It's playing at the Berkeley Rialto 430 6 9 for a week.
Also working on a podcast which I hope to post soon.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
Interview with Radio Free Albemuth director John Alan Simon
I've had the privilege of seeing the movie twice and hanging out with John for a few hours on a PKD tour and between events at a few cons. It's a great movie -- see my review below -- and finally hits theaters this Friday. Tomorrow I'm going to distribute some promotional postcards they sent me in Berkeley which is kind of a trip because it's the city where the film is set. Bay Area readers let me know if you want some of the postcards and maybe we can meet up.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/06/23/interview-with-radio-free-albemuth-writer-director-john-alan-simon-look-it-moves-with-adi-tantimedh/
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/06/23/interview-with-radio-free-albemuth-writer-director-john-alan-simon-look-it-moves-with-adi-tantimedh/
Friday, June 13, 2014
interview bit on the tutelary spirit voice
"The voice that speaks to me, my priest – I’m an Episcopalian – is identified as ruah, which is the word that appears in the Old Testament for the Spirit of God. It speaks in the feminine voice and tends to express statements regarding the Messianic expectation.
It guided me for awhile. It has spoken to me sporadically since I was in high school. But I haven’t heard from it since the sequel. I expect, though, that if a crisis arises it will say something again. It is very economical in what it says. It limits itself to a few very terse, succinct sentences.
I only hear the voice of the spirit when I’m falling asleep or waking up. I have to be very receptive to hear it. It’s extremely faint. It sounds as though it’s coming from millions of miles away."
Monday, June 9, 2014
Philosophy and Religion from the Joe Vitale interview
AQUARIAN: Then what is the major influence on your work?
DICK: Philosophy and philosophical inquiry.
I studied philosophy during my brief career at the University of California at Berkley. I’m what they call an “acosmic pan-enthiest,” which means that I don’t believe that the universe exists. I believe that the only thing that exists is God and he is more than the universe. The universe is an extension of God into space and time.
That’s the premise I start from in my work, that so-called “reality” is an mass delusion that we’ve all been required to believe for reasons totally obscure.
Bishop Berkely believed that the world doesn’t exist, that God directly impinges on our minds the sensation that the world exists. The Russian science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem poses that if there was a brain being fed a simulated world, is there any way the brain could tell it was a simulated world? the answer, of course, is no. Not unless there was a technological foul-up.
Imagine a brain floating in a tank with millions and millions of electrodes attached to specific nerve centers. Now imagine these electrodes being selectively stimulated by a computer to cause the brain to believe that it was walking down Hollywood Boulevard chomping on a hamburger and checking out the chicks.
Now, if there was a technological foul-up, or if the tapes got jumbled, the brain would suddenly see Jesus Christ pass by down Hollywood Boulevard on his way to Golgotha, pursued by a crowd of angry people, being whipped along by seven Roman Centurions.
The brain would say, “Now hold on there!” And suddenly the entire image would go “pop” and disappear.
I studied philosophy during my brief career at the University of California at Berkley. I’m what they call an “acosmic pan-enthiest,” which means that I don’t believe that the universe exists. I believe that the only thing that exists is God and he is more than the universe. The universe is an extension of God into space and time.
That’s the premise I start from in my work, that so-called “reality” is an mass delusion that we’ve all been required to believe for reasons totally obscure.
Bishop Berkely believed that the world doesn’t exist, that God directly impinges on our minds the sensation that the world exists. The Russian science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem poses that if there was a brain being fed a simulated world, is there any way the brain could tell it was a simulated world? the answer, of course, is no. Not unless there was a technological foul-up.
Imagine a brain floating in a tank with millions and millions of electrodes attached to specific nerve centers. Now imagine these electrodes being selectively stimulated by a computer to cause the brain to believe that it was walking down Hollywood Boulevard chomping on a hamburger and checking out the chicks.
Now, if there was a technological foul-up, or if the tapes got jumbled, the brain would suddenly see Jesus Christ pass by down Hollywood Boulevard on his way to Golgotha, pursued by a crowd of angry people, being whipped along by seven Roman Centurions.
The brain would say, “Now hold on there!” And suddenly the entire image would go “pop” and disappear.
I’ve always had this funny feeling about reality. It just seems very feeble to me sometimes. It doesn’t seem to have the substantiality that it’s suppose to have.
I look at reality the way a rustic looks at a shell game when he comes into town to visit the fair. A little voice inside me says, “now wait just a second there…”
I look at reality the way a rustic looks at a shell game when he comes into town to visit the fair. A little voice inside me says, “now wait just a second there…”
AQUARIAN: Religion and religious inquiry also occupy a very prominent place in your writing.
DICK: I’ve always been interested in religion. In man’s relationship with is god, what he chooses to worship. I was raised a Quaker but converted to Episcopalianism very early in my life.
The new novel I’m currently working on for Bantam Books has its basis in theology and what I’ve had to do, in short, it to create a new religion right from scratch.
It reminds me of something a girl said to me a couple of weeks ago. She said, “You’re really smart, too bad you’re not religious.” (Laughs) And here I am doing nothing all day but reading the Bible, the Apocrypha, the writings of Gnosticism, histories of Christianity. I’ll tell you, I could go out and get a degree in theology right now!
The new novel I’m currently working on for Bantam Books has its basis in theology and what I’ve had to do, in short, it to create a new religion right from scratch.
