I dreamed: I am the fish whose flesh is eaten, and because I am fat, it is good.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the complexity of self-perception and sacrifice, suggesting that one's perceived flaws can also be seen as advantages.
In this quote, Philip K. Dick explores the duality of the human experience through the metaphor of a fish whose fat is consumed. It highlights how from one perspective, being seen as desirable or valuable can lead to exploitation, yet from another perspective, this same quality can be viewed as a source of contentment or worth. It invites the reader to consider how our traits and vulnerabilities can be interpreted in contrasting ways based on individual experiences and societal perspectives.
In practice
During a motivational talk about self-acceptance, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of embracing one's flaws.
We are living in a computer-programmed reality, and the only clue we have to it is when some variable is changed, and some alteration in reality occurs. We have the overwhelming impression that we were reliving the present - deja vu.
Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.
On some other world, possibly it is different. Better. There are clear good and evil alternatives. Not these obscure admixtures, these blends, with no proper tool by which to untangle the components.
"Do you have information that there's an android in the cast? I'd be glad to help you, and if I were an android would I be glad to help you?" "An android," he said, "doesn't care what happens to another android. That's one of the indications we look for." "Then," Miss Luft said, "you must be an android."
The universe is information and we are stationary in it, not three dimensional and not in space or time.
A man is an angel that has gone deranged.
Outside our consciousness there lies the cold and alien world of actual things. Between the two stretches the narrow borderland of the senses. No communication between the two worlds is possible excepting across the narrow strip. For a proper understanding of ourselves and of the world, it is of the highest importance that this borderland should be thoroughly explored.
All the same, I should like it all plain and clear," said he obstinately, putting on his business manner (usually reserved for people who tried to borrow money off him), and doing his best to appear wise and prudent and professional and live up to Gandalf's recommendation. "Also I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses, time required and remuneration, and so forth"--by which he meant: "What am I going to get out of it ? and am I going to come back alive?
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.
I was not sure I wanted to issue orders to life; I rather liked the Greek notion of allowing Chance to take a formative hand in my affairs.
Democracy divides people into workers and loafers. It makes no provision for those who have no time to work.
Christ calls us to carry the Cross; churches call us to have fun in His name.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.