Is the half life reality like limbo before reincarnation? The ending is very PKD because it seems like you can never know the true nature of reality. Kind of like Man in the High Castle
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OK - So what has happened is that when the explosion occurred they actually died and then went into the Bardo states. The Bardos are 4 (really 8) states of consciousness - waking life, sleeping life, sleeping death, waking death - that's not really accurate but it's close enough. As I mentioned it helps to understand some Buddhism and I don't mean exoteric Buddhism I mean esoteric budhism. Yes one is lower case. Ubik was based on Timothy Learys Tibetan Book of the Dead - which is basically a guide to Gnosis via acid. Soma was the traditional gnostic imbibement but Gnosis can be achieved in multiple ways - so if you're willing you can actually see what death is before you have your final death - this prepares you for travel through the bardos. When in the Bardo's you will be distracted by lights that represent your karma. If you are say distracted by the red light - you will not complete the incarnation cycle and instead be reborn as an animal. The ultimate goal is to not be reborn - Moksha, Samadhi - Annihilation. One with the void - this takes years of meditation to achieve which is why everyone just ends up reincarnating again. I could actually write a book longer than Ubik itself about it. There are two traditional Mystical Schools - In the East its Mahayana Buddhism (esoteric not exoteric) and in the West it is the Gnosis of the Essenes which was passed on to the Rosicrucians. In essence Initiation is death and rebirth. Death itself is the cessation of all information - very hard to achieve as the mind usually has latent energy which generates thoughts. However it is achievable as I can personally attest.
That is fascinating. I mean I believe we have a soul so we keep existing after death. Was PKD Bhuddist or did he research it for the book?
Like many Psychonauts you just sort of learn stuff by experience. But if you do your research correctly it will alwys lead to the same ends. A good start though is Aldous Huxleys The Perrenial Philosophy and the The Doors of Perception.
You ded?
Not at the moment - but have been twice before.
We'll never know. The book gets so trippy toward the end that it's impossible to tell if any of the content in it was ever real in the first place, up to and including the beginning parts with Runciter.
It was - he died
Good point. Last book of his I read was A Scanner Darkly. I do like his type of writing
You could interpret the entire book as someone's half-life-induced dream, or heck, maybe someone's regular dying dream, but even then , you're left with the question of whose dream we're seeing. Joe's? Runciter's? Pat Conley's. Some random loony named Philip? ^_~
Great point. I was fascinated by the book taking place in a sort of afterlife. The ending made me wonder if Inception took any inspiration from it. I think this could be a great movie done with the same type of animation as A Scanner Darkly.
While you're on the PKD kick, you could try watching Waking Life. It's a film where a variety of people talk about assorted subjects of existentialism, often with one hapless protagonist who seems to be living in a perpetual dream state where he awakens from one dream only to find himself in another. Definitely feels inspired by Philip K. Dick's writings. And Like A Scanner Darkly, it's completely rotoscoped. In fact...nevermind, it was made by the same guy, Richard Linklater.
I love that movie! If I remember correctly they mention Flow my tears the policeman said
And Radio Free Albemuth