How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later

by Philip K. Dick, 1978 First, before I begin to bore you with the usual sort of things science fiction writers say in speeches, let me bring you official greetings from Disneyland. I consider myself a spokesperson for Disneyland because I live just a few miles from it—and, as if that were not enough, I once had the honor of being interviewed there by Paris TV. For several weeks after the interview, I was really ill and confined to bed. I think it was the whirling teacups that did it. Elizabeth Antebi, who was the producer of the film, wanted to have me whirling around in one of the giant teacups while discussing the rise of fascism with Norman Spinrad… an old friend of […] Read More

Reality Conscious Awareness

Reality in everyday usage means “everything that exists”. The term “Reality“, in its widest sense, includes everything that is, whether it is observable, accessible or understandable by science, philosophy, theology or any other system of analysis. Reality in this sense may include both being and nothingness, whereas existence is often restricted to being (compare with nature). In the strict sense of Western philosophy, there are levels or gradation to the nature and conception of reality. These levels include, from the most subjective to the most rigorous: phenomenological reality, truth, fact, and axiom. Other philosophies, particularly those founded in Buddhism, have different explications of reality. Conceptions of reality in Buddhism include: dharma, paramattha dhamma, samsara and maya. Phenomenological Reality On a much broader and more […] Read More