PKD

I just can’t get enough of Philip K. Dick. To me, he is a constant source of amazement, ideas, concepts. I simply feel very close to him, if I had to go on a desert island I would definitely bring his books with me. He has a special gift for serving his readers tasty philosophical dishes dressed with a delicious pop sci-fi dressing. Try it and be amazed.

Right now I just finished reading The Man on the High Castle (one of his finest books) and I’m now reading The Crack in Space, a minor one yet very intriguing. In my opinion his best books are Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep? (aka Blade Runner), The Man in the High Castle, Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, VALIS. But really it’s not that easy to say, because even in minor novels or in short stories you can find that philosophical sparkle that can make your day.

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Palmer Eldritch

Today I feel like I might use some Chew-Z. I’d love to be teleported in a dimension where I can meet Palmer Eldritch and ask him about past and future and all things lost and those yet to be found. What would he tell me? He might say, “Try harder. Maybe not today, not tomorrow, but in 100 years or a in a thousand lives you might find what you are looking for. And it will be hard, because you cannot put into words that Transcendental Object (at the end of time?) you desperately want. How are you going to know you’ve found it if you don’t know how it looks like.”

Palmer you’re clever, man. When was it that you became so… so… so Palmer Eldritch? Was it in the Proxy Star System? Have you always been like that? It doesn’t matter, really. Knowing the exact circumstances is only going to steal processing power from our brains.

We should concentrate on the matter that matters. How to find THAT which we look for, how to recognize it. We’ve been given eyes and ears and hands and so we suppose we need to use them. Which is right. At the same time we probably need NOT to use them if we are to find the Object. Why is these eXistenZ always such a paradox? How am I supposed to feel what I can’t really feel. Why are we burdened with this damn duality?

What do you say Palmer?

“I think you know the Object, you know its non-shape. I think  you know very well that it’s here, right beside you. And the fun part, the comedy in all of this, is that you CAN NOT see it. Ain’t that funny? Ain’t that a nice prank, the ultimate practical joke? It makes me giggle. ”

Yes Palmer, you giggle, you laugh, you do what you do, I can see your teeth o’ steel, your upgraded all-seeying eyes-non-eyes, your artificial arm. I can see you don’t belong here nor there. Did you grasp it all? Did you get to a final understanding?Was it worth it?

“I am what I am, I do what I do, noone will ever know more than he’s supposed to.”

Well. Thanks Palmer.

Tags: pkd
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