THE DAO OF DICK: A critique of Daoism in “The Man in the High Castle”

There is something mystical invading the mind of Philip K. Dick. Whether he is writing frantically about drugs, paranoia, and the subversion behind drugs (A Scanner Darkly), or merely in a psychedelic trance unconsciously writing science fiction mingling his Gnostic underpinning philosophy and bizarre visions (VALIS), he is consumed with what cannot be seen, what could have been, and what envelopes and constitutes the living world; sometimes enigmatically questioning what necessarily defined “living” (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—what eventually became Blade Runner). What is certain is his love of the esoteric, that which defies convention, and in a notable example, what lurks beyond human reason and even the confines of faith. The Man In The High Castle (MHC) deals with such a subject—it deals with the creation of a false world (one dominated by a bipolar America, half dominated by the repressive Nazi regime, the other half controlled by a pragmatic Imperial Japan regime), and the coping of the characters to such existential confines.

How Daoism is presented in such a novel is inherently obscured. First, Dick’s treatment of the subject is unconventional, sometimes due to his setting (the “version” of Daoism he is exposed to) and also to his critics (specifically, Patricia Warrick). Second, his treatment of Daoism is not necessarily a vehicle for the story, nor simply a convention he touches upon through a character of symbol: he argues for a reform of the philosophy in a dramatic way. Third, and most interesting, based upon the critique seen, one could see that the majority of the book is dominated by not necessarily a Daoist strand, but a Buddhist one (the “Imperial Way”), counterbalancing the Nazi sentiments. As a whole, the book can be seen as not necessarily Daoist in a fundamental light, but through a scope seen as the “American permutation” based off of interpretations of Western scholarship in the late 50’s and early 60’s.

To analyze the views of both Dick and Warrick presents itself as an interesting problem. Firstly, it is imperative to know that Dick supposedly wrote MHC while consulting the Yijing to resolve each of the narratives’ conflicts. As such, it can be argued that MHC could represent a commentary to the actual Yijing, as it represents an “interpretation” (albeit, a slightly fantastical one). One can only argue this further when it is revealed that the alternate future counterpoint within the story, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, is written with the aid of the Yijing as well¹. This juxtaposition of text and commentary is supposedly an ideal that determines the structure of the actual story², paring narrative with its interpretation and illumination. Beyond this major detail lie more details of consequence, mainly, the setting in which Dick wrote MHC (that is, 1955). In late 50’s, one can find the beginnings of American interest in “Eastern thought”. One of the clear results of such appearance of such philosophy in Dick’s MHC is an approach to the religion of Daoism that is limited to the philosophical tenets (with the exception being the practical geomantic usage of the Yijing), and unfortunately tends to bleed in with other Eastern religions (particularly Zen Buddhism) in its treatment by Dick. More obscurity can only be found if one kept in mind Dick’s own medley of beliefs—just for one example, the man labeled himself as Zoroastrian³: if this proved to work itself into MHC, then perhaps his views regarding metaphysics, that the world as a product of a dark god of illusions—could his treatment of MHC conflict with the Daoist themes (that argue that the Dao is more of a neutral source of life). Furthermore, such “whitewashing” appears in Patricia Warrick’s critique as well: a major source for her knowledge apparently is The Tao of Physics⁴, a work troubled by its own generalization of the Dao. A final confounding element to Daoism in MHC is that it is inextricably tied to Imperial Japan [1], and perhaps a corresponding evocation of the wartime philosophy of D.T. Suzuki. In this way, it is possible that MHC represents a muddled view of Daoism, perhaps an entity that is not Daoism to begin with. For the intents of this analysis, however, the “Oriental thought” that Dick writes about is to be taken as “Dick’s Dao”, as compared with the multifarious scopes that it truly encompasses in an anthology such as Kohn’s The Taoist Experience. It is permissible then, with these considerations in mind, to proceed to look at the forms of Dick’s Dao and to articulate how it differs from a broader, more “intellectual” and “contemporary” view of Daoism [2].

