What does Dick (1995) himself theorise about the 'I Ching'?

The ‘I Ching’, also known as ‘The Book of Changes’ can be defined as an ancient Chinese manual that is construed according to the fundamental terms of the ying and yang (Rieder, 1988). According to Rieder (1988), the book is said to have aspects that lead to predicating certain events of the future.

The concept ‘I Ching’ is famously and significantly implemented in many of Philip K. Dick’s work, including ‘The Man In The High Castle’ – where multiple characters in the novel are depicted to have referred to it for as a periphery to generate an appropriate outcome.

Although Dick has admitted his great interest in the ‘I Ching’ concept, it is perhaps fair to say that he utilised a rather realistic approach in literary structuring rather than a predictive one. He seemed to be very much aware of the fact that he needed to place the reader under a situation in which he/she is on their own, able to interpret the likely future outcome based on actuality – despite the nature of it being either positive or negative (Dick, 1995). According to Dick (1995), although for instance, a schizophrenic somewhat escapes from reality to a world of their own, “this,while almost true, is not quite correct.”; as he says it, this is because reality only contains an attribute that points you towards a realistic perspective. Thus, while he values the principles of ‘I Ching’, it almost seems like he implements it in a way that e feels is more comprehensible to his audience (Dick, 1995).

The predominant theme in ‘The Man In The High Castle’ for instance, battles and questions the perception of what is true reality and false reality. True reality here being Dick’s strong influence on the notion of audience interpretation and false reality being one that is perhaps predictive, subject to change and in some ways reflecting that ideologies of the ‘I Ching’ (Dick, 1995). This can be observed in several contexts of the novel.

Consider for example, the fact that The Grasshopper Lies Heavily is basically the complementary historical alternative to the High Castle – where the characters who are actually based in a fictional sense believe that The Grasshopper Lies Heavily is what is fiction to them. Here, Dick is trying to make the reader understand the framework of true false realities implying that there can be multiple realities dependent on the circumstance (Campbell, 2004). At the end of this novel however, through consultation of the ‘Ching I’  some of the characters are able to realise that their world is, in fact fictional – thus leaving room for personal interpretation.

In conclusion, it is perhaps fair to state that in order to understand the implementation of ‘Ching I’ and how Philip K. Dick utilises its beliefs, a clear distinction between the metaphysical and ethical understanding of truth is needed (Rieder, 1998).

References:

Campbell, L. (2004). Dickian Time in The Man in the High Castle. Etraploation, 33(3), 1-9.

Dick, P.K. (1995). Nazism and the High Castle. In Sutin, L. (Ed.), The Shifting Realities of  Philip K. Dick (pp.112-117). New York: Vintage

Dick, P.K. (1995). Schizophrenia and the I Ching. In Sutin, L. (Ed.), The Shifting Realities of  Philip K. Dick (pp.175-182). New York: Vintage

Reider, J. (1988). Science fiction studies. The Metafictive World of "The Man in the High Castle": Hermeneutics, Ethics, and Political Ideology , 15(2), 214-225.