Speed and weed is a good combo (Leary and Kesey liked amphetamines and LSD, Huxley chose a phenethylamine), but I agree with your first footnote: they seemingly have a tendency to expand pathways of thinking, and then deeply groove/reinforce those pathways. In the quest to view all things through all lenses, collecting as many shiny things (or connecting as many dots) as possible, while not giving anything too much weight, is good advice. So is weighing altered thoughts against sober ones.
Separately, I wondered about Dick’s usage of “plasmatic”, assuming he meant amorphous… but, if I’m not mistaken, plasma is only visibly at its boundary conditions, sorta like the Zebra…
Sometimes he uses "plasmate" to refer to this kind of divine living information that can enter people's brains, not entirely clear what he means by it there.
"Plasmate: A Dickian neologism roughly equivalent to “living knowledge” and another cognate for VALIS. Dick often felt that he had bonded with the plasmate in 2-3-74 and that, as a result, he had a second self dwelling within his psyche, making him a homoplasmate. Dick often regarded the plasmate as the living transmission of the Gnostic goddess Sophia."
I wish I had a mystical experience as well. But, while I cannot deny the reality of the experience itself, I cannot assert the content of this experience is real.
I finally caught up on Vinge's True Names the other day, and in Marvin's afterword he discussed how the conscious process of the brain is itself ignorant of how it works; the brain thinks but does not know how it thinks. I was wondering if perhaps with enough twists and turns mediated by drugs, the brain might in fact get that rare opportunity to inspect itself, maybe some of the really out there experiences are the brain getting a glimpse into its own hidden layer and like a mirror reflecting itself, encountering infinity. Maybe rather than perceiving true reality, we might perceive our true selves. Maybe it was not God touching Dick or Dick touching God, but infact Dick touching Dick, albeit just the tip.
Very interesting. These aren't necessarily mutually exclusive however - if we are "made in the image of God" or in some way reflective of God/nature's ultimate reality then a glimpse behind the veil of selfhood is also a glimpse of the divine.
Speed and weed is a good combo (Leary and Kesey liked amphetamines and LSD, Huxley chose a phenethylamine), but I agree with your first footnote: they seemingly have a tendency to expand pathways of thinking, and then deeply groove/reinforce those pathways. In the quest to view all things through all lenses, collecting as many shiny things (or connecting as many dots) as possible, while not giving anything too much weight, is good advice. So is weighing altered thoughts against sober ones.
Separately, I wondered about Dick’s usage of “plasmatic”, assuming he meant amorphous… but, if I’m not mistaken, plasma is only visibly at its boundary conditions, sorta like the Zebra…
speed/weed <3
Sometimes he uses "plasmate" to refer to this kind of divine living information that can enter people's brains, not entirely clear what he means by it there.
Here is the definition from the glossary:
"Plasmate: A Dickian neologism roughly equivalent to “living knowledge” and another cognate for VALIS. Dick often felt that he had bonded with the plasmate in 2-3-74 and that, as a result, he had a second self dwelling within his psyche, making him a homoplasmate. Dick often regarded the plasmate as the living transmission of the Gnostic goddess Sophia."
Hope this clears things up.
I wish I had a mystical experience as well. But, while I cannot deny the reality of the experience itself, I cannot assert the content of this experience is real.
Careful what you wish for.
I finally caught up on Vinge's True Names the other day, and in Marvin's afterword he discussed how the conscious process of the brain is itself ignorant of how it works; the brain thinks but does not know how it thinks. I was wondering if perhaps with enough twists and turns mediated by drugs, the brain might in fact get that rare opportunity to inspect itself, maybe some of the really out there experiences are the brain getting a glimpse into its own hidden layer and like a mirror reflecting itself, encountering infinity. Maybe rather than perceiving true reality, we might perceive our true selves. Maybe it was not God touching Dick or Dick touching God, but infact Dick touching Dick, albeit just the tip.
Nice.
Very interesting. These aren't necessarily mutually exclusive however - if we are "made in the image of God" or in some way reflective of God/nature's ultimate reality then a glimpse behind the veil of selfhood is also a glimpse of the divine.