The reform Dick’s Dao calls for is tempered by such ambiguity, not only as I stated previously (ambiguity of what defines “Daoism” as opposed to Buddhism), but in the tides of moral ambiguity. That is, the driver of the changes to the Daoist lifestyle of Mr. Tagomi are due to a conflict of moral ambiguity, resulting from the thought of a Japan subjugated by a Goebbels-led Nazi regime, and his eventual murder of two men: he loses faith in the Dao, and the geomancy of the Yijing⁵. Through a focus—an Americana-inspired pin imbued with pure wu—he meditates, regains faith, and just acts. His inspiration only acts as correlative process, allowing Frank Frink to live, just as the artifact Frank created allowed Tagomi to regain his faith. What the Dao of Dick then argues is for a different interpretation of this “correlative cosmology”. Not only does he link peoples’ fates (Tagomi’s and Frank’s), but their actions. Dick argues to Tagomi that harmonizing action through his vision of the Dao requires more somatic input then just, as Cook Ding does, letting action issue forth. If action is tied together, and fates are rooted together, then Dick argues, worlds are tied together as well. If the history of the MHC world is not the true world, and the history of the Grasshopper world is not true, then what makes Dick’s world so “true”? The permutation of thinking represented in this Dao is one based off of a Gnostic and Buddhist set of ideals: that of reality being “false” or somehow “manipulated”, and that the world created is perceived as a group consciousness (“in a karmic stream”). It is a moralistic one, requiring a stronger vigil against evil in a world dominated by authority: “[Philip Dick is] with Luther in his belief of an active Satan who is at work all the time”⁶. As a whole, the reform called by Dick is one warped by his Zoroastrian background in religion, particularly in his views towards the polarity of good and evil. It is further warped by his merging of Daoist and Buddhist tenets into a continuum. But more often than not, it shows an interesting variation, where the many forms manifested by the Taiji and differentiations of the Dao turn into a sort of splintered glass view of many “false” worlds, representing a sensible merger of quantum mechanics and the Dao into something quite representative of his ideas about the enigmatic, and furthermore a good treatment of Zhuangzi-an Daoism (where even Pengzi died young, a place where nothing quite seems to be what it truly is, and where distinctions actually die).

Finally, to look at the Imperial Way and the more Japanese conventions of what usually is thought of as “cousins of Daoism” (i.e. Zen), it becomes abundantly clear early into the book that it is going to be a dominant force due to the environment (not only because of the Imperial Japanese presence, but due to what appears as a rapid downward fall that both empires seem to be traveling on). This reaches a zenith as Armageddon approaches in the form of Operation Dandelion. Beyond such basic forms of eschatology, the concept of every act having a Zen-like “religiosity” is reflected in the constant referencing of the Yijing, the interconnectedness of such acts between narrative lines, and the pervading sense of “spirit” that Tagomi senses lurking within the interior of the antiques, especially those created by Frink. The reactions the characters have to such Americana are indicative of the almost “religious” power imbued within them, and the very act of creating such lived artifacts is “Zen” in itself: “Working and not thinking, not looking up or trying to understand”⁷. To create is a religious act in itself (not unlike giving your life to the war), and in following the Daoist (perhaps, Zen) lifestyle, the item is created through intuition and defies all logic. In the Imperial Way, Buddhism could be expressed through civil service in conscription as a defiance towards the immoral materialism that the West represents. With the “West” effectively dead and commuted to Nazi Germany, the anti-materialism has been dropped, now that the American artifacts emit the spirit that the War effectively crushed. The defiance, in the form of Tagomi’s killings⁸ is of the crushing authoritarianism, but is essentially the same vehicle that the Japanese used to critique materialism. Acts of defiance, structured with the help of harmonizing Yijing consultation, thus keep their spirit from MHC to the real interpretation of wartime Buddhism. The important difference remains, however, that the Bushido intended to act as a eschatological moment of enlightenment at the point of death, whereas in MHC the apex of inspiration occurs as Tagomi finds the perfection in Frink’s art. Something tiny issues forth something great to overcome the enormous, and in this way the tiny and great are united in a pure state: the very wu contained within the pin.

