Fuck
2003-10-02, 23:34
I don't know if many of you are familliar with the movie "waking life" but it's about lucid dreaming. The movie is packed with tons of philosophies and interesting views of reality, etc. This is a transcript of a conversation between two characters near the end of the movie. I thought it was interesting so I found the transcript online and decided to post it here at "My God...." and "Science of the Damned"
Wiley: Hey man.
Richard: Hey.
Wiley: Weren't you in the boat-car? Yeah, the guy with the hat gave me a ride in his car...boat thing, and you were in the back seat with me.
Richard: I mean, I'm not saying you don't know what you're talking about, but I don't know what you're talking about.
Wiley: See, you guys let me off at this really specific spot that you gave him directions to let me off at. I get out, end up getting hit by a car, but then I just woke up because I was dreaming, and later than that, I found out that I was still dreaming....dreaming that I had woken up.
Richard: Oh yeah, those are called false awakenings, I used to have those all the time.
Wiley: Yeah, but I'm still in it now. I can't get out of it, and it's been going on forever. I keep waking up, but I'm just waking up into another dream. I'm starting to get creeped out too....I'm talking to dead people, this woman on T.V. is telling me how death is this dream time that exists outside of life. I mean, I'm starting to think that I'm dead.
Richard: I wanna tell you about a dream I once had. I know that when someone says that's usually, you're in for a very boring next few minutes, and you might be...but it sounds like, you know, what else ya gonna do, right? but anyways. I read this essay by Philip K. Dick...
Wiley: What, you read it in your dream?
Richard: No, no, I read it before the dream. It was the preamble to the dream. It was about that book, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, do you know that one?
Wiley: Uh, yeah yeah, he won an award for that one.
Richard: Right, right. That's the one he wrote really fast...it just flowed right out of him. He felt like he was channeling it or something. But anyway, about four years after it was published, he was at this party and he met this woman who had the same name as the woman character in the book, and she had a boyfriend with the same name as the boyfriend character in the book. And, she was having an affair with this guy, you know, the chief-of-police. And, he had the same name as the chief-of-police in his book. So, she's telling him all this stuff from her life, and everything she's saying is right out of his book, so that's really freaking him out, but ya know, but what can he do? And then, shortly after that, he was going to mail a letter, and he saw this kind of um, dangerous shady looking guy standing by his car. But, instead of avoiding him, which he said he usually would have done, he just walked right up to him and said, "Can I help you?" and the guy said, "Yeah, I ran out of gas." So he pulls out his money and he hands him some money, which he says he never would have done. And then he gets home and he thinks: well wait a second, this guy can't get to a gas station, he's out of gas. So, he gets back in his car, he goes and finds the guy, takes him to the gas station, and as he's pulling up to the gas station, he realizes: hey this is in my book too....this exact station, this exact guy...everything. So, this whole episode is kinda creepy right? and he's telling his priest about it...describing how he wrote this book and then four years later all these things happened to him, and as he's telling it to him, the priest says, "That's the Book of Acts. You're describing the Book of Acts." And he's like, "I've never read the Book of Acts." So he goes home and reads the Book of Acts, and it's uncanny. Even the characters' names are the same as in the Bible. And, the Book of Acts takes place in 50 A.D., when it was written supposedly. So Philip K. Dick had this theory: that time was an illusion, and that we were all actually in 50 A.D. and the reason that he had written this book iwas that he had somehow momentarily punctured through this illusion, this veil of time, and what he had seen there was what was going on in the Book of Acts. And he was really into Gnosticism, and this idea that this demi-urge, or demon, had created this illusion of time to make us forget that Christ was about to return and the Kingdom of God was about to arrive. And that we're all in 50 A.D. and there is someone trying to make us forget that God is imminent. And that's what time is, that's what all of history is. It's just kind of this continuous daydream, or distraction.
