Late Post: Week 7 & 8: Science Fiction, the falsities of reality and the role of the I-Ching.....

Let me just start off by saying that Philip K Dick makes me feel stupid, like I'm lacking in brain power - which I'm sure I am, at times. I'm not sure if he purposely left the ending shadowy or if its the I-Ching's fault. Strings are left untied - operation Dandelion is still alive and well, Frank Frink goes back to making jewellery, and Juliana just goes on with her life after informing Abendsen that he may be assasinated etc. We are still very much left in the dark as to how it ends. Dick himself has been quoted as saying in the book 'Philip K Dick, A life:1928-1962' that "When it came to the close-down of the novel, the I-Ching had no more to say, so there's no real ending on it, I like to regard it as an open ending." - Thanks alot Dick!
I won't deny that many of the storylines were tied together towards the latter part of the book, character arcs were established and met, and certain morals within different characters were put to the test, but...... I'm still a little confused. Maybe the plot emulates lifes happenings, whereas, nothing really comes to a sudden sense of resolution, its continuous. Dick is definitely on one of his 'what-is-reality' fixations, and he really poses the question - 'Is it all just a fiction?' Which, for me anyway, is hard to comprehend. I think the main thing I got out of it was that reality is subject to the perception of the individual. 

Alternate histories inside of alternate histories, novels inside of novels, the layers certainly start stacking up. I will say that I was slightly disappointed to learn that every character in TMITHC was living a false reality. Then again, if we were to look at it from Dick's POV - 'What is reality? What is real? Which is true? Which is false?' - Certainly themes common in a number of his works. Dick illustrates these falsities in a very clever way - the counterfeit is portrayed as indistinguashable from the original (as with the Zippo lighter and its historicity), the true identity of Mr. Baynes poses as a mystery, Frink is actually Fink - a jew, and Mr. Yatabe is actually General Tedeke. The examples go on, but we havn't the time. 
For something to be true or false there can only be two options. As far as I can see Dick presents us with three realities in the novel - 'The Man In The High Castle' reality (Germans & Japs winning WWII), the 'Grasshopper lies heavy' reality (Germans & Japs losing WWII), and the reality that Mr. Tagomi slips into upon meditating over his object containing 'Wu', which is hinted at to be our current world or reality, or at least the world in 1962 (when the book was published). Note: The world in 'Grasshopper lies heavy' cannot be 'our' world because a non-existent president named Tugwell was said to have been in charge of America. So the novel inside a novel is also a fiction. Hmmmm.....
So upon learning there are three realities, possibly more - who knows, none of the realites above can be seen as true or false, which is certainly perplexing.
It is interesting to note the way Dick uses the I-Ching in the novel as a way of organising plot and overall storyline. It is a fantastic literary device in which to interrelate things.

In one way or another the I-Ching serves as a way of connecting the main characters in the book to one another. Whether or not the characters meet face to face is besides the point. The I-Ching symbolises synchronicity - everything being connected with everything. Mountfort (2006, pg.5) states that "It is through the I-Ching that the characters decide how they should interpret events, what they should do next, and what the result will be."
Tao (the book of changes/I-Ching) advocates that "Tao is nature's way, the order and course of pattern of all things. Every person and thing is only what it is in relation to others. Everything grows and operates indepenently, on its own, but is in harmony with all." The Yin and the Yang - the balance. I'm probably getting of track here but it realates to my point.
For example: 1) Frink never meets Tagomi but they are connected through the 'squiggle' object that contains 'Wu'. The object that Frink has created brings on the 'hallucination' or 'parellel universe' in which Tagomi experiences. Also, Tagomi is the one that releases Frink from the custody of the Reich (unaware it is Frink), saving him from extermination. 2) Robert Childan has not formally met (bar the one time Frink comes into his store in disguise) Frank Frink, yet Frink is the one who has made and sold (through means of ed) the 'artifacts' to Childan to sell in his store. These artifacts then take on a a whole contemporary artistic meaning of their own - supposedly posessing 'Wu' - as mentioned previously. And it is important to note also that it is through the I-Ching that Frank is persuaded to start making these so-called artifacts, hence the way the I-Ching weaves itself through the story and takes effect. 3) Then there is Juliana who plays a very important role towards the end of the novel. She never interacts with any of the other main characters, but has alot in common with Mr. Tagomi. They both happen upon Germans in disguise, they both kill German/s to protect others, and they both receive, through the I-Ching, the hexagram 'inner truth' which changes their perception on reality and what is real.

My point is that all the characters are interconnected and organised through a web of synchronicity - similar to that of the Tao. So in this regard the I-Ching serves as an excellent organisational device. But it all still points to which reality is which, what is real? And is there really is a reality in the first place? These are very difficult questions to answer; perhaps that's why Dick was so plagued by this idea throughout his life.
Nevertheless, a magnificent book with brilliant ideas and a solid plot.
One last note that's prbably off toopic: I couldn't help but crack up when reading some of Mr. Tagomi's internal monologue.
(Pg. 220 - SF Masterworks edition) "What do I see? he asked himself. Due to long patient painstaking study. What is clue of truth that confronts me in this object? Yield, he told the silver triangle. Cough up arcane secret. Like frog pulled from depths, he thought. Clutched in fist, given command to declare what lies below in the watery abyss. But here the frog does not even mock; it strangles silently, becomes stone or clay or mineral. Inert. Passes back to rigid substance familiar in it's tomb world."
- Maybe its just me that finds this passage funny, I dont know, but it sure creates an image in my mind, and I think its the Japanese accent mentality aspect of it that gets me, which also really suits Dicks barrage style of writing. It Comes. In Quick. Sharp. Bursts..... An onslaught of words and dialogue. Like he was on drugs or something - ha. (which I believe he might have been, don't quote me on it though)