`
Over the course of my ten-year relationship with my husband, I learned that he was more an Existentialist than a Gnostic. His core ideas fall more into line with Kierkegaard and Nietszche, Kafka and Schopenhauer, than with the prophets of Nag Hammadi or the neo-Platonists.
Although he adopted some of the trappings of gnosticism, such as the demiurge and the veil of illusion, Philip K. Dick adopted an eclectic body of knowledge while educating himself at the public library. Like Schopenhauer, he came to the conclusion that the universe is not rational, so we cannot gain a rational understanding of its nature, rules and existence. Like Kafka, he saw us as prisoners who never know what crime has been laid against us.
In line with God's assertion to Moses that his name is "I am", Phil began his study of the human existence.
~~ More to come in future posts.
Thank you for reading!
~~~
This entry is also posted on Wordpress:
http://wp.me/pdXyS-1G
~~~
It's a Philip K. Dick World! “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” —Philip K. Dick Government intrusion into our personal lives is increasing, the economy is shot and the media focus on hate and violence. Philip K. Dick's fifth and last wife, Tessa Dick, talks about her husband. I have my own books and stories, as well.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
My Life on the Edge of Reality - available for pre-order
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With a little help from my friends and family, I got a month's worth of utility bills paid. Unfortunately, I'm still a month behind, so everything is going to get turned off.
You can help by pre-ordering a copy of my memoir Tessa B. Dick: My Life no the Edge of Reality, which will be available in March.
In this book I tell the story of my life, including my relationship with my husband Philip K. Dick (Bladerunner), as well as the government-sponsored experiment on school children in the 1960s. My brother and I were subjects in that experiment, which was conducted without our parents' knowledge or permission.
If you send me $25 by Paypal, I will send you a signed copy as soon as it is available.
My Paypal addy is tuffy777@gmail.com
Thank you so much!
~~~
With a little help from my friends and family, I got a month's worth of utility bills paid. Unfortunately, I'm still a month behind, so everything is going to get turned off.
You can help by pre-ordering a copy of my memoir Tessa B. Dick: My Life no the Edge of Reality, which will be available in March.
In this book I tell the story of my life, including my relationship with my husband Philip K. Dick (Bladerunner), as well as the government-sponsored experiment on school children in the 1960s. My brother and I were subjects in that experiment, which was conducted without our parents' knowledge or permission.
If you send me $25 by Paypal, I will send you a signed copy as soon as it is available.
My Paypal addy is tuffy777@gmail.com
Thank you so much!
~~~
Monday, February 7, 2011
We are still living in the Roman Empire
`
We are still living in the Roman Empire
Why do high school and college classes in western civilization begin with ancient Greece? (and sometimes ancient Egypt)
Our culture quite clearly has its roots in the tribal cultures of Europe and North America. The U.S. Constitution can be traced back to England's Magna Carta, as well as to the rules of the Iroquois federation. The revolutions in the name of liberty certainly did not have their roots in ancient Greece, where even the great and wise philosopher Socrates obeyed the death sentence that the men of Athens imposed upon him.
The wealthy and powerful elite of the world want us to embrace paganism.
Most of the inhabitants of ancient Greece in its time of glory were descendants of Dan, one of Jacob Israel's twelve sons. They came from different places at different times, most notably from Egypt before the Exodus and from the Holy Land after the Exodus.
The tribe of Dan, according to the Bible, was known for idol worship and for seafaring.
Since they came at different times from different places, they had different names for their pagan gods. They also adopted the local gods that people had been worshiping before they arrived.
So we have a huge Greek pantheon, a group of gods that often give three or four names and histories to the same deity.
The most interesting Greek deities are those that attempt to take the place of Christ as the savior of humanity. Prometheus is said to have created the first man and woman, as well as all the animals. He stole the fire of knowledge from Mount Olympus, and Zeus (Jupiter) punished him by having Hephaestus (Vulcan) chain him to a rock where a giant eagle came every day to eat his liver. Since Prometheus was a god, and therefore immortal, his liver would grow back every day and get eaten again.
Another imitation of Christ is Apollo, the god who wrestled with Python, a wise oracle reminiscent of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and took over the cave where that giant snake used to live. Apollo, the shining one, brought the light of reason to mankind. He also installed his own oracle in the cave, and her prophecies caused many disasters for the wealthy and powerful men who came to her for advice.
We are, in a very real sense, still living in the Roman Empire. Ancient Rome looked to Greek culture for its models, and the Roman Catholic Church is seated in Rome. Perhaps the Church is the enemy of the Roman Empire, but perhaps not. Although I stand up as a Christian believer, I cannot defend the dogma of any established church, Roman or otherwise. Dogma is the enemy of faith, in my opinion.