In analysis of the “Dao of Dick” in (1) how it is interpreted by Warrick and Dick through setting and sources, (2) how it represents a change in fundamental tenets of Daoism, (3) and how it represents a view coinciding accurately with Imperial Way Zen Buddhism, a number of interesting things become clear. (A) Dick’s views on Daoism obviously is indicative of the blurry vision of the “first generation” of scholars: he mixes in Buddhist ideals and his own religious thoughts into an amalgamation that represents Dick’s Daoism; (B) ultimately, such a Daoism reflects the first generation’s view of Eastern thought as a continuum than a structure of different philosophies and religions with more subtle differences; (C) Dick exercises a medley of Daoist tenets into what he actually interprets as the religion, adding elements of the philosophical (i.e Yin yang theory) with the practical (Yijing geomancy), and yet adding a sort of Zhuangzi-an undertone all the while (rejection of distinctions of alternate dimensions); (D) finally, in resolving the conflict, he ties together events, characters, their actions, and even different worlds, creating something that may be interpreted as a Dick’s version of “correlative cosmology”: somehow, the Yijing and objects “with spirit” (i.e Frank’s pin) can act as inspiration to act and harmonize fate, as well as enlighten few about the potential of the existence of different words. One can suppose what the ultimate goal of Dick is a personal acceptance and rejection of certain ideals of “Oriental philosophy’ that he can manage to reconcile. For instance, he can fathom the existence of false worlds with his religious background, and he can also argue the lack of existence of “fallacy’ in these worlds with compelling logic (‘how can we determine what is false?”). Yet, he refuses to accept the lack of objective morality that Buddhism and Daoism potentially exhibit. This selective cultivation of “Oriental themes” makes for a incredibly interesting tangling of themes across the margin and histories, albeit one of incredible complexity, even in analyzing only one ideological set of tenets. What is certain once again, however, is that Dick’s Daoism is a highly personal, individualized synthesis of beliefs for the science fiction writer, and is not in the least discountable as unintellectual, uninformed, or even “inaccurate” of Daoism, despite what might be argued as variation from fundamental tracts. Instead, it acts as yet another step in the “progression” of the discursive interpretation, jumping from scholar-to-scholar, and represents a pinnacle work released during the time suitable for cementing the canon of West coast Eastern spirituality. Thus, to this extent, one could argue that The Man in the High Castle could be regarded as historically important for the development of Western Daoism, if not as a being a brilliant work in its own right.

[0] It might seem peculiar that I don’t really cite specific examples with textual citations. The reasoning behind this is that I have discussed these subjects so frequently that I cannot find the actual text pages for some of the anecdotes I mention. So, for the sake of being concise, I will name my Daoist citations:

• Zhuangzi
  • “Discussion on Making Things Equal”
    • Pengzi dying young, “tweaking with perception”
    • “Butterfly” anecdote
  • Cook Ding
• Yijing
  • (textual use by Dick)
• Tao of Physics
  • (textual use by Warrick
• Daodejing
  • (textual use by Warrick
• D.T. Suzuki
  • (implied through “Imperial Way”, based on lecture)

But, in a sense, there isn’t much room to cite Kohn’s articles outside of the Zhuangzi and Daodejing because Philip’s sort of Daoism is not as broad as the many texts within Kohn, and mostly focused on the broader schema of “philosophic Daoism”, rather than the actual practice of the Daoist lifestyle.

[1] Something inherently weird, considering that Daoism never grew in its own right in Japan. I suppose Dick is just summoning what could be his own interpretation of wartime Japanese “mind”, which wasn’t unlike some essential parts of Daoist belief with its strong Zen mentality.

[2] Broader means more sources, particularly primary ones. Early critics of Eastern thought tended to learn about traditions using secondary sources rather than the actual translated primary. Warrick, for example, uses a lot of Sinologists works… Tao, The Tao of Physics, Tao-A New Way of Thinking…these types of works represent a “learning of the tradition through a Western intermediary”; her only primary source is the Daodejing. Intellectual circles of Chinese thought tends to focus a bit more fundamentally on the texts, rather than secondary analysis. Warrick and Dick’s Daoism, incidentally, seems to be similar to the popular form of Eastern thought as it manifested in the States through authors such as Alan Watts and Gary Snyder. These works tend to reflect a good amount of personal imposition of thoughts upon the beliefs, rather than a historical treatment that one could readily see today. The effect, I think,of such treatment, results in Asian thought being interpreted as a continuum of similar thoughts, rather than separated and negotiated on its own terms: school by school, focused on overarching trends.

CUMULATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kohn, Livia. The Taoist Experience. New York: State University of New York P, 1993.

Warrick, Patricia. “The Encounter of Taosim and Fascism in Philip K. Dick’s the Man in the High Castle.” Science-Fiction Studies 7 (1980): 174-190.

Watson, Burton, trans. Zhuangzi: Basic Writings. New York: Columbia UP, 2003.

(references to The Tao of Physics and DT Suzuki are topical and based upon lectures. They are not greatly a part of my critique, rather, the environment in which they are brewed and the themes espoused are the important parts. I did not open either work, so I still do not believe a citation is necessary)

~ by thedefinitearticle on May 17, 2008.