Sunday, November 6, 2011

Philip K. Dick on Direct Experience of the Divine, vs. Organized Religion


"I'm totally against organized religion," he states. "I believe you have a direct relation with the divine or you have no relation with the divine. It has nothing to do with faith or dogmatic creeds. The initiative comes from the divine side. There is nothing you can do. All you can do is live an honest life, be brutally honest with yourself, and hope to become an object of interest with the divine beings. Using a formula to evoke them is technically called "magic." I guess you could call me a neo-Platonist with gnostic overtones."

From: "Philip K. Dick: Confessions Of A SF Artist" [An Interview with Philip K. Dick] by George Cain & Dana Longo
Denver Clarion, October 23, 1980

once again thanks are due to Frank Betrand for the quote

1 comment:

  1. One suggestive and intriguing part of this quote is Philip K. Dick's use of the phrase "divine beings" (plural!) and the plural pronoun "them." He's not, therefore, talking about monotheistic religions. Perhaps acosmism or Gnosticism?

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