A Web of Connections
in Imaginal Hyperspace
I suspect I’ve found the reading for one of the two fall short courses coming up in September and October. The French philosopher David Lapoujade published a book in 2021 that came to the top of one of my search results recently. The English translation (2023) is titled Worlds Built to Fall Apart: Versions of Philip K. Dick. It didn’t take long to be quite sure it is worth reading. So, wondering who this guy is, I looked him up and discovered to my utter amazement that his first four books were about William James, Henri Bergson, Gilles Deleuze and, wonder of wonders! Etienne Souriau, in that order, followed by this latest on PKD. I’ve sketched a map of some of the (to me) more interesting connections above. Those who’ve been along for the ride for a while will see right away that while Henry Corbin and PKD are surely strange bedfellows, they are part of a web of imagineers of a sort, both linked to Jeff Kripal and Erik Davis of High Weirdness, Super Natural and the realm of the Impossible, and to Deleuze and via Lapoujade. This makes explicit the connection I’ve assumed must exist in some high-dimensional ontological-spiritual-theological space between Deleuze and Corbin. Sure, it might be tenuous, but I rather doubt it. I suspect that what we would find are some areas of striking similarity, and others where they are utterly different. I’ve spent three decades on or near Corbin, and being tempted by the Himalayan Peaks of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Now I am pretty sure I need to at least make a trip to the foothills by reading some of their students and commentators (Lapoujade is both). So I think we’ll begin by spending four weeks in September reading Worlds Built to Fall Apart.
In October, I think we’ll have a problem: choosing between Jeff Kripal’s forthcoming How to Think Impossibly and Joshua Ramey’s very exciting 2012 book The Hermetic Deleuze: Philosophy and Spiritual Ordeal. I think we’ll read both this year, but which comes first will depend on the alignment of the planets…
Honestly, I didn’t see this coming, but it’s very exciting.
Oh, Erik Davis. I thought you meant Stuart Davis, KenWilberian pop musician and now a podcaster about alien encounters.
Most interesting choice of text for the first fall course! My search for the emperors lurks in the background and I am enjoying the read of Worlds Built to Fall Apart. I read a lot of sci fi mixed with magical realism as a kid, but never got to P.K.Dick. Lots to think about with fascinating new connections.