Dick waxes on a higher plane than his previous self-pity and says of The Other, “it shines through them at us,” his act of letter writing to Claudia seeming to have the ability to uplift his mind and clear its clouded eye.
Here he charts the metaphysic:
“(1) The Other exists.
(2) We can experience it.
(3) It is found everywhere.
(4) Therefore since it exists, since we can experience it, and since it can be found everywhere, we can encounter it here. The opportunity exists now. Lem is wrong in all respects. [1]
“What is needed is tremendous increase in brain efficiency.” [2]
Dick states that the “phenomenological world” meaning space and Time are “exterior” contacts with “constructs of our mind,” suggesting super-normal mental powers could in his view advance one’s ability to place a version of one’s mind elsewhere. This is makes sense in light of his belief that Asklepios was contacting him across Time from 600 B.C.
Dick discusses the idea of the Parakletos as a twin conscience of animation “poured into” the person along with a suppositional doctrine of “Him,” the “Great Builder” perhaps constructing our other half in another star system and waiting for us to find our spiritual twin through space travel. In this doctrine Dick is supposing that The Other is not the Creator force, but a half of a more complete self, awaiting ultimate union.
Notes
-1. Stanislaw Lem, Polis science-fiction writer who translated Dick’s Ubik and wrote of Dick as “a visionary among charlatans.” This reference is not understood by this reader and seems to suggest that Lem was a strict materialist. This is interesting, in that Dick’s next sentence…
-2. Offers a materialistic credo for intercourse with the non-material Other.
