An excerpt from How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later by Philip K. Dick:
Do not assume that order and stability are always good, in a society or in a universe. The old, the ossified, must always give way to new life and the birth of new things. Before the new things can be born the old must perish. This is a dangerous realization, because it tells us that we must eventually part with much of what is familiar to us. And that hurts. But that is part of the script of life. Unless we can psychologically accommodate change, we ourselves begin to die, inwardly. What I am saying is that objects, customs, habits, and ways of life must perish so that the authentic human being can live. And it is the authentic human being who matters most, the viable, elastic organism which can bounce back, absorb, and deal with the new…
The authentic human being is one of us who instinctively knows what he should not do, and, in addition, he will balk at doing it. He will refuse to do it, even if this brings down dread consequences to him and to those whom he loves. This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance. Their deeds may be small, and almost always unnoticed, unmarked by history. Their names are not remembered, nor did these authentic humans expect their names to be remembered. I see their authenticity in an odd way: not in their willingness to perform great heroic deeds but in their quiet refusals. In essence, they cannot be compelled to be what they are not.
[via DL]
J
on 29 Nov 06Interesting quote-society is built on traditions and the past, though. It is true that we must do away with bad (the morally and often the technically) habits and practices, we shouldn’t forget that we benefit from the experience, wisdom, and courage of a lot of great people who lived before us. And frequently we contribute to the destruction of our society’s fabric by abandoning the values of our predecessors. Things change-this is inevitable. But as they change we should be sure to hold fast to what is true.
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waghdude
on 29 Nov 06It’s idealistic to think that “ordinary people” have the heroic trait about refusing to do things at their own peril. If that was really true, then we would not see so much flock and herd mentality in the world today and even historically.
The reality is that people need to feed, house and clothe themselves and their families, and they’re only going to push back when a situation has reached a really bad point. They’re much more likely to yell, “take this job and shove it!” if they have good prospects of easily switching to another job. In other words, when there is no peril involved.
The “ordinary” folks demonstrate their “quiet refusals” by being passive-aggressive and not doing their job properly. Sure, this thwarts the realization of the goals they never bought into, but it’s not the same healthy expression as that of the truly heroic individuals who stand up and proudly declare STFU! and get the hell out of whatever that job or task is, at their own TRUE peril.
TS
on 29 Nov 06The second paragraph sounds like authentic humans are the ones that never believe in and challenge themselves. Most of us don’t know what we are capable of until we have to navigate something harder than we could imagine. But if we are “authentic” then we would never step up to the plate, especially if risk is involved…?
This also seems to be in contradiction between the thinking in the first section and second section. First we see the essential need for change in all things, but in the second excerpt the authentic human is one who knows them self and is unwilling to change?
This discussion is closed.