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June 03, 2004
Ubik and history
In Ubik, Philip K. Dick introduces a character with the mental capacity to change events in the past, thus changing the course of the present. When she, Pat Conley, does so, some other characters have residual memory of the unaltered course.
Do we have residual memory? Do we focus too much on the present? It seems that the Japanese originators of Zen Buddhism would rather we focus more intently on the present, perhaps at the expense anchorage in the past. Perhaps the Japanese at that time dwelled too much on fitting into a framework developed in the past.
In my high school experience, we, with a few exceptions of which I have scarcely dim memory, only looked back as far as the outset of the US civil war, which started in 1861. The overall tone sounded as though we ought to forget history, focusing instead on current events. Without the ability to compare and contrast, when your mental monologue loops on events that belong in a parochial Paris-Match, you read Nietzsche before you forget everything. He poked fun at guys reading the papers, thinking they had a richer idea of what the world's up to.
I no longer understand Socrates, no longer get the King James version, no longer recall the story of history. Maybe I never did. You can make it all up for me and I'll never know the difference.
Posted by Mark at June 3, 2004 06:48 AM