Mysticism in Science Fiction: Science Fiction As a Vehicle

MYSTICISM IN SCIENCE FICTION: SCIENCE FICTION AS A VEHICLE FOR MYSTICAL THOUGHT AND EXPERIENCE An Undergraduate Research Scholars Thesis by ANNA ROGERS Submitted to the Undergraduate Research Scholars program at Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation as an UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SCHOLAR Approved by Research Advisor: Dr. Joshua DiCaglio May 2019 Major: English TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................1 Literature Review ..............................................................................................................1 Thesis Statement ...............................................................................................................2 Theoretical Framework .....................................................................................................2 Project Description ............................................................................................................2 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................4 CHAPTERS I. SIMULATION IN SCIENCE FICTION, SCIENCE FICTION AS SIMULATION ..9 The Science Fiction Novel as Simulation .............................................................9 Why Science Fiction for Simulation? ..................................................................10 Solaris on the Failure of Human Perception .......................................................12 The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and the Transformation of Barney Mayerson .............................................................................................................14 The Science Fiction Novel as Simulation: VALIS and “Ultra Metacognition” ..17 II. THE DIVINE INVASION .........................................................................................20 The “Divine” Alien ..............................................................................................20 That Which is Alien .............................................................................................20 The Invasion of the Larger: Solaris and Scalar Perception .................................22 The Invasion of the Alien Entity: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch ........25 III. THE BREAKDOWN OF REALITY ........................................................................29 That Which Is A Breakdown ...............................................................................29 0 The Material Breakdown .....................................................................................30 The Material Breakdown and the Breakdown of Reality: Ubik ..........................30 The Psychological Breakdown: The Trope of Madness in VALIS .....................33 The Psychological Breakdown: Aporia and Identity in A Scanner Darkly .........35 The Psychological Breakdown: The Ego Death of Barney Mayerson ................37 CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................................40 WORKS CITED ..........................................................................................................................43 0 ABSTRACT Mysticism in Science Fiction: Science Fiction as a Vehicle for Mystical Thought and Experience Anna Rogers Department of English Texas A&M University Research Advisor: Dr. Joshua DiCaglio Department of English Texas A&M University Literature Review Much of the current available scholarship on science fiction and its engagement with the spiritual centers about religious tropes in science fiction, such as aliens as deities, gnosticism, the “personhood” of machines, and apocalypse. James F. McGrath in his book Theology and Science Fiction argues that science fiction often intersects the spiritual, and suggests that these religious tropes in science fiction are actually an engagement with common theological questions. The trope of gods as aliens corresponds to the theological question of “what merits our worship, or at least our reverence?”; gnosticism responds to the question of “whether comfortable truths are preferable to a pleasant lie”; and so on (McGrath 27, 36). Scholarship on mysticism, on the other hand, typically engages with the history of mysticism and the common forms of mystical practices, as enumerated in texts such as Mysticism: Its History and Challenge by Bruno Borchert and Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill. This thesis connects these two realms of scholarship by en- gaging with the mystical, rather than the theological aspects of science fiction, and investigating why science fiction is an appropriate vehicle for mystical thought and action. !1 Thesis Statement The reading of science fiction literatures, especially the work of Stanislaw Lem and Philip K. Dick, may be understood as simulations aimed at inducing metacognition, and through this metacognition, enlightenment. Through common science fiction tropes such as simulation, the divine invasion, and the breakdown of reality, science fiction novels thus present themselves as simulations which induce inquiry into the nature of the self and the nature of reality, and in effect, rearticulate ancient contemplative tropes through the language of a relatively modern literary genre. Theoretical Framework The framework for this thesis is informed by an understanding of mysticism according to authors and scholars such as Evelyn Underhill, Richard Doyle, and Jeffrey J. Kripal. The framework is also based in an understanding of rhetoric that informs the analysis of how and why science fiction is conducive to mystical thought and experience. Project Description Science fiction is a genre steeped in mystical tradition. Many themes in science fiction, such as the theme of the unknowable, incomprehensible alien, as well as the theme of alternate realities/dystopia, can be read as literary reworking of mysticism, which is conglomerate of be- liefs and practices that attempts to engage with a higher power or hidden truth. Using a mystical framework informed by scholars such as Evelyn Underhill, Jeffrey J. Kripal, Richard Doyle, and Joshua DiCaglio, science fiction novels can be read and analyzed as not only informed by mystical ideas, but as texts which function as simulations of the mystically experience in of themselves. In particular, the novels of Philip K. Dick and Stanislaw Lem rework ancient !2 contemplative tropes concerning the nature of reality and of the self through the modern language of science fiction using its tropes of simulation, the divine invasion, and the breakdown of reality. !3 INTRODUCTION Attempts to define science fiction literature can easily result in a mere listing of tropes prevalent in the genre, such as technologically advanced societies, space travel, and other futuris- tic concepts. In the scope of this project, however, a definition of science fiction as literature which merely deals with a specific set of tropes is insufficient. The most useful definition for science fiction is instead provided by the author Philip K. Dick, who refers to science fiction as a genre in which there is “a fictitious world…predicated on our known society” (Dick, The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick). According to Dick, this fictitious world “must be different from the given one in at least one way…to give rise to events that could not occur in our society” (Dick, The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick). This intentional difference between the worlds is referred to Dick as a “conceptual dislocation” which forces the reader into a state of “dysrecognition” due to conflict between the familiarity of fictitious society and the shock of the dislocation (Dick, The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick). The rhetorical effects of science fiction and its premise of conceptual dislocation are, according to Dick’s definition, significant. “Good science fiction” Dick writes, “unlocks the reader’s mind so that that mind, like the author's, begins to create…[and experiences] the joy of discovery of newness” (Dick, The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick). Dick’s definition of science fiction as a genre that precipitates a transcendental shift in the mind of the reader, not coincidentally, closely mirrors the effects described by those who have undergone what may be referred to as a “mystical experience”. But Anglo-Catholic author !4 Evelyn Underhill, who is most well known for her seminal text Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness, admits that mysticism is “one of the most abused words in the English language” (Underhill 8). For this reason, it is important to this project to clearly define mysticism, in this instance borrowing from Underhill once more, who writes that mysticism is “the art of establishing [a] conscious relation with the Absolute,” wherein the “Ab- solute” may be understood as the greater truth of the universe, more commonly known as the divine (Underhill 79). Furthermore, Underhill goes on to enumerate the mystical experience as that which takes the from three distinct psychological stages, beginning first with (1) a primary break with the sense-world, followed by (2) a “new” birth and development of the spiritual consciousness on high levels, and culminating with (3) a conscious participation, and active union with the infinite and eternal (Underhill 37). Perhaps the greatest asset Underhill provides with her definitions is the basis

Load more