And so I read that, and I was like, "Well that's weird." And then that night, I had a dream, and there was this guy in the dream who was supposed to be a psychic, but I was skeptical. I was like, you know, he's not really a psychic, you know, I'm just thinking to myself. And then suddenly, I start floating, like levitating, up to the ceiling, and as I almost go through the roof, I'm like, "Ok Mr. Psychic, I believe you..you're a psychic. Put me down please." And I float down, and as my feet touch the ground the psychic turns into this woman in a green dress, and this woman is Lady Gregory. Now, Lady Gregory was Yates' patron, this Irish person. And though I'd never seen her image, I was just sure that this was the face of Lady Gregory. So we're walking along and Lady Gregory turns to me and says, "Let me explain to you the nature of the universe. Now, Philip K. Dick is right about time, but he's wrong that it's 50 A.D. Actually, there's only one instant, and it's right now, and it's eternity. And, it's an instant in which God is posing a question, and that question is basically, "Do you wanna be one with eternity, do you want to be in heaven?" And, we're all saying, "Nooo thank you, not just yet." And so time, is actually just this constant saying "No" to God's invitation. I mean, that's what time is. It's no more 50 A.D. than it's 2001. There's just this one instant, and that's what we're always in. And then she tells me that actually, this is the narrative of everyone's life. Behind the phenomenal difference there is but one story, and that's the story of moving from the "No" to the "Yes." All of life is like, "No thank you, No thank you, No thank you." And then, ultimately, it's, "Yes I give in, Yes I accept, Yes I embrace." I mean, that's the journey. Everyone gets to the "Yes" in the end, right?
Wiley: Right.
Richard: So, we continue walking, and my dog runs over to me, and so I'm petting him, really happy to see him....he's been dead for years. So, I'm petting him, and I realize there's this kinda gross, oozing stuff coming out of his stomach. And I look over at Lady Gregory, and she sorta coughs, she's like, "Cough, cough, excuse me, cough." And there's vomit like dribbling down her chin, and it smells really bad. Then I think, well wait a second....that's not just the smell of vomit, which ya know, doesn't smell very good...that's the smell of like, dead person vomit, so ya know, it's like doubly foul. Then I realized, I'm actually in the Land of the Dead, and everyone around me was dead - my dog had been dead for over ten years, Lady Gregory had been dead a lot longer than that. When I finally woke up, I was like, woah...that wasn't a dream, that was a visitation to this real place - The Land of the Dead.
Wiley: So, what happened...I mean, how did you finally get out of it?
Richard: Oh man, it was just like one of those life-altering experiences. Like, I could never really look at the world the same way again after that.
Wiley: Yeah, but I mean like, how did you finally get out of the dream? See, that's my problem, I'm like trapped. I keep thinking that I'm waking up, but I'm still in a dream. It seems like it's going on forever. I can't get out of it, and I wanna wake up for real....how do you really wake up??
Richard: I dunno, I dunno, I'm not very good at that anymore. But, if that's what you're thinking, you probably should. If you can wake up, you should, cause someday you won't be able to, so just um...but it's easy....just *wake up.*
here is the site I got it from
http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gte484v/wakinglife/linklater.html
Wiley: Hey man.
Richard: Hey.
Wiley: Weren't you in the boat-car? Yeah, the guy with the hat gave me a ride in his car...boat thing, and you were in the back seat with me.
Richard: I mean, I'm not saying you don't know what you're talking about, but I don't know what you're talking about.
Wiley: See, you guys let me off at this really specific spot that you gave him directions to let me off at. I get out, end up getting hit by a car, but then I just woke up because I was dreaming, and later than that, I found out that I was still dreaming....dreaming that I had woken up.
Richard: Oh yeah, those are called false awakenings, I used to have those all the time.
Wiley: Yeah, but I'm still in it now. I can't get out of it, and it's been going on forever. I keep waking up, but I'm just waking up into another dream. I'm starting to get creeped out too....I'm talking to dead people, this woman on T.V. is telling me how death is this dream time that exists outside of life. I mean, I'm starting to think that I'm dead.
Richard: I wanna tell you about a dream I once had. I know that when someone says that's usually, you're in for a very boring next few minutes, and you might be...but it sounds like, you know, what else ya gonna do, right? but anyways. I read this essay by Philip K. Dick...
Wiley: What, you read it in your dream?
Richard: No, no, I read it before the dream. It was the preamble to the dream. It was about that book, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, do you know that one?
Wiley: Uh, yeah yeah, he won an award for that one.
