41–50 of 88 posts
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a euphemism for sure
Is it though? The word "abuse" is pretty strong. If I'm abusing substances it's not like I'm just having a puff now and then do I? The term "substance" is a bit generic, I grant you that. But does that make it an euphemism just because the exact substance is not specified?
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Off topic, but it bothers me when people decry spoilers for an older movie. As if everybody is supposed to have watched every major film in the history of Hollywood up to the last N years. "Spoiler alert for anybody who hasn't seen this movie from 1980: the dog did it!" Ugh.
Spoilers are a myth and don't affect enjoyment. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/opinion/spoilers-successi... https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.4070 ' > they were just as immersed even though they knew the outcome. In follow-up questionnaires, they also reported the same levels of engagement and enjoyment as those who didn’t know the ending.
One of my favourite films, Stalker as a scene referred to as "the meat grinder". I knew how it went before I first watched it, and have always wished that I didn't. In general, I find it much more enjoyable to go into a film with as little foreknowledge as possible.
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> sadly not surprised he struggled with mental and substance abuse. His books read in a way that often feature a character somewhat removed from reality or in some form of psychosis. The idea of what is real or not real is explored over and over again Don't take that is an indicator, Haruki Murakami often reads similarly and he seems to be a well adjusted person.
I think it’s can still be relevant analysis without you having to point out that it’s not a binary indicator.
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I think it’s can still be relevant analysis without you having to point out that it’s not a binary indicator.
But then that means the analysis isn't correct, it wouldn't be an indicator at all
Dick's writing was obviously a byproduct of his mental state. That's where writing comes from. Just because someone else made similar works in a different mental state doesn't invalidate that.
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Spoilers are a myth and don't affect enjoyment. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/opinion/spoilers-successi... https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.4070 ' > they were just as immersed even though they knew the outcome. In follow-up questionnaires, they also reported the same levels of engagement and enjoyment as those who didn’t know the ending.
I'll spoil the links: 28 male college students aged 18-24 who were paid to do a job while watching a 30 minute episode didn't report enjoying it less if they were told the ending. Somehow I feel their conclusions might be a bit overly broad.
These events can mimic psychosis and other mental illnesses, but they are anything but. They signal the start of an inner metamorphosis, likely biochemically driven, though we don't yet know the biomarkers. It's like a second puberty, you have all these weird urges to meditate and whatnot, and if you do it right you grow and come out the other side a different person with a different experience of the world than the pre-pubescent .
Because of the general cultural lack of understanding and guidance, PKD, while brilliant, could only guess as to what was happening to him and had no idea what to do about it. In other times and other cultures, perhaps he could have been guided through the process, just as parents guide their children through puberty. It can take years to unfold and can easily go off the rails, see: Gopi Krishna, Living With Kundalini.
Unfortunately substances are one of the things that can make it go off the rails, and his propensity for them may have contributed to his untimely death instead of the preferred outcome of an "enlightened" individual. Again laugh all you want, until we figure out consciousness we have no basis to assume the non-existence of higher consciousness. But granted this whole space is polluted with new age crap, so unless you've had this happen to you it's understandable to paint it all with the same brush.
His Exegesis is a wonderful work, one of his best. Highly recommend reading.
This is a decent article but the author unfortunately has no understanding of what is known as a "spiritual emergence", which PKD very clearly went through and is critical to understanding his life and legacy. One of the first phases of this process is "anamnesis", in which you recall information from what is thought to be past lives. Laugh all you want, until this has happened to you, you can't even imagine what it…