It reminds me of something a girl said to me a couple of weeks ago. She said, “You’re really smart, too bad you’re not religious.” (Laughs) And here I am doing nothing all day but reading the Bible, the Apocrypha, the writings of Gnosticism, histories of Christianity. I’ll tell you, I could go out and get a degree in theology right now!
It seems like a natural progression of sorts. I got badly burned in the political arena. I was hounded by Mr. Smith and Mr. Scruggs. I would literally get thrown out of Socialist and Communist Party meetings when I was in college for disagreeing with party doctrine. And so I turn to religion, and I find incredible bigotry. Two thousand years of history and the names change but the activity remains the same. Somebody was always throwing someone else into prison for his beliefs or burning him at the stake.
I believe that the establishment churches have lost the keys to the kingdom. They don’t even know what the Kingdom of God is.
It’s like some guy who loses the keys to his car. He knows he had them a second ago but now they’re gone. The churches, however, don’t even know what the car looks like anymore. They can’t even give a description of it to the cop.
Organized religion is crooked, dumb, and it’s lost the keys. I mean, it’s OK to be crooked and dumb, we’re all crooked and dumb. But the tragedy is that they’ve lost the keys. They can’t even point us in the right direction much less take us there.
The whole question of religion is very melancholic. It makes me very sad really. I mean, I’ve read so much and still, I haven’t found God. We have a “deus abscondatus,” a hidden God. As Plato says, “God exists but He is hard to find.”
I’ve spent the majority of my life studying and reading and seeking God, but, of course, the thing is you can’t find God. God has to find you. I’ve learned that.
I believe that the establishment churches have lost the keys to the kingdom. They don’t even know what the Kingdom of God is.
It’s like some guy who loses the keys to his car. He knows he had them a second ago but now they’re gone. The churches, however, don’t even know what the car looks like anymore. They can’t even give a description of it to the cop.
Organized religion is crooked, dumb, and it’s lost the keys. I mean, it’s OK to be crooked and dumb, we’re all crooked and dumb. But the tragedy is that they’ve lost the keys. They can’t even point us in the right direction much less take us there.
The whole question of religion is very melancholic. It makes me very sad really. I mean, I’ve read so much and still, I haven’t found God. We have a “deus abscondatus,” a hidden God. As Plato says, “God exists but He is hard to find.”
I’ve spent the majority of my life studying and reading and seeking God, but, of course, the thing is you can’t find God. God has to find you. I’ve learned that.
http://www.philipkdickfans.com/literary-criticism/interviews/an-interview-with-americas-most-brilliant-science-fiction-writer-philip-k-dick/
Thursday, January 23, 2014
My Resume
5423 Shasta Avenue (510) 255-7388 (home)
San Pablo, CA 94806 (707) 481-5332 (cell)
Albert Edward Hand
Objective: To obtain a research assistant position that challenges my teaching skills and creative writing experience.
Education:
Sonoma Valley High School -- diploma class of 1998
Santa Rosa Junior College courses in music and psychology 1996-1997
UC Davis English Major (teaching emphasis) Philosophy Minor 1998-2003
Graduate Theological Union - MA in Art and Religion (finished coursework) 2004-2008
UC Berkeley - Summer Latin Intensive 2006
Work Experience:
ESL Instructor, ELS Language Center. San Rafael, CA 2011-2014
Duties: Designing lesson plans, teaching classes, evaluating new students, calculating grades and maintaining student records using spreadsheet software, writing handouts, memos and grade reports, writing recommendation letters for college aspirants.
TOEFL Test Administrator, ETS Testing Services, San Rafael, CA 2011-2014
Duties: Using computers to administer English proficiency tests for international students who want to attend university, managing test proctors, writing reports, customer service.
Conference Co-Organizer, SFSU “Philip K. Dick Fest” literature conference.
Duties: Writing emails to conference participants, scheduling, writing copy for conference program, moderating panels, introducing speakers, setup and cleanup.
Substitute Teacher, West Contra Costa USD. Richmond, CA 2007-2011
Duties: Reading and implementing lesson plans, classroom management, writing reports on lesson objectives and student papers, long-term replacement during sick leave.
CELDT Test Administrator, West Contra Costa USD, Richmond CA 2008-2009
Duties: Giving written and spoken test to evaluate K-12 students from 80 different language groups, data entry of test results, maintaining records, working with teachers, administrators, and parents as a liaison for the testing service.
Legal Assistant for Frederick Peterson, Esq. 2002
Duties: Summarizing depositions from a construction law case.
References:
David Gill, Lecturer at San Francisco State University (510) 663-5961
Lauren Holt (415) 846-6840 ESL Instructor
Friday, August 30, 2013
Pamela Jackson on Frances Yates in the Exegesis
Let's see, Francis Yates. Oh, for a searchable exegesis. I remember that K.W. Jeter lends PKD a copy of The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, which inspires various musings on Hermeticism, Bruno, etc. No detailed discussion of the book, but it joins the mix, probably in 1978.
(from a facebook thread)
(from a facebook thread)
Monday, July 29, 2013
Cat as Guru
"I guess I am the first person ever to be peed on by my guru."
Philip K. Dick, July 30, 1974 "Dear Claudia" letter
Philip K. Dick, July 30, 1974 "Dear Claudia" letter
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