Readers of the Exegesis will notice a great deal of Christianity in the book. Dick notoriously explored and plundered the philosophical sublimities and ecstatic excesses of Christian Platonism and Mysticism, but he was also dedicated to his Bible. Christology is a big deal for Dick, who seems to have discovered that Christ can mean just about anything as he plugs Christ into all his theories, trying to make sense of them. But as we see in quotes like the below, Dick had moments where he radically doubted the Christianity that otherwise obsessed him. We have seen another place where Dick thought that he was tuning into a pre-Christian Platonic religion that was "bringing down Christianity." Here we have a spirited affirmation of Nietzsche's critique of Christianity as a "slave religion."
[69:I-8] Nietzsche is right about Christianity. It's the fucking hair shirt syndrome: always made me feel shame, guilt, always responding to duty and obligations to others—I view myself as weak, at the beck and call of others, obligated to them. Bullshit. "I am a man"—as that book on Judaism puts it. I need no one's permission anymore. I need not account to anyone. I owe them nothing; they are pushing old buttons, long out of date. I have proved my worth and earned my reward.
Hi Teddy, I was actually here earlier today, when my Exegesis first arrived. But now, must pore over the 900 pages! GREAT blog and of course, the Gnostic/religious/phil-osophy aspects of PKD are my main interest. "I'll be back" (I'm so full of cliche tonight ;)
ReplyDeleteIs the whole paragraph that begins [69:1-8] a direct quote from Dick? You need to mark off quotes more clearly, preferably as block quotes or at least with quotation marks.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's from the Exegesis, as you can see from the link (perhaps you need to turn off adblocker to see that I'm citing the Exegesis?).
ReplyDeleteAs it is any time you see those numbers in brackets, which are the editors' convention for marking the folder in which the selection is found.