What did he know?
>>41211532Too much apparently
I've read the first hundred pages of this and it's a whirlwind, I feel like I need to be in the right headspace to read the remaining ~700
>>41211532Wasn't he the first to posit that we are living in a simulation?
>>41211532"So Philip K. Dick had this theory that time was an illusion and that we were all actually in 50 A.D., and the reason he had written this book was that he had somehow momentarily punctured through this illusion, this veil of time, and what he had seen there was what was going on in the Book of Acts.And he was really into Gnosticism, and this idea that this demiurge, or demon, had created this illusion of time to make us forget that Christ was about to return, and the kingdom of God was about to arrive. And that we're all in 50 A.D., and there's someone trying to make us forget that God is imminent. And that's what time is. That's what all of history is. It's just this kind of continuous, you know, daydream, or distraction.Let me explain to you the nature of the universe. Now Philip K. Dick is right about time, but he's wrong that it's 50 A.D. Actually, there's only one instant, and it's right now, and it's eternity. And it's an instant in which God is posing a question, and that question is basically, 'Do you want to, you know, be one with eternity? Do you want to be in heaven?' And we're all saying, 'No thank you. Not just yet.' And so time is actually just this constant saying 'No' to God's invitation. I mean that's what time is. I mean, and it's no more 50 A.D. than it's two thousand and one. And there's just this one instant, and that's what we're always in"From the movie Waking Life, which is kind of the pretentious artsy "you know the type" project but whatever felt like bringing this up even if it's not that great of a scene. Recommend the watch tho, it's fun although not very deep I would say
>>41211640Thank you great explanation! Did he mention how to say Yes to God and escape time?
>>41211640This is great. the present. The great HERE NOW>>41211690Literally just live in the present. All the time. You have many thoughts in your mind, but there's a quiet one, the quietest one even, that *knows*. Listen to it. Let it guide you. What should you be doing now? Do it. In a zen way though, like do it without effort.
>>41211640
>>41211532Even robots shouldn't put their dick in crazy
>>41211547I've had the hardcover for like 7 years now and I've still only skimmed bits of it. It feels very much like something you have to be in the right mode for, also I haven't decided if it's the kind of thing to read through in a linear fashion or to open at random & read isolated passages from.Reality has been getting progressively more paper thin for me since the summer solstice, might be time for me to take another crack at it.
>>41211532PKD is based as fuck. The VALIS trilogy is pure kino if you're into gnosticism. It's funny how they present his writings as the hazy ramblings of some schizo madman, when in reality everything he is presenting is actually true.
>>41211952VALIS is one of books where for at least the first 2/3rds it feels like you're not reading a text so much as looking through a portal into another realm. Also PKD's whole "i'm going to go totally off the rails in middle age & live with a bunch of psychedelic hippies half my age but still remain totally dedicated to writing for hours & hours a day" arc seemed very aspirational to me as a teenager, for better or worse
>>41211952Finished the first one. Are the second and third as good?
>>412119892nd is OK3rd is very good
>>41211532I read one of his books. One of the minor characters had the same name as me (first and last), and everything happening to the character was happening to me while I was reading it. I was saying things that the character said the week before. It may have saved my life. I believe god sent one of his prophets to save my life, because it's the only way I would have listened. Thank you, Phil. It really touched me.
>>41212590what title?
>>41212647I think it's dangerous for me to say directly due to spiritual attacks and de-anonymizing myself. But he is a failing musician getting kicked out his apartment, people spreading rumors about him. I don't care if you go find it, or even post what it was on here. But I usually leave out the title. Have posted threads about it on here before.
>>41211618No? Pkd was a gnostic. His "simulation" ideas are just interpretations of gnostic thought and similar to a baudrillardian matrix in which meaning is lost
>>41211532God encompasses everything. Literally everything. Time, space, niggers, boogers, soulless lizard people and the useful idiots that serve them, hand nails, all your good thoughts and your bad thoughts. And shit so horrific your mind would implode if you knew. Everything. You get to decide where you fall in that spectrum. Love rules the day but doesn't follow the rules you conceive.PKD tapped into this.
>>41211618No lmao, in the west it goes back at least as far as Plato in terms of reality being a false/inaccurate reality. In the east, you're going back to at least 700BC with the early Upanishads and Buddhism.
>>41211532That book is pure kino.
>>41211640How the fuck do i say yes to God and get out of this dumbass human society
>>41212996I don't think it's something we can figure out using our intellect. Gnosis is always described as a deep understanding from within the heart, not the mind. It's kind of the conundrum we're in, how do you teach yourself something you can't even begin to imagine? I think that's the reason why religions have so many practices and rituals, so you can foster that understanding without having to rely on your intellect.
>>41212669That sounds like the short story "Strange Memories of Death" (also published as "Blessing in Disguise").
>>41212669Sounds like short novel "Confessions of a Crap Artist" — the protagonist Jack Isidore is a socially awkward, deluded man (often treated as a failure) who lives in a crowded boardinghouse, faces rumors and social ostracism, and struggles with life stability. If that doesn't fit, another possibility is the short story "The Hanging Stranger" (less likely).
>>41212669cool, I know the bookgreetings from kazakhstan
>>41211690you don't even realize how the question itself traps you in time
>>41215005What do you mean? Can you elaborate?
