So it's generally accepted that Philip K. Dick did in fact experience a theophany, right?
>>17026611
I've taken a lot of psychedelics also.
>>17026611
yes
>>17026892
he was on speed tho
He believed he was contacted by some kind of ancient satellite which filled his head with thoughts of suicide for awhile before finally telling him a bunch of stuff. And that's where the VALIS stuff came from.
>VALIS has been described as one node of an artificial satellite network originating from the star Sirius in the Canis Major constellation. According to Dick, the Earth satellite used "pink laser beams" to transfer information and project holograms on Earth and to facilitate communication between an extraterrestrial species and humanity. Dick claimed that VALIS used "disinhibiting stimuli" to communicate, using symbols to trigger recollection of intrinsic knowledge through the loss of amnesia, achieving gnosis. Drawing directly from Platonism and Gnosticism, Dick wrote in his Exegesis: "We appear to be memory coils (DNA carriers capable of experience) in a computer-like thinking system which, although we have correctly recorded and stored thousands of years of experiential information, and each of us possesses somewhat different deposits from all the other life forms, there is a malfunction—a failure—of memory retrieval."
>At one point, Dick claimed to be in a state of enthousiasmos with VALIS, where he was informed his infant son was in danger of perishing from an unnamed malady. Routine checkups on the child had shown no trouble or illness; however, Dick insisted that thorough tests be run to ensure his son's health. The doctor eventually complied, despite the fact that there were no apparent symptoms. During the examination doctors discovered an inguinal hernia, which would have killed the child if an operation was not quickly performed. His son survived thanks to the operation, which Dick attributed to the "intervention" of VALIS.
It's a book i've been meaning to read for some time.
>>17026916
that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard. an inguinal hernia that a doctor couldn't find from a regular physical?
an inguinal hernia that wasn't found for months, but suddenly poses a lethal threat out of the blue?
i have had an inguinal hernia. i lived with it for 2 years before i finally got the surgery done.
>>17026611
The film "Radio Free Albemuth" does a great job of explaining PKDick's 'vision'.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1129396/
It's a low budget film far more interested in very accurately following the text of PKD's book. So if you need car chases, pretty actresses, and glitz in a film stay away. It's classic Dick, a slow descent into madness by very ordinary people caught up in a huge cosmic plan they can't even begin to understand.
It's not hard to find free online via google.
>>17026611
When i read Philip K. Dick i can't stop of think... this guy really love big boobs.
>>17028270
>When i read Philip K. Dick i can't stop of think... this guy really love big boobs.
Anon confusing R. Crumb, artist of OP pic, with PKDick, guy in the pic.
No,read the tales, you see how almost all the female chars, have a very specific description for the breast, always round, bouncy, full or something like that. “I like her; I could watch her the rest of my life. She has breasts that smile."
>>17028302
I always enjoy reading how different authors describe human beings, because they all have traits they hang on a lot. With PKD in particular I can imagine breasts being symbolic as well as sexual, an indicator or reminder of a female character's life giving qualities. In some senses he does kind of use breasts as an indicator of the spiritual "fullness" (or lack thereof) of female characters.
>>17028302
HOLDEN: They're just questions, Leon. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response. Shall we continue?
/Leon nods, still frowning, suspiciously./
HOLDEN: Describe things that come in to your mind. About your mother.
LEON: She had a pair that wouldn't quit. Hot damn. Huge. Areolas the size of paper plates, nipples that could poke your eye out. But it was the shape, so prefect so firm. And the taste of her boob sweat...
HOLDEN: Yes, I remembe...
/ Leon's laser burns a hole the size of a nickel through Holden's stomach. Leon is already walking away, but he stops, turns, and with a little smile of satisfaction says... /
LEON: Best.Tits.Ever.
Please stop guys. Boob lover here. I'm gonna go have a fap
>>17026916
Here's a better article on that.
>>17028497
Might help if i posted the article.
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/02/the-black-knight-satellite-bracewell-probes-and-phillip-k-dick/
>>17028386
The version of BLADERUNNER released in the USA was a full 13 minutes shorter than the European version due to censoring needed to get it an "R" rating.
>>17028372
Fun Fact: "Dick" was not the original family name, when Philip K.'s great grandfather came to the USA he changed the family name from the ancestral "Hugentittenflopperz"
>>17028529
Pris from "Bladerunner".
Pris was also a name of character that may or may have not been an android in "We Can Build You." ( One of my Favorite Dick stories as it is genuinely funny in places, not something usual in his works. )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Build_You
>>17028549
The floppy ones are the best. Nothing like some big hangers
Martian TimeSlip -- A fairly normal, let's colonize Mars story BUT the main character is developing schizophrenia as the story progresses, it's rather scary as the man goes insane
In one decade period towards the end of this life Phillip K. Dick wrote, in a row, his best works:
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974)
Radio Free Albemuth (1976)
A Scanner Darkly (1977)
VALIS (1981)
The Divine Invasion (1981)
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982)
( You can't go wrong with any of those )
"Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said" I think is his best book by far. Wow. Think "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" but profoundly more melancholic.
http://www.amazon.com/Flow-My-Tears-Policeman-Said/dp/0547572255/
>>17026611
know what i have to say to philip k dick?
"K Dick"
>>17028755
It's because he stopped doing meth and went clean
>>17028755
>You can't go wrong with any of those
You CAN go wrong with The Transmigration of Timothy Archer...wrong and very depressed.
Also what about UBIK and the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch? They were not so personal but a good introduction to Dick imo.
>>17031276
valis was his best though
He was working on a project along the lines of The Divine Comedy when he died, titled "The Owl in Daylight."
Lost like tears in the rain...
>>17026904
>>17028599
cripes, you'd love me. Big ol' milkers.
>>17031276
Three Stigmata I wouldn't call a light reading.
I can recommend UBIK, though
>>17026611
Why don't you just read the Exegesis and decide for yourself?
>>17031994
A Scanner Darkly is better
>>17026894
Jesus I think I finally understand what people mean by "go back to reddit" now
>>17028549
Hilarious.
>>17033915
>Exegesis
The book is a near unreadable mess, Dick is just trying out ideas -- and then tossing them ten pages later. It does show him increasingly sure that Christ is trying to contact him. This gives us the interesting "The Empire Never Ended" theory, but makes PKDick look even more megalomaniac. I'm a big fan of his, but Exegesis is more a weird book to own than an interesting read.
