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the black iron prison
In case you couldn't tell from Saturday's post, I've been thinking a lot about the persistence of ancient ideas / weltanschauungen through time.
I've been reminded, in particular, of Philip K. Dick's "single timeless template":
"...Rome circa A.D. 70, with Christian participants ranged against the state, virtually a Platonic archetypal form, echoes of which can be found down through the linear ages.
The themes of enslavement and then salvation, or fallen man liberated, are stamped from the original mold of Christian revolutionary against the legions of Roman force. In a sense nothing has happened since A.D. 70. The archetypal crisis is continually reenacted. Each time freedom is fought for it is Christian against Roman; each time human beings are enslaved it is Roman tyranny against the meek and defenseless."
Cosmogony and Cosmology (1978)
I have some issues with Dick's worldview, to be sure, but I always enjoy immersing myself in it.
Notes on Romans from last March. |
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
9:00 AM
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