Uroboros: Link to a good interview with Philip Kindred Dick – So I Don’t Write About Heroes: An Interview with Philip K. Dick

Conducted by Uwe Anton & Werner Fuchs
Transcribed by Frank C. Bertrand

[from: SF EYE, #14, Spring 1996, pp. 37-46]

This is the first English publication of the following interview. It has been published three times in German. It was excerpted in the German magazines Science Fiction Times and Nova, and the complete version was published in Uwe Anton’s book-length collection of PKD’s fiction and non-fiction, Kosmische Puppen und Andore Lebensformen (Heyne Publishers).

Source: So I Don’t Write About Heroes: An Interview with Philip K. Dick

Uwe Anton is the author of some one hundred stories and short novels and over twenty books in Germany. As well he is a prolific critic and translator. Among his many books is a full-length study of PKD, Philip K. Dick – Entropie und Hoffnung (Tilsner).

As you can see, Anton and Fuchs caught Dick in an open and expansive mood. Energized by the enthusiastic response he was receiving at the convention, Dick opened up and discussed in detail many of his most classic works. The EYE is proud to be able to present this invaluable look into the working processes of a crucial writer.

– Stephen P. Brown, SF EYE

The prophet doesn’t count in his own land,‘ goes a famous old saying which has proven correct till those hot and short-lived days of 1980. In this case, Phil Dick is the prophet and the land is the United States of America.

In the fall of 1977 Philip K. Dick was guest of honor at a large science fiction convention in Metz, France. There, we had the days of Star Wars (at the Metz festival a still untranslated version of the movie was shown for the first time in Europe), and the local cinemas showed science fiction movies non-stop from ten in the morning until ten in the evening – five different movies in five different cinemas at the same time. Several big names in science fiction could be found at the giant sofitel (the French version of America’s Holiday Inns): John Brunner, Robert Sheckley, Harlan Ellison, Harry Harrison among others. But those days in Metz were above all the days of Philip K. Dick. In France, as well as in Germany, Italy, Spain, even all of Western Europe, Philip K. Dick was one of the most appreciated of science fiction writers. Long before literary journals such as Science-Fiction Studies, Extrapolation and Foundation gave� Dick the serious consideration he deserved, Western Europe had discovered him as one of the most important science fiction authors. Rather than a few selected short stories and novels, it was his complete writings that attracted the serious critics of Europe. And most of these writings circulate around one theme: Man’s search for reality and truth in an adverse universe full of malice and danger.

Those seven days at Metz were very hectic days. P.K. Dick was not only accosted but besieged by numerous fans. He had to change his hotel room secretly, for the phone rang constantly, even after midnight. But there also were a lot of serious people taking up his time; Dick did interviews on French radio and delivered a speech in the city hall of Metz which was broadcast on French TV.

The following interview was conducted by Uwe Anton and Werner Fuchs. We were able to speak with Dick several times over the course of three days. The interview took the form of a wide ranging, diverse, general conversation, Phil being very willing to give it, feeling that his writing was appreciated in Germany a lot more than in the United States.
        — Uwe Anton, 1980

Uroboros: Recommendations to read – Stephan A. Hoeller – Abraxas: Jung’s Gnostic Demiurge in Liber Novus [4]

Source (text + graphics/photo): Stephan A. Hoeller: The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead/Abraxas: Jung’s Gnostic Demiurge in Liber Novus

Carl Gustav Jung

C. G. Jung possessed an intense and sympathetic interest in the early alternative Christian tradition now known as Gnosticism. Both in his published writings and in his private reminiscences one finds frequent and insightful comments about Gnostic tradition, although during much of Jung’s life the subject of Gnosticism was virtually unknown to all but a few scholars of religion.

One of the key documents bearing early testimony to Jung’s vital Gnostic interest was his finely designed book, Septem Sermones ad Mortuos—“Seven Sermons to the Dead.” Jung had the work privately printed in 1916 and over subsequent decades gave copies of it to a select number of friends and associates. With Jung’s approval, H. G. Baynes translated the text of the Sermons into English and this edition was privately printed in 1925. Again, Jung distributed the English edition only to persons whom he felt to be properly prepared for its message.

