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Two Phils: Philip K. Dick vs the Philokalia

Posted on September 29 2009. Comments: 4

Posted by:
Andrew Bowles

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Philip K. Dick is one of the most influential sci-fi writers of the twentieth century. Many of his major works have been turned into films that you would recognise instantly: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, and lesser films such as A Scanner Darkly and Paycheck. The characteristic theme of Dick’s stories is the ambiguity of the personal identity that we base on our memory and perceptions, all of which can be implanted, erased, or altered by drugs, computers and virtual reality. His characters are constantly haunted by the possibility that they and the world they live in are an illusion constructed by others, or even by themselves, for various sinister purposes. These themes were taken up in a more clumsy and uninspired way by the writers of The Matrix films. The end result for Dick’s characters is a radical scepticism towards both the external universe and their internal assumptions, and the determination to live in the moment hoping that the true reality will disclose itself. Dick was fascinated by Gnosticism, and wrote a lengthy journal in which he hypothesised that the modern world was actually a delusion imposed by the Devil upon the entire human race, that we are in fact still living in the first century before the fall of Jerusalem, awaiting Jesus’ return. Those who are enlightened can see the subtle signs of this hidden reality given to us by Christ. As you may expect, he was troubled by mental illness and drug use.

This is a bleak vision of reality, but as you can see from the popularity of films based on his stories, it resonates with a postmodern age. And it is very difficult to refute on ‘empirical’ grounds as rational scientific types might try to do, since a scepticism about appearances is not likely to be convinced by being offered more appearances. And if even my own memories are not my own, why should I believe that you can give me irrefutable logical arguments?

To answer Philip K. Dick’s conundrum I want to turn to the Philokalia, a collection of writings by Christian monks who wrestled deeply with the problems of delusion and lack of faith. According to these writers, true knowledge of the world and ourselves only comes through steadfast devotion to the practice of virtue and a prayerful awareness of the presence of Christ. The Spirit guides Christians who listen to him through the dangers of illusion and lack of certainty about who we are, and discloses the real nature of the world in which we live. This leads to a certainty and unity of subjective experience that cannot be fabricated. For instance, Maximos the Confessor (7^th century) wrote:

‘Spiritual knowledge unites knower and known, while ignorance is always a cause of change and self-division in the ignorant. Hence nothing, according to sacred Scripture, will shift him who truly believes from the ground of his true faith, in which resides the permanence of his immutable and unchanging identity. For he who has been united with the truth has the assurance that all is well with him, even though most people rebuke him for being out of his mind. For without their being aware he has moved from delusion to the truth of real faith; and he knows for sure that he is not deranged, as they say, but that through truth – simple and always immediately the same – he has been liberated from the fluctuating and fickle turmoil of the manifold forms of illusion’.

Rest in peace, Philip K. Dick. Now we see as through a scanner darkly, then we will see face to face.

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