Week 8
According to McKnee, what relationship did Dick’s ideas have to (a) Christianity (b) religion and philosophy in general?
From what I can comprehend from McKnee (2004), he tells of Dick’s work and life being all centrally involved with religion and philosophy. Most of his novels have a higher or powerful being in them, for example the I Ching in The man in the High Castle. McKnee (2004) quotes Dick’s wife Tessa about her opinion of Dick’s religious beliefs “I remember quite clearly that Phil always expressed a belief in Christ. I am tired of people proclaiming that because his religious beliefs were strange, he could not possibly be a Christian” (p.32). So I get the impression from Dick’s Wife and also from McKnee that it was a wild debate over what his religious views were.
In Dick’s ‘Exegesis’ entries he changes his religious and philosophy beliefs and opinions frequently. As his views go from one extreme to another it is hard to determine what he does believe in or not or if he was just in some drug hazed state at the time. McKnee (2004) reveals that Dick’s strong views extended to what people thought of his own work. If he did not agree with them then you did not want to be on his bad side as “his disapproval was extreme” (p.24).
I also found this quote in Wikipedia from Dick's former wife Tessa regarding the substance Ubik created in the Dick novel Ubik - "Ubik is a metaphor for God. Ubik is all-powerful and all-knowing, and Ubik is everywhere. The spray can is only a form that Ubik takes to make it easy for people to understand it and use it. It is not the substance inside the can that helps them, but rather their faith in the promise that it will help them”. So it is apparent that religion is interpreted through Dick’s work.
McKnee (2004) states that “many literary scholars who have studied Dick’s work describe his religious writing as ‘Gnostic’ “(p.27). Collins Dictionary (2010) describes this as “Gnosticism – Religious movement believing in intuitive spiritual knowledge” (p.254). And in Dick’s novel ‘VALIS’ it is said by Wikipedia to be a ‘gnostic vision’ of one aspect of God, so these are just some examples of apparent Gnostic views in Dick’s work.
In regards to Dick’s philosophy you can see examples of this through his novel ‘Do androids dream of electric sheep’ which looks at what it means to be human. And McKnee (2004) looks at the examples in Dick’s ‘Exegesis’ of exploring the concepts of ying-yang – good vs. evil. But as McKnee (2004) ends his view on Dick’s religious views he states “The God that Dick believed in was the Christian God, and it was Christianity to which his theories ultimately returned” (p.44).
References:
Collins English Dictionary (4th ed.). (2010). Glasgow, UK: Collins
McKee, G. (2004). A Scanner Darkly: Dick as a Christian theologian. Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter: the science fictional religion of Philip K. Dick. New York, USA: U Press of America
Ubik. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubik
VALIS. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VALIS
I really enjoyed this post Jenna, as it really pointed out the many different levels in Dicks work - they are not just stories but philosophical metaphors. It annoys me to think that Dick was critisized as a Christian just for embracing more ideas.
ReplyDeleteUbik sounds like something I would like to read. We see many allegories to religion in texts but Ubik sounds like the most obvious and entertaining. It could also refer to things beyond religion such as drugs or just basic philosophy. I like that many of Dick's work seem to portray characters as real, they are not black and white but shades of grey. As we see, the line between good and evil is blurred - how does one exist without the other- and these central ideas in his books make for reading that is one level beyond regular fiction. However, ideas that Dick writes about does not necessarily have to be his own opinions, as an author surely his job is just to entertain? When we read we do not think about the author's religious views, so McKee (2004) writing that he always reverts to Christianity is not really relevant.
I am a bit confused as to the references to Gnosticism, however. I personally like Gnostic teachings and would be interested to research their influence on Dick's work further.
It's impressive that you have made a good thought in this question. Dick is talent, we can read his works especial 'the man in the high castle'. The thinks he wrote is powerful and convitatve.
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