Richard: Right, right. That's the one he wrote really fast...it just flowed right out of him. He felt like he was channeling it or something. But anyway, about four years after it was published, he was at this party and he met this woman who had the same name as the woman character in the book, and she had a boyfriend with the same name as the boyfriend character in the book. And, she was having an affair with this guy, you know, the chief-of-police. And, he had the same name as the chief-of-police in his book. So, she's telling him all this stuff from her life, and everything she's saying is right out of his book, so that's really freaking him out, but ya know, but what can he do? And then, shortly after that, he was going to mail a letter, and he saw this kind of um, dangerous shady looking guy standing by his car. But, instead of avoiding him, which he said he usually would have done, he just walked right up to him and said, "Can I help you?" and the guy said, "Yeah, I ran out of gas." So he pulls out his money and he hands him some money, which he says he never would have done. And then he gets home and he thinks: well wait a second, this guy can't get to a gas station, he's out of gas. So, he gets back in his car, he goes and finds the guy, takes him to the gas station, and as he's pulling up to the gas station, he realizes: hey this is in my book too....this exact station, this exact guy...everything. So, this whole episode is kinda creepy right? and he's telling his priest about it...describing how he wrote this book and then four years later all these things happened to him, and as he's telling it to him, the priest says, "That's the Book of Acts. You're describing the Book of Acts." And he's like, "I've never read the Book of Acts." So he goes home and reads the Book of Acts, and it's uncanny. Even the characters' names are the same as in the Bible. And, the Book of Acts takes place in 50 A.D., when it was written supposedly. So Philip K. Dick had this theory: that time was an illusion, and that we were all actually in 50 A.D. and the reason that he had written this book iwas that he had somehow momentarily punctured through this illusion, this veil of time, and what he had seen there was what was going on in the Book of Acts. And he was really into Gnosticism, and this idea that this demi-urge, or demon, had created this illusion of time to make us forget that Christ was about to return and the Kingdom of God was about to arrive. And that we're all in 50 A.D. and there is someone trying to make us forget that God is imminent. And that's what time is, that's what all of history is. It's just kind of this continuous daydream, or distraction.
And so I read that, and I was like, "Well that's weird." And then that night, I had a dream, and there was this guy in the dream who was supposed to be a psychic, but I was skeptical. I was like, you know, he's not really a psychic, you know, I'm just thinking to myself. And then suddenly, I start floating, like levitating, up to the ceiling, and as I almost go through the roof, I'm like, "Ok Mr. Psychic, I believe you..you're a psychic. Put me down please." And I float down, and as my feet touch the ground the psychic turns into this woman in a green dress, and this woman is Lady Gregory. Now, Lady Gregory was Yates' patron, this Irish person. And though I'd never seen her image, I was just sure that this was the face of Lady Gregory. So we're walking along and Lady Gregory turns to me and says, "Let me explain to you the nature of the universe. Now, Philip K. Dick is right about time, but he's wrong that it's 50 A.D. Actually, there's only one instant, and it's right now, and it's eternity. And, it's an instant in which God is posing a question, and that question is basically, "Do you wanna be one with eternity, do you want to be in heaven?" And, we're all saying, "Nooo thank you, not just yet." And so time, is actually just this constant saying "No" to God's invitation. I mean, that's what time is. It's no more 50 A.D. than it's 2001. There's just this one instant, and that's what we're always in. And then she tells me that actually, this is the narrative of everyone's life. Behind the phenomenal difference there is but one story, and that's the story of moving from the "No" to the "Yes." All of life is like, "No thank you, No thank you, No thank you." And then, ultimately, it's, "Yes I give in, Yes I accept, Yes I embrace." I mean, that's the journey. Everyone gets to the "Yes" in the end, right?
Wiley: Right.
Richard: So, we continue walking, and my dog runs over to me, and so I'm petting him, really happy to see him....he's been dead for years. So, I'm petting him, and I realize there's this kinda gross, oozing stuff coming out of his stomach. And I look over at Lady Gregory, and she sorta coughs, she's like, "Cough, cough, excuse me, cough." And there's vomit like dribbling down her chin, and it smells really bad. Then I think, well wait a second....that's not just the smell of vomit, which ya know, doesn't smell very good...that's the smell of like, dead person vomit, so ya know, it's like doubly foul. Then I realized, I'm actually in the Land of the Dead, and everyone around me was dead - my dog had been dead for over ten years, Lady Gregory had been dead a lot longer than that. When I finally woke up, I was like, woah...that wasn't a dream, that was a visitation to this real place - The Land of the Dead.
Wiley: So, what happened...I mean, how did you finally get out of it?
Richard: Oh man, it was just like one of those life-altering experiences. Like, I could never really look at the world the same way again after that.
Wiley: Yeah, but I mean like, how did you finally get out of the dream? See, that's my problem, I'm like trapped. I keep thinking that I'm waking up, but I'm still in a dream. It seems like it's going on forever. I can't get out of it, and I wanna wake up for real....how do you really wake up??
Richard: I dunno, I dunno, I'm not very good at that anymore. But, if that's what you're thinking, you probably should. If you can wake up, you should, cause someday you won't be able to, so just um...but it's easy....just *wake up.*
here is the site I got it from
http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gte484v/wakinglife/linklater.html