~~~
We are still living in the Roman Empire
Why do high school and college classes in western civilization begin with ancient Greece? (and sometimes ancient Egypt)
Our culture quite clearly has its roots in the tribal cultures of Europe and North America. The U.S. Constitution can be traced back to England's Magna Carta, as well as to the rules of the Iroquois federation. The revolutions in the name of liberty certainly did not have their roots in ancient Greece, where even the great and wise philosopher Socrates obeyed the death sentence that the men of Athens imposed upon him.
The wealthy and powerful elite of the world want us to embrace paganism.
Most of the inhabitants of ancient Greece in its time of glory were descendants of Dan, one of Jacob Israel's twelve sons. They came from different places at different times, most notably from Egypt before the Exodus and from the Holy Land after the Exodus.
The tribe of Dan, according to the Bible, was known for idol worship and for seafaring.
Since they came at different times from different places, they had different names for their pagan gods. They also adopted the local gods that people had been worshiping before they arrived.
So we have a huge Greek pantheon, a group of gods that often give three or four names and histories to the same deity.
The most interesting Greek deities are those that attempt to take the place of Christ as the savior of humanity. Prometheus is said to have created the first man and woman, as well as all the animals. He stole the fire of knowledge from Mount Olympus, and Zeus (Jupiter) punished him by having Hephaestus (Vulcan) chain him to a rock where a giant eagle came every day to eat his liver. Since Prometheus was a god, and therefore immortal, his liver would grow back every day and get eaten again.
Another imitation of Christ is Apollo, the god who wrestled with Python, a wise oracle reminiscent of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and took over the cave where that giant snake used to live. Apollo, the shining one, brought the light of reason to mankind. He also installed his own oracle in the cave, and her prophecies caused many disasters for the wealthy and powerful men who came to her for advice.
We are, in a very real sense, still living in the Roman Empire. Ancient Rome looked to Greek culture for its models, and the Roman Catholic Church is seated in Rome. Perhaps the Church is the enemy of the Roman Empire, but perhaps not. Although I stand up as a Christian believer, I cannot defend the dogma of any established church, Roman or otherwise. Dogma is the enemy of faith, in my opinion.
~~~
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Memoir, excerpt #2
`
I remember very little of second grade. The twelve of us were shoved into a third-grade classroom, and I simply cannot remember the teacher’s name. Each of us second-graders was assigned to a third-grade student who was supposed to help us with our work. My third grader couldn’t be bothered, so I floundered, especially in arithmetic. Moreover, we didn’t get any crayons! I did enjoy using skinny pencils and learning cursive writing, especially when the teacher handed out ball point pens for us to use, once we were acceptably competent writing cursive with our pencils.
But most of the second grade is completely gone from my memory, aside from those “special assemblies” when the graduate students were testing us. Fifteen or twenty students from different grade levels would meet in the auditorium or the cafeteria and take tests. I’m sure that one of those tests was the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The researchers were two young men in business suits and a woman in a B-line outfit. I did not like the woman, and I remember her yelling at me that I was deliberately giving the wrong answers on the tests. She was right. I did not like the tests and I did not trust those people. I just sat there in silence until one of the men told her that it was enough.
They must have thought that we were psychic because they kept asking us things like, “What’s in John’s pocket?” and “What’s behind the curtain?” and “What’s in a box at the bank downtown?”
~~~
You can pre-order a signed copy from me for $25, to be delivered in March 2011. (I have bills to pay now.)
~~`
I remember very little of second grade. The twelve of us were shoved into a third-grade classroom, and I simply cannot remember the teacher’s name. Each of us second-graders was assigned to a third-grade student who was supposed to help us with our work. My third grader couldn’t be bothered, so I floundered, especially in arithmetic. Moreover, we didn’t get any crayons! I did enjoy using skinny pencils and learning cursive writing, especially when the teacher handed out ball point pens for us to use, once we were acceptably competent writing cursive with our pencils.
But most of the second grade is completely gone from my memory, aside from those “special assemblies” when the graduate students were testing us. Fifteen or twenty students from different grade levels would meet in the auditorium or the cafeteria and take tests. I’m sure that one of those tests was the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The researchers were two young men in business suits and a woman in a B-line outfit. I did not like the woman, and I remember her yelling at me that I was deliberately giving the wrong answers on the tests. She was right. I did not like the tests and I did not trust those people. I just sat there in silence until one of the men told her that it was enough.
They must have thought that we were psychic because they kept asking us things like, “What’s in John’s pocket?” and “What’s behind the curtain?” and “What’s in a box at the bank downtown?”
~~~
You can pre-order a signed copy from me for $25, to be delivered in March 2011. (I have bills to pay now.)
~~`
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