchemy, an athanor is a furnace used to provide a uniform and constant heat for alchemical digestion) in which the three "events" (the chat - the book - the guy with the metal detector) lead to "a coin", an insight, an understanding.

    Everybody can experience this, in the most simple of ways. Mine just serves as an example.

    Maybe some of you reading this can give other examples.
    Last edited by Johan (Keyholder); 24th October 2021 at 17:22.

  28. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Johan (Keyholder) For This Post:

    Bluegreen (24th October 2021), Kryztian (25th October 2021), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), Sue (Ayt) (25th October 2021), Vicus (25th October 2021)

  29. Link to Post #15
    Avalon Member Kryztian's Avatar
    Join Date
    16th September 2012
    Posts
    3,487
    Thanks
    23,704
    Thanked 29,413 times in 3,425 posts

    Default Re: The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R Crumb

    A few selections from Philip K. Dick's talk "How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later"

    In this 1978 talk, Philip K. Dick talks about creating science fiction and the world he creates, and also about Disneyland, which he lives near, and how they have created their own world. He also states that the two questions that he focuses on are: “What is reality?” and “What constitutes the authentic human being?" In order to address these questions, one also has to ask about what "reality" really is.

    Quote So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing. It is my job to create universes, as the basis of one novel after another. And I have to build them in such a way that they do not fall apart two days later. Or at least that is what my editors hope. However, I will reveal a secret to you: I like to build universes which do fall apart. I like to see them come unglued, and I like to see how the characters in the novels cope with this problem. I have a secret love of chaos. There should be more of it. Do not believe — and I am dead serious when I say this — do not assume that order and stability are always good, in a society or in a universe. The old, the ossified, must always give way to new life and the birth of new things. Before the new things can be born the old must perish. This is a dangerous realization, because it tells us that we must eventually part with much of what is familiar to us. And that hurts. But that is part of the script of life. Unless we can psychologically accommodate change, we ourselves begin to die, inwardly. What I am saying is that objects, customs, habits, and ways of life must perish so that the authentic human being can live. And it is the authentic human being who matters most, the viable, elastic organism which can bounce back, absorb, and deal with the new.

    Quote But I consider that the matter of defining what is real — that is a serious topic, even a vital topic. And in there somewhere is the other topic, the definition of the authentic human. Because the bombardment of pseudo- realities begins to produce inauthentic humans very quickly, spurious humans — as fake as the data pressing at them from all sides. My two topics are really one topic; they unite at this point. Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into forgeries of themselves. So we wind up with fake humans inventing fake realities and then peddling them to other fake humans. It is just a very large version of Disneyland.
    Quote The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words. George Orwell made this clear in his novel 1984. But another way to control the minds of people is to control their perceptions. If you can get them to see the world as you do, they will think as you do. Comprehension follows perception. How do you get them to see the reality you see? After all, it is only one reality out of many. Images are a basic constituent: pictures. This is why the power of TV to influence young minds is so staggeringly vast. Words and pictures are synchronized.
    His words from 43 years ago about manufactured Orwellian pseudo-realities seem prophetic today. But I think he also has a hopeful vision that humans will always get beyond this:

    Quote What I am saying is this: There is internal evidence in at least one of my novels that another reality, an unchanging one, exactly as Parmenides and Plato suspected, underlies the visible phenomenal world of change, and somehow, in some way, perhaps to our surprise, we can cut through to it. Or rather, a mysterious Spirit can put us in touch with it, if it wishes us to see this permanent other landscape. Time passes, thousands of years pass, but at the same instant that we see this contemporary world, the ancient world, the world of the Bible, is concealed beneath it, still. there and still real. Eternally so.
    Despite the fakes and traps of the world, he is optimistic that many of us will prevail:

    Quote The authentic human being is one of us who instinctively knows what he should not do, and, in addition, he will balk at doing it. He will refuse to do it, even if this brings down dread consequences to him and to those whom he loves. This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance. Their deeds may be small, and almost always unnoticed, unmarked by history. Their names are not remembered, nor did these authentic humans expect their names to be remembered. I see their authenticity in an odd way: not in their willingness to perform great heroic deeds but in their quiet refusals. In essence, they cannot be compelled to be what they are not.
    And he is even more optimistic about children, and their ability to reject manipulation and fake realities:

    Quote The power of spurious realities battering at us today — these deliberately manufactured fakes never penetrate to the heart of true human beings. I watch the children watching TV and at first I am afraid of what they are being taught, and then I realise, They can’t be corrupted or destroyed. They watch, they listen, they understand, and, then, where and when it is necessary, they reject. There is something enormously powerful in a child’s ability to withstand the fraudulent. A child has the clearest eye, the steadiest hand. The hucksters, the promoters, are appealing for the allegiance of these small people in vain. True, the cereal companies may be able to market huge quantities of junk breakfasts; the hamburger and hot dog chains may sell endless numbers of unreal fast-food items to the children, but the deep heart beats firmly, unreached and unreasoned with. A child of today can detect a lie quicker than the wisest adult of two decades ago. When I want to know what is true, I ask my children. They do not ask me; I turn to them.
    Entire talk at: https://urbigenous.net/library/how_to_build.html
    Last edited by Kryztian; 25th October 2021 at 18:40. Reason: adding image
    "If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?"
    --- G.K. Chesterton

  30. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Kryztian For This Post:

    Bluegreen (31st October 2021), gord (25th October 2021), Johan (Keyholder) (25th October 2021), mountain_jim (25th October 2021), Sue (Ayt) (25th October 2021), Vicus (25th October 2021)

+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts