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.Zebra regards the biological and historic forces on this planetas malign, and seeks to ameliorate them.It is finally revealed to one of the characters probably PhilDick what this black iron prison world actually is (or would have been).Part of Zebra s ability to disguise itself grows out of its ability to move along a fourth orthogonalspatial axis unknown to us, in fact denied to us; thus Zebra can appear and disappear at will, withoutour understanding how.To our eyes, any object moving along this fourth axis is simply invisible.From our standpoint, then, Zebra is capable of transcending time, which permits it also to moveretrograde in time, or to leave the temporal world, be not there and then to reenter wherever (to us,whenever) it wishes.Thus Zebra spans three thousand years of an extended present; to it both past andfuture are now.Like the vast life form which took over Palmer Eldritch and could extend itselfbetween star systems, over millions of miles, Zebra extends itself in the fourth axis world, and thus, tous, is godlike (but in fact it is limited; it is merely superior by one whole spatial dimension to us,giving the impression of infinite power and knowledge but it is an impression only).Through the manifesting of Zebra into visibility, Phil Dick in the novel realizes that what hasalways been called god by mankind is in fact merely a superior life form.However, Zebra is so superior that it might as well be god.But it is timid and retiring (like LordRunning Clam in CLANS OF THE ALPHANE MOON), and can be destroyed although not by us.Ifit could not be destroyed it would not need to hide itself continually.The character Phil Dickunderstands that on its lofty level Zebra has enemies which could destroy it; hence the religious mythsabout Satan.Phil Dick conjectures that there may exist in the universe life forms even superior toZebra, since Zebra has come here and hidden itself from sight as best it can.There may well be hostilelife forms which can better distinguish Zebra, Phil Dick realizes.Part of Zebra s sympathy for manderives from its own vulnerability.However, I will not treat this theme with the continual seriousness which it would seem to entail.For instance, one of the characters (Phil Dick, Nicholas Brady or Houston Paige) finds himself able toobtain answers from Zebra by means of bowls of alphabet soup.The letters swim to the surface andform words (which is of course a parody on the I CHING, but also something like the way Glimmungspeaks to them in GALACTIC POT-HEALER and the way Runciter communicates in UBIK; thisshould be a lot of fun and I no doubt will be able to find other trash in the gutter ways by whichgreat Zebra communes with man).(As you know, Mark, this is a favorite theme of mine: the sentientuniverse speaking to us in these trite ways.Each time I use this theme I find new ways to do it, andnew explanations such as Zebra to account for the phenomenon.It all goes back to the early sixtieswhen I was trying to find an explanation for how the I CHING works.)(For example, Paige deliberately sets up 26 bowling pins with a different letter on each and thenrolls bowling balls at them; the pattern of remaining pins he hopes will spell out words; but all hegets is: AQW PVC XSLLRAnd the like which, once again, seems to indicate that Zebra does not exist.But Zebra hasdeliberately caused the pins to form a non-pattern.)(Also, for example, Paige, with all the funds and laboratory and research facilities of the tyrannyavailable to him, could construct a vast device operating on the principle of randomness, whichcontinually constructs arrangements of letters, in order to see if they eventually form words.I canenvision them forming nothing for days, even weeks, and finally this message is arrived at by mererandomness:THER IS NO ZEWhich Paige construes to mean, There is no Zebra, which, he realizes, is a paradox.)Using huge, expensive computers and a large staff of trained technicians he employs a variety ofantique methods of divination: from apantomancy to xylomancy (with the possible exception ofsciomancy).The only method which gives him any results is oneiromancy; he keeps dreaming of agreat zebra which smiles at him.But this may mean nothing.However, as Paige deliberately employsall these means to no avail, Phil or Nicholas is puzzling over a bowl of alphabet soup which spells outsuch things as:WARNING YOU MUST BE CAUTIOUS ALL DAYThe fact of the matter is that Paige with his Zebra hypothesis and Nicholas Brady with his weirdexperiences between them have both halves of the puzzle.Brady, on his own, without the part whichPaige has, cannot account for what has been happening to him all his life; Paige, with his giantcomputers and highly skilled work-staff, cannot get a manifestation or revelation of Zebra no matterwhat.It is the reader who, possessing both halves in the twin themes of the novel, can perhaps put itall together.In other words, when Paige approaches Phil Dick with his Zebra plot idea, he is bringingthe missing clues into focus for the astute reader.The element of suspense, then, is greatly enhancedin VALIS by introducing this new material.In essence: what I have written in the rough draft is only one side of the coin.the Zebra materialwill add the other.The novel will open with twin, opposed plot-lines (which I love to do and am goodat), but will end with a dovetailed single plot outline.Brady is having the experiences with Zebra buthas no theory to explain it; Paige, whom we encounter through Phil Dick, not through Brady, has thetheory but can t get specific experiences.Brady has the concrete examples, Paige the abstractreasoning.In the character Phil Dick, who knows both men, it all comes together, for the edificationand amusement of the reader.This way, Mark, we can get rid of the Christian, theological explanation at the end; we will have just that one phase of Brady s theorizing; the true explanation is quite different (i.e., a superior butlimited life form which has taken refuge here to escape its own enemies, and who helps us, but only ina limited fashion the best it can do).As VALIS stands now I am forced to fall back onto stereotypedexplanations for the assistance, for the satellite, and this is not good, as you pointed out
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Tematy
IndexBrotherhood of Blood 02 Rare Vintage
Vincenzo Cuoco Saggio storico sulla rivoluzione napoletana del 1799
Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn Merchant Prince
Lee Maureen WrzeÂśniowe dziewczynki
Joanna Piercy 03 Ostatnia randka Masters Priscilla
Pharmaceutical Microbiology 6th ed W. Hugo, A. Russell (Blackwell, 1998) WW
Katie Macalister Dark One 01 A Girls Guide To Vampires
§ Monsunowe dni El Omari Laila
Dumas Aleksander Trzej Muszkieterowie
Philip K. Dick Cudowna bron