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OK the “introducing” part is a bit forced but I wasn’t sure where else to put this thread so I thought that this forum was closest.
Apart form being the author of some very wonderful science fiction, Philip K. Dick also experienced a dramatic psychic/religious experience which coloured much of his later life.
Because this touches on a number of areas that have already surfaced in the forums – John the Baptist (Yuri/Michael), Insanity/Brain Fried by Drugs (Mad Dan), Binary Soul (Perceval), Early Gnostic Christianity (Me) – I thought that it might be fun if people haven’t already come across it. However, I’d be interested to hear if members think that this is too far off topic as I’m conscious that it might not be direct “psychic questing”.
The link below points to the famous cartoonist Robert Crumb’s take on Dick’s experience which is probably the best (and certainly the only graphical) version of events.
[url:25lnx8ou]http://www.philipkdickfans.com/weirdo.htm[/url]
These events are dealt with most directly by Dick himself in his book VALIS but if you are at all interested in the more general picture of the man (as opposed to this one aspect of his life) then I would definitely recommend “I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Into The Mind of Philip K. Dick” by Emmanuel Carrere which is an absolutely excellent biography (although less of a factual history and more of an exercise in seeing the world through Dick’s eyes).
Lol, never heard of Philp K Dick before, entertaining read…
… sounds like many souls walking in and around Glastonbury; full of deep insight one moment, dribbling and singing the next!
I’m quite fascinated by the spirit of Elijah, or indeed any other spirit. I spoke elsewhere of people having two selves, the ‘body’ self and the reincarnating ‘soul’ self. The story of Philp K Dick adds numerous ‘other’ selves that take over or enter into the ‘body’ self for any given moment of time… of course this is practiced in trance mediumship, when the medium becomes a vehicle to spirit.
How much control do we have over our bodies? Can we be our selves always or can any spirit like Elijah, walk in and out of us, whether we welcome it or not… as queried elsewhere too, can undesirable forces do this too? ie possession…
… is it possession if it’s unpleasant and ‘divine spirit’ ‘holy ghost’ if it’s a nice experience?….. how much of it all is ‘YOU’ or are we mere vehicles for the spirit realm to play with?
…and here’s a link to new Philip K. Dick entry in the Questing Encyclopaedia which tells the story again from a different slant (courtesy of Wikipedia):
[url:23vlfncr]http://www.psychicquesting.com/modules.php?name=Guiki&MODE=SHOW&PAGE=Philip%20K.%20Dick,%20Mystic%20Experiences%20Of[/url]
I have just read Dick’s essay (originally a talk), “If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others”. Blew me away, and also reminded me of Andy Collins essay a few years back on Morphians (on his website somewhere). Fascinating stuff about the idea that the world is actually being continually altered, but we don’t normally realise this because we don’t remember. Dick related some of his own experiences where he thinks he may have remembered different versions of the world and himself. His story, “Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said” features a great deal. Simon, this maybe relevent to you?
Potentially relevent to questing. I’m especially thinking of the manner in which artifacts appear. Maybe this is us watching reality change, catching it in the act. Perhaps history is also changing to accommodate the things that come into being.
If Simon is agreeable I’ll see if I can post the text here.
Michael
Michael,
Apologies for taking slightly over two months to reply – unconscionably rude and inexcusable, I’m afraid. It’s just been that sort of life recently
Philip K Dick came up at a gathering of old school mates recently and now as then I whole-heartedly recommend Emmanuel Carrere’s “biography” which is entitled “I am Alive and You are Dead”. Really very, very good at conjuring the spirit of Dick’s thought and writings (although less a fact-driven biography).
I definitely see many parallels between what Dick wrote and topics that are central to Psychic Questing (including as you rightly speculate the ability to somehow create/influence the future).
I’d be delighted to see any text posted you can find posted here. We should also explore some experiments that could potentially leverage some of his insights.
Glad to be back,
Simon
What most interested me was PKD’s suggestion that the the past can be changed and indeed has already been changed and will continue to be changed, which I think is what AC suggested in his Morphian article. It made me think that psychic-questing could possibly be (a) a witness to reality being altered, (b) a reality-altering agent, (c) an interplay between the two.
Thinking about an artifact (especially one which has appeared as an apport) and its history, perhaps the artifact and its history only get called into being as a result of the quest (option (b) above), or as a result of something else acting on a fluid reality which the quest has been witness to (option (a) above). In option (c) perhaps the initial psychic information is the signal that reality is under revision, but the revision will only hypostasise if the questors act appropriately on the information.
As an possible example of option (c), perhaps the reason that the Green Stone had to be found by 31 Oct 1979 was because the period from mid Oct ’79 (when the first channellings about the Green Stone were produced) to 31 Oct ’79 was the available window in which the stone and its history could be inserted into our universe, for whatever reason.
The importance of artifact retrieval is something that has sometimes been discussed. In the scenario outlined above the artifact is the sign that the change has taken place, anchoring it in reality so-to-speak.
This wouldn’t be to say that all psychic quests involve these sort of shifts of course. The Black Alchemist quest seems different, though the Black Alchemist himself appears to have been involved in some reality-fixing of his own.
All this may be ’round objects’! But the bizarre nature of some psychic-quests led me a while ago to thinking that ‘reality’ is not as stable as one would like to think.
I’ll see if I can post that article, probably in the General Discussion area.
Simon wrote:Apologies for taking slightly over two months to reply – unconscionably rude and inexcusable, I’m afraid. It’s just been that sort of life recentlyI know what you mean. I’ve been actively shedding responsibilities recently so I can focus on what is important to me. It’s good to ‘see’ you again.
Michael
I just signed up, and found this interesting thread. It’s been many years since I read Phillip’s books, and I remember only vaguely, well, I was always devouring sci-fi when I was younger. But one of the things that once made me feel like I was going crazy, was I actually saw physical reality being altered, and apparently went about an hour back in time myself (long story). This area has a quite unusual history, once upon a time, I think some very powerful shamans were here. I’ve looked into that history through anthropology. I also once stumbled upon a secret gov’t. installation here (not a good thing to do) and I think it may have something to do with a thing the Nazis were working on called “the bell”, a device that supposedly can alter the fabric of space-time. Friends who were with me saw some of this stuff too, so I’m pretty darn sure I wasn’t delusional or anything, unless we ALL were! The German scientist who worked on “the bell” was named Gerlock, oddly enough, I think I am related to him. My great-grandmother was also a Gerlock, from the same area in Germany. Anyone who has info on the “bell” project, I would love to hear from you!
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