Well since /lit/ seems to be a dead board at this hour or not on the level of this book I'll bring my post to Jow Forums
Just ordered pic related after watching this: youtu.be
WHAT AM I IN FOR?
I know it has Gnostic themes, which is odd as well considering I felt as though I had been divinely lead to gnosticism last week and had a mini epiphany when I realized some of my innate "non denominational" Christian beliefs synced up to a lot of it
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I read this book years ago,
very strange
black knight satellite
read this book written by PHIL DICK
Read it last year
For the first 3/4s of it, it was a carbon copy of my own life - right down to the bit where the fucker started writing a treaties on esoteric spirituality.
Oh, there isn't much of a plot - but it doesn't matter much.
I'm sorry about your autism.
That's what the book is about. Transmissions from an ancient alien satellite
named Zebra
That's what the book is about. Transmissions from an ancient alien satellite
The fuck is going on?
If you had deja vu all the time, would you even notice?
That's coz we're stuck in PKD novel and he's the Logos trying to save us
People used to tell me i was PKD reincarnated.
Never read his books until years later. Turns out i was born weeks after he died.
keep this going.
PKD was a very sick man. You're in for what's pretty much a slightly more lucid several hundred pages long Terry Davies rant in the form of uninspiring and workmanlike prose with the Catholic stuff replaced with gnosticism. My favourite gnostic science-fiction novel is 'A Voyage to Arcturus'. It plays around more and has some very nice and surreal imagery.
I recently read 'A Scanner Darkly' by PKD and didn't hate it. The stuff on fraying identity didn't do heaps for me because that's every PKD novel, but it's more personal than his other work and that resonated with me. All of his books are about the inner workings of his own head, this is probably least masked in A Scanner Darkly. The man was a sad former-crackhead who never recovered from the poison he put into his body when he was younger.
Why would people tell you this?
You'll have a hard time not dropping the book halfway through - only to rush out and buy a copy of the Nag Hammadi Library.
Point is, the dude was effected heavily, as are most who read it.
I seemed to follow in his footsteps.
UBIK
This is true.
The dude's writing was more or less a coping mechanism for his broken mindbag. Not to disparage the inspiration i took from it, but it's pretty obvious.
I used to feel like Bob Arctor in A Scanner Darkly. I read nearly all his books around 2002-05.
I've been tempted to buy it? care to share a few of your greatest revelations from reading the Nag Hammadi?
*I've been tempted to buy it.
Sure, but only if you dont mind your thread becoming a comfy, early morning 'le demiurge' thread.
Don't think he was on to something at all?
what about him knowing before the doctors about his son's birth defect that he had a vision about?
seems to have possibly opened his 3rd eye pineal gland or something.
I'm not creative enough but read one of his books like Ubik or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Sure go on.
I'm 100% sure he was on to something; doesn't mean the dude wasn't suffering. Doesn't mean he wasn't in a constant state of paranoia.
Some people just don't handle it too well. And the methods he used to get there weren't all that smart either. The drugs, that is.
yay!
It's not exactly his best, in fact, it's pretty shit. The only one worse than this was the book (I forget the title) where the protagonist sees the Proto-Iranian Gods of Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda vs Ahriman, duking it out in the sky.
"Muh giant gods did it" is a crappy way to end a book. I am sure "VALIS" was also written around this period of PKD's flirtation with psuedo-mysticism.
alright, after Valis, should I not go for "The Divine invasion"?
Er... see my comment above, I am sure that was the offending tome.
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I'll first say that my taste in gnostic literature isn't as constricted as most other's. I've dipped into pretty much everything i can find, including new age junk.
oh
suggest any and all books that relate to Mr. Dick's work please.
Try the new age stuff
A course in miracles and the Seth Books. Seth Speaks, The Seth Material. Stuff like that.
All of them are supposedly channeled books, meaning they were written by an otherworldly entity writing through the author. Never cared too much for any of that, but the content is noteworthy.
I think that's The Cosmic Puppets, got more of a Stephen King vibe from that one. Its a lot older than Valis (1953). The Divine Invasion is more of the gnostic stuff.
The Bible, and Jung are probably his most commonly applied influences.
Some loon I used to work with that would dress up as the devil on Halloween would always talk about Seth. Not trying to defend but it sounds like BS to me. He is pic related.
Also, Edgar Cayce stuff is always fun, as is Von Daniken, but that's getting away from the point, i think, but it is stuff that PKD talked about.
*Offend
sorry, my typos are out of control tonight.
mirin dat seth bod
Take it for what it is. There are vids on youtube of a 'channeling' through the author. Like i said, I take it all with a grain of salt. What I do take seriously is the information. My faith, as it is, doesn't cast off the messenger just because they are a nut. I believe even crazy people can get it right.
Aye, you're right. That's the one. It was terrible.
I feel ya. Edgar Cayce to me seems like a fraud just like David Ike. Not dissing your taste, just my impression.
No offense taken. Like i said, just because they are a bit off in the head, doesn't mean i automatically discount them.
In fact, it seems unlikely that someone could come to the truth and be completely unaffected by it in that way.
if you're really interested you could try the Exegesis of PKD. He wrote about 8000 pages of notes trying to work out his visions and mystical experiences from 73/74. A bunch of people edited it all down to around 900 pages for release.
lol you may have a point about crazy people. that makes me think of the people that say they were told by an angel or the devil to commit murders. Are they crazy or actually telling the truth? haha
Nice, thanks. I'll look into it.
