like the rest of us he seeks an external savior.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS tags: external, savior, seeking-salvation 2 likes like “in Parsifal: "You see, my son, here time turns into space.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS 2 likes like “They ought to make it a binding clause that if you find God you get to keep Him.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS tags: god, humor 2 likes like “Era come se avessi tremato per tutta la vita, a causa di una cronica corrente sotterranea di paura. Tremare, scappare, finire nei guai, perdere le persone che amavo. Come un personaggio dei cartoni animati invece di una persona, mi resi conto. Un cartone animato degli anni Trenta, ammuffito. Dietro a tutto quello che avevo fatto c'era sempre stata la paura di spingermi.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS tags: dick, fear, italiano, paura, valis 1 likes like “What you should do," she told Fat during one of his darker hours, "is get into studying the characteristics of the T-34." Fat asked what that was. It turned out that Sherri had read a book on Russion armor during World War Two. The T-34 tank had been the Soviet Union's salvation and thereby the salvation of all the Allied Powers- and, by extension, Horselover Fat's, since without the T-34 he would be speaking - not english or Latin or the koine - but German.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS tags: history, language 1 likes like “I've always told people that for each person there is a sentence--a series of words--which has the power to destroy him. When Fat told me about Leon Stone I realized (this came years after the first realization) that another sentence exists, another series of words, which will heal the person. If you're lucky you will get the second; but you can be certain of getting the first: that is the way it works.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS tags: healing, mental-illness, words-have-power 1 likes like “Fat heard in her rational tone the harp of nihilism, the twang of the void.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS 1 likes like “terms of those who loved her. She paid back their love with—well, with what? Malice? Not proven. Hate? Not proven. With the irrational? Yes; proven. In terms of the effect on her friends—such as Fat—no lucid purpose was served but purpose there was: purpose without purpose, if you can conceive of that. Her motive was no motive. We're talking about nihilism. Under everything else, even under death itself” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS 0 likes like “Matter is plastic in the face of Mind.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS tags: insanity, matter, mind 0 likes like “Sometimes I dream--" "I'll put that on your gravestone.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS 0 likes like “Dr. Leon Stone turned out to be one of the most important people in Horselover Fat's life. To get to Stone, Fat had to nearly kill himself physically, matching his mental death. Is this what they mean about God's mysterious ways? How else could Fat have linked up with Leon Stone? Only some dismal act of the order of a suicide attempt, a truly lethal attempt, would have achieved it; Fat had to die, or nearly die, to be cured. Or nearly cured.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS 0 likes like “I think," Dr. Stone said, "that when you tried to kill yourself you got in touch with reality for the first time.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS 0 likes like “The first thing that went wrong, according to Fat, had to do with the radio. Listening to it one night- he had not been able to sleep for a long time- he heard the radio saying hideous words, sentences which it could not be saying. Beth, being asleep, missed that. So that could have been Fat's mind breaking down; by then his psyche was disintegrating at a terrible velocity. Mental illness is not funny.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS 0 likes like “Pious people spoke to God, and crazy people imagined that God spoke back.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS tags: faith, faithfulness, religion 0 likes like “Masochism is more widespread than we realize because it takes an attenuated form. The basic dynamism is as follows: a human being sees something bad which is coming as inevitable. There is no way he can halt the process; he is helpess. This sense of helplessness generates a need to gain some control over the impending pain -- any kind of control will do. This makes sense; the subjective feeling of helplessness is more painful than the impending misery. So the person seizes control over the situation in the only way open to him: he connives to bring on the impending misery; he hastens it. This activity on his part promotes the false impression that he enjoys pain. Not so. It is simply that he cannot any longer endure the helplessness or the supposed helplessness. But in the process of gaining control over the inevitable misery he becomes, automatically, anhedonic. Anhedonia sets in stealthily. Over the years it takes control of him. For example, he learns to defer gratification; this is a step in the dismal process of anhedonia. In learning to defer he gratification he experiences a sense of self-mastery; he has become stoic, disciplined; he does not give way to impulse. He has "control". Control over himself in terms of his impulses and control over the external situation. He is a controlled and controlling person. Pretty soon he has branched out and is controlling other people, as part of the situation. He becomes a manipulator. Of course, he is not conciousily aware of this; all he intends to do is lessen his own sense of impotence. But in his task of lessening this sense, he insidiously overpowers the freedom of others. Yet, he dervies no pleasure from this, no positive psychological gain; all his gains are essential negative.”

A DERANGED MIND SOMETIMES IS A GOOD THING

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