Boehme on Magic

"Magic is the mother of eternity, of the being of all beings; for it creates itself, and is understood in desire. It is in itself nothing but a will and this will is the great mystery of all wonders and secrets, but brings itself into imagination or figuration itself by the imagination of the desireful hunger into being. It is the original state of Nature. Its desire makes an imagination, and imagination or figuration is only the will of desire. But desire makes in the will such a being as the will in itself is."
-- Jacob Boehme (1575-1624)
(thanks to Phil Norfleet for the quote)

PKD Panel Needs Papers!

I'll be submitting a paper proposal on Philip K. Dick and Alchemy to
the Association for the Study of Esotericism conference this summer.
There is room on the panel (with me and Erik Davis) for more papers
about PKD. Any serious reader of the Exegesis who has an academic
lens to bring to the study would be perfect for this. Drop me a line
if you're interested and would like help workshopping a paper proposal.
Here is the link.

Philip K. Dick on the Religious Theme in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back

From "Universe Makers ... and Breakers" 1981: "I'm getting a little tired of people turning out to be robots, harmless-looking life forms evolving into stupendous but predictable space squids, and, most of all, World War Two's Battle of Midway refought in outer space. But I must admit that the eerie, mystical, almost religious subtheme in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back enchanted me."

thanks to Frank Hollander for posting this quote. Nice to know that the Joseph Campbell thing can make an exception for bad space opera.

and from Selected Letter vol 5 (p.120):

While I was there in Metz we saw the French premiere of STAR WARS and I was amazed at the theological implications of what, in the film, is called "the force". Have you seen the film? I then bought the novel. Beyond doubt there is a profound theological theme to it, and the audience is reacting to it. Also (and I tell you this witha certain hesitation) the description of "the force" in STAR WARS for unaccountable reasons resembles the entity or force which took me over during my religious experiences in March of 1974. That which I saw then, which I call VALIS or Zebra was a plasmatic energy

more from PKD on Star Wars in this post

Magic equals Science

“I was twelve [in 1940] when I read my first sf magazine…it was called Stirring Science Stories and ran, I think, four issues….I came across the magazine quite by accident; I was actually looking for Popular Science. I was most amazed. Stories about science? At once I recognized the magic which I had found, in earlier times, in the Oz books – this magic now coupled not with magic wands but with science…In any case my view became magic equals science… and science (of the future) equals magic.”
-Philip K. Dick, Self Portrait (1968)