+ Recommendations to read (full version in Czech): Uroboros: Převzatý článek z webu Ecclesia Gnostica – Stephan A. Hoeller: Abraxas: Jung’s Gnostic Demiurge in Liber Novus/Abraxas: Jungův gnostický Demiurg v Liber Novus [Copyright ©]

Uroboros: Recommendations to read – The Bible as a Provocation – By Alexander Maistrovoy [3]

Source: The Bible as Provocation

Gnosticism through the Prism of the Third Millennium: Or between God and the Creator – AMAZON

The Bible has always been and still remains to this day the main book of humankind; its storylines, conflicts, and heroes are the source of inspiration for the greatest philosophers, fiction writers, playwrights, musicians, and artists, even if they renounced both God and his book. The Bible is part of our lives, the foundation of our outlook, and the cornerstone of civilization. Like communists, those who hated it were the hostages of the biblical prophesies, quest for perfection, harmony, and universal unification. Biblical heroes became the characters of dramas, which provided the basis for world literature. The idea of ruthless antagonism of not just passions, like in the ancient Greek tragedy, but universal good and evil, submission to a great servitude, self-sacrifice and righteousness, intended purpose and freedom of choice—all this originates from the main book of humankind. Michelangelo and Shakespeare rose to the heights of the Bible, measuring themselves on biblical heroes, and earned themselves eternal glory this way.

But what does the Bible represent in itself, from beginning to end, if not a splendid permanent provocation? And the main provocateur is the Creator himself.

He, the Creator, placed Adam and Eve into the Garden of Eden. They were like children who didn’t know evil, and they remained blissfully ignorant. However, their bliss was tainted by a strange ban: they were not to taste the fruits of the tree of knowledge. Disobedience is fraught with a terrible penance. All parents know that, when they strictly prohibit their children from taking some action, they thus provoke the children to commit the forbidden, as there is nothing more desirable than the forbidden fruit. But the Creator did not limit himself to this: he placed into the Garden of Eden with its wonderful and touching creatures a dangerous and sly thing—the snake of temptation. From then on, Adam and Eve had no chance. The forbidden fruit was alluring in itself, but the demon, whose spells these naïve creatures were unable to resist, was tempting them in every possible way. And when they, in their simplicity, succumbed to temptation, they attracted all possible punishments from the Creator who did not forgive his children for the wrong step he had plotted. In other words, parents ban their children from touching a much-desired candy and then have some characters wave the very candy under their very noses. And then they descend onto the children in a fury when they are unable to resist temptation. All normal parents would call these actions convoluted sadism.

Version of the article in Czech language – Uroboros: Alexander Maistrovoy – The Bible as a Provocation/Bible jako provokace (aneb do zkaženého nitra biblických příběhů) [Copyright ©]

Uroboros: Recommendations to read – A Neo-Daisanite Cosmology [1]

A Neo-Daisanite Cosmology – Mitigated dualism, free will, and a restoration of all things.

The first post for any blog or newsletter is always daunting. I guess the most natural route to take is to provide an introduction and overview of what I want to do with this Substack. I am, however, extremely undecided. I have a number of saved drafts all with different titles and topics. So, I guess I have to take the plunge and just go for what I feel is most natural for me. After all, I feel that I am writing more for myself, a platform where I can write my thoughts down, and if anyone is interested, they are more than welcome to see the dizzying myriad of ideas found within my mind. Most are not in harmony, and to be quite frank; many contradict one another and really provide no meaning at all. Thus, if you are reading this post, I hope you can walk with me in trying to understand life from a Bardaisanite perspective.

For many, Bardaisan is probably an unfamiliar figure; therefore, it is prudent to provide a quick overview of this obscure philosopher whom I have come to know as my divine σύζυγος (syzygos). Just to quickly highlight what I mean by “syzygos”; in ancient times, there was an idea that everyone had a “divine twin”. Mani, the prophet and founder of Manichaeism, was instructed by his own syzygos to start his own church. I have not received any revelation or instruction from my heavenly twin Bardaisan; I just like to use this image as a way of emphasizing the point that I am a really big fan of his work.

Recommendations to read: A Neo-Daisanite Cosmology – Mitigated dualism, free will, and a restoration of all things. (Source)

Recommendations to read (full version in Czech): Doporučení k přečtení – A Neo-Daisanite Cosmology [1]