So then, should i go to the sequel to Valis, The Divine invasion next? anyone read it too?
Truth from their perspective, sure. Why not?
We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss.
It's all layers of the onion. Peel one back and get real freaked out. Peel the next and everything is okay. Keep peeling and its a never ending rollercoaster that's likely to drive you mad.
is the basis of gnosticism basically 'i heard a voice in my head'?
I can see what you're saying. But damn there are so many people that are full of shit and aware of it, and keep spreading disinformation for the hell of it.
>The Divine invasion
Up to yourself, user, I wouldn't tell you not to read it - but I couldn't make myself ingest any more stuff like VALIS or Cosmic Puppets
Well, i'd be lying if I didn't say that wasn't partially true. It certainly could be viewed that way.
The whole idea that truth can be found 'within' is a major part of the Gnostic faith.
That's where discernment comes in handy.
yeah, I like it. It's fun
I'm really interested. I've always had an abstract reality breaking way of thinking about the universe. I'm feeling drawn.
Read Ubik first.
First? how come? just out of curiosity.
what is discernment
Well, i could give you the 'spiritual' definition which involves . Inner connection with the divine truth.
Or i could say it's just being good at knowing when someone is lying to you.
It's one of his best novels.
Would you also suggest this?
UBIK is arguably his best (it's my favourite anyway). It deals with spiritual themes in a more accessible way.
Cant say, didn't read it.
Sorry mang.
oh okay, not sure if it was somehow needed to get the full effect of reading Valis.
There’s also the critical thought that goes into understanding. Gnostics don’t have "the answer". They have rejected all pre-existing dogma and instead try to understand on an individual basis. The authority of the religion doesn’t appeal to them, just whether it makes sense. They are kinda like pol in a way, which is why they were all killed and everything we know about them came from their critics and scrolls hidden in a jar for centuries.
its okay. you wouldn't happen to be around the east coast would you? I need some close by intellectual friends. There are none around me it seems.
As a Gnostic myself, I can't argue with this one bit.
The early gostics weren't too big on proselytizing. Gaining hordes of half-wits wasn't exactly seen as a benefit.
I'm as far away from both coasts as you can get.
no, they aren't related.
Even Divine Invasion is only thematically related to VALIS.
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is my favourite PKD novel, I highly recommend it.
>'A Scanner Darkly'
The movie was fun and enjoyable. Not true to the source, but what movie ever is to PKD?
Too bad. Volunteer state here.
I loved Ubik but lost patience with A Scanner Darkly. Does this make me a pleb?
oh yeah? I've heard his Valis trilogy is his magnum opus from online reviews and such. Yet keep hearing its not actually some of his best. I definately am also going to check out three stigmata, Ubik, and the exegenesis. can you recommend any others?
>Not true to the source
it's pretty close imo. certainly the most faithful adaptation of a PKD novel.
a few characters were merged, but the plot remains largely the same.
the biggest change is the dialog.
the novel has a lot of 70s jive-talking, which would have been strange in a 2000s film set in the future.
really sad book and film too. the eulogy at the end always gets me.
If you want the source go to the source. Film is its own medium with its own strengths and most importantly, a new artist at the helm. On the topic of Dick movies, anybody seen 'Southland Tales'? Not a direct adaption of any of his work but a very cool movie which takes inspiration from his writing. The script is rumoured to have been lifted from a dead man's belongings and adapted without his family's permission or knowledge.
Ive read a half dozen of his works and find Valis to be the most candid. He really didn't hold back. It felt like a geeky spergout from someone who was really taken in by something they thought was amazing.
It's a scifi book. Read it for enjoyment. It's not some fucking spiritual text.
the Valis trilogy is treated as such because the books all share the same themes, and were written during Dick's most psychologically troubled time.
General consensus though is that they aren't his best novels.
They are certainly less accesible than most of his other works.
But the guy wrote over 50 novels, and almost all of them are good, if not oustanding SF novels.
Reminder that The Truman Show is based on a PKD novel.
>black knight satellite
twinkle twinkle little star, I wonder just how old you are.
nice didn't know that user. which one?
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Now Wait for Last Year
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (source for Blade Runner)
Time Out Of Joint
PKD isn't credited in any way, but if you read the novel, the similarities are undeniable.
>Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
I read this nearly 20 years ago and I still can't get my brain around the ending.
Well and truly dicked by this one.
The spiritual truths that are revealed in Ubik are more "real" than what is revealed in VALIS. What you learn from Ubik you can apply in the real world in your own life immediately. What you learn from VALIS is philosophically interesting, but has limited application to the real world. Ubik will make you a better person.
read crap artist. its about ppl who post here.
It probably means your a healthy person who makes good decisions.
I wiped my ass after I took a hefty shit.
It made me a better person.
Just think how much worse i would be if i didn't.
Just had to say it.
why do so many of his novels feature character's who work as tyre regroovers?
SFIA in this thread.
wut?
You are exactly the kind of person that Ubik teaches against.
>not true to source
The half animated one? You're so fucking wrong.
Tell me about it.
Genuine request. Tell me what you know about me?
To all who have participated in this thread; Thank you for the great reads, I'd love to continue with you but will have to be off to bed now. Please continue so that i may have even more great reads when I awake.
bibliotecapleyades.net
Or just search for Valis pdf on duckduckgo.com if you don't want to click on that link. Its the first result.