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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Abandoned owls, revelation and insanity

An interesting post on Word and Film urges Harry Potter fans to stop abandoning their pet owls now that the movies have come to an end.

http://www.wordandfilm.com/2012/05/harry-potter-fans-stop-abandoning-your-pet-owls/

The same post goes on to point us to a "three-part Opinion piece in the New York Times (here's part one) exploring the difference between spiritual revelation and mental illness."

What, exactly is the difference between revelation and insanity?  Are children mentally ill when they see monsters in the closet or under the bed?  Are religious people insane when they talk to an invisible God?  Are creative artists crazy, or perhaps childlike?

Was Philip K. Dick mentally ill when he encountered information from a parallel universe?

I don't understand why the New York Times piece refers to the "golden fish".  Phil always called it the "pink light".  In any case, it is interesting that a university professor finds the subject worthy of exploration.

Here's a snippet:

Skimming through and across multiple encyclopedia entries, Dick found links and correspondences of ideas everywhere. He also stumbled into the primary texts of a number of philosophers and theologians — notably the pre-Socratics, Plato, Meister Eckhart, Spinoza, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, Whitehead, Heidegger and Hans Jonas. His interpretations are sometimes quite bizarre but often compelling.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/philip-k-dick-sci-fi-philosopher-part-1/

Professor Simon Critchley seems blissfully unaware of the fact that Phil studied philosophy at the University of California, or that he continued studying philosophy on his own after leaving the university.

A word of advice:  If you click the links, read at your own peril.  These things might expand your mind.

   ~~~



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i want you to know that i am a pure pkd fan from early 1990s, and i hope your Life is going well...it is hard sometimes to stand next to such a wind as pkd when society began to understand he was going to influence their ideas as technology became more complex and the pkd machines started to become real...
Keep up the good work of just being you and not worry about the pkd "FANS"...they will be around Long after we are gone...
DERRUFO

tuffy777 said...

thank you, derrufo

Anonymous said...

this woman had NO comments on her site--none-- thats how Loyal the pkd fans are--they assumed--from a famous pkd fan report-she Left her marriage to the guy- that's true yes she did Leave him--but that is a personal issue in their own Lives-- Long ago also-- she shouldn't be punished for it in any way.... so...
no fans comment on her site !!!! all these years Later-- i assume her site has been up at least 6 months(?) before i wrote my comment below to show some type humane kindness to this woman--and amazingly she answered it-- very cool.... -- derrufo


tuffy777 said...

actually, derrufo, Phil left me for Doris Sauter. I divorced him after he moved out, taking all the furniture, books, etc. Phil moved into an apartment where children were not allowed, and I could not afford to keep the rented house, so I went to stay with my family, and I divorced him.

Anonymous said...

your life was imaged and studied somewhat more than many people due to PKD and ...
well i wish you the best in your present Life-- i am worried that since i post as anonymous that any one might do so saying its me so i will simply say :
getthederr at aol . com
if you wish to comment more...
-DERRUFO