Reality, serendipity and Philip K Dick

[Ian Carmichael]

Browsing the 'net - as you do, I got to one of those quote sites. (I was looking for the origin of the quote 'In the beginning there was nothing. Then it exploded' (Turned out be from Terry Pratchett).
As I read on I came across a definition of reality coined by Dick "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
And this was the one quote with a source - I looked it up and it's a speech by Dick How to build a Universe that doesn't fall apart two days later.
Please read it, it's full of amazing serendipities itself, such as scenes from his novels replicating narrative Biblical passages about which he was unaware. And, anyway - if you know much about Philip K Dick, you'll want to read more of what he has to say.
For those who don't know about him, he was an earlier imaginer of computer viruses, he had a quirky way of titling books - most of you have probably seen Blade Runner - the book is Do androids dream of electric sheep?, and most of his books were interesting investigations of reality and unreality.

When you check the link out, I'd love you to post a response back here.
Cheers
Ian

[Skip Zilla]

Great piece of writing (and commentary) by Philip K. Dick. Thanks, Ian. Here's my reply in kind:

After taking the reader on a journey to many of the 1,300 ancient astronomical sites he has visited personally over his career, E. C. Krupp, an astronomer and the director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, concludes his book about the multifaceted relationship between power and astronomical knowledge with the following observations:

Now that there is no transcendental center of the world, the sacred is no longer embedded in the architecture of public power. Because the arena of nation-states no longer operates on sacred power, miracles and the power that makes them possible must be encountered in personal life, not in public forums. That is why flying saucers never land on the White House lawn. Space aliens and UFOs are a modern myth of transcendental power, but that power no longer has any charter with the government. The saucer folk may say, "Take me to your leader," but they don't really mean it. Instead, the aliens seem to be fans of ordinary people. Stories of contact and abduction are essentially visionary or religious experiences--and not necessarily always pleasant. With the focus of extraterrestrial attention, the people who have these encounters become extraordinary, but only individuals are transformed. The state is untouched and actually is targeted by believers as the agency of official denial and duplicitous knowledge. For believers, then, there may be a secret empire of institutional power linked to restricted knowledge of the activity of alien spacecraft, but this is no cosmic mandate to run the country.

The new geography of the physical universe allows us to find a home for miraculous power in a system of knowledge that bypasses the gods. Mysterious apparitions and encounters are now instead accepted by many as evidence of spacecraft from other worlds and alien contact. Marvels are fit for polite company if they are really superscience from the stars. We don't even have to accept the reality of visiting extraterrestrials to find the concept useful in allowing us to understand the perceptions of those who do believe that space aliens float and glow among us.

Whether or not we embrace the tales of interaction with visitors from other worlds, most of us still have an urge to see something uncanny in the nature of the cosmos. Because we no longer all share the same world view, however, we can't rely on cosmovision to contain it. That doesn't mean there is no longer any traffic in symbols. Cosmovision has been replaced by television. The images and commentary that appear in the flames of the electronic hearth are stories that help create and reinforce the mythic structure of the world. As passive--and often uncritical--consumers of televised data, we are influenced not just by verifiable fact, but by repeated exposure. Abduction by UFOs and alien autopsies are as commonplace as commercials and as compelling as pulp fiction. Whether we believe in them or not, they are part of our vocabulary of cosmic wonder.

(end of part one, made necessary by Ning size limitation -- see part two)

[Skip Zilla]

(part two -- a continuation of above reply)

We demand, however, a personal and human dimension in our miracles, and that may help explain sightings of Elvis and the enshrining of Graceland. Merging the beatification of Elvis with mystery in space, The Sun, a sensationalist tabloid, headlined the September 20, 1988, edition with "Statue of Elvis Found on Mars." The Elvis shrine in my own house is dedicated to the proposition that a religion is gradually and quietly condensing around the "King." Skeptics understandably reject the idea as absurd, but Elvis is becoming a source of personal power and inspiration. A neighbor, at first skeptical of this notion, was singing in Brazil as backup for an Elvis impersonator. On that occasion, in a conversation with a woman from the audience, she was shown a picture of Elvis in the woman's wallet, and the Brazilian woman said, "I feel much safer with this with me." For those who prefer a more public expression of the Elvis influence, I direct your attention to the route that connects the Israeli port of Ashdod with Jerusalem. A gas station and cafe on Highway I, at the summit of the last hill before descending to the city that is a holy cosmic center for three of the world's great living religions, greets visitors with nonstop Elvis recordings and Elvis memorabilia covering every wall and column. The sign ouside proclaims "I saw Elvis at the Elvis Inn," and the future may judge it is no coincidence this place of Elvis power is near Jerusalem. Anyone still doubtful about the ubiquity of Elvis and the evolution of his myth should take a look at Rowland Scherman's book of photographs Elvis Is Everywhere.

The transfiguration of Elvis and inklings of technology imported from the stars may be understandable mythic consequences of the transformation of the belief system and the secularization of power, but for now, at least, they are a little too wacky for a mainstream ideology of transcendental power. It is reasonable to ask, however, what, if anything, might reignite a cross-cultural ideology in a world that has separated the sacred from the state and whose fortunes depend on scientific analysis and testable knowledge. What reservoirs of power can mobilize a society of Balkanized belief, skeptical of authority but absolutely dependent on centralized power? There are, perhaps, two concepts that have emerged as agents of ideological unification--the environmental sanctity of the earth and the cosmic mystery of outer space. Our fear of fatally fouling our own nest and the elevating imagery of exotic and distant frontiers have great emotional power, and emotional response stokes the furnace of belief. These energizers of ideology are maybe not so different after all from what preoccupied our ancestors. The planet's well-being may now be a global issue, but prosperity and survival are still our concerns. Demonstrations of cosmic power, on the other hand, are now evident in a comet's crash into Jupiter and in Space Telescope views of vast smoky pillars of interstellar gas that cradle newborn stars. These landscapes and unprecedented events become the property of the entire earth through television and the World Wide Web. Centers of public astronomy, like Giffith Observatory in Los Angeles, put more people than ever eyeball to the universe with in-person views through a telescope and with the cosmic verisimilitude of the planetarium. The cosmos of our ancestors may seem more cohesive, but ours is unmatched for spectacle, mystery, and awe.

We may, then, be seeing a glimpse of a new ideology of power. It naturally emerges from a new vision of nature that is too compelling for most of us to reject, although wthere will always be some who persist in the anachronistic quest for the center of the world. We, however, remain on alert, thanks to the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, for that new rough beast at last slouching toward Bethlehem. But as its ordained hour comes round, we should keep in mind that it could look something like Elvis.

(pp.314-317, Skywatchers, Shamans, & Kings: Astronomy and the Archaeology of Power by E. C. Krupp, 1997, New York: John Wiley & Sons.)
Here's a little more about the book itself:
Whether the power was exercised by ancient medicine men, rain chiefs, or sacred kings in the affairs of religion, economics, or government, astronomical knowledge confers power. The calendar must be kept. The omens must be read. The ceremonies must be performed. This relationship involves the concepts of sacred landscape, mythic origins, and cosmovision. These are symbols we have derived to explain how the world works, and the transformation of these symbols is linked with the cultural evolution of societies. The themes of celestial power are, then, an album of self-portraits. As we explore this gallery, we may not recognize all the names, but the faces should look familiar.

[Ian Carmichael]

Intriguing, Skip - thanks indeed.