TLS signed “Love, Phil,” adding a heart with arrow, seven pages, 8.5 x 11, February 14, 1981. Dense philosophical letter to science fiction author Patricia Warrick, in small part: "Recognition by its very nature involves memory. 'To perceive to be a person or thing previously known' (Merriam-Webster II). Hence the meta-abstraction that I speak of, since it necessarily involves recognition, necessarily involves memory. 'To recover or recall knowledge of.' (M-W II.) The OED says: 'To know again.' Object A cannot be understood to be object B unless object A is remembered (we are assuming that object A is in the past; object B is in the present; thus we are seeing object A again and not another object similar to it). It seems to be necessary to redefine 'anamnesis,' but it is impossible that it can be redefined without retaining the element of memory. There is no doubt whatsoever that in February 1974 when I saw the golden fish sign and heard the girl's words I remembered. That is precisely and specifically what happened and I knew it at the time. I remembered and because I remembered I understood; it all came back to me in an instant, a world (not this one), a way of life (not this one), a place (not this place), a time (not this time); most of all, not Phil Dick.
How and why, then, do I need to correct Plator's conception of anamnesis? Everything that he speaks of did take place. I saw two spatiotemporal sets (world) blend together, and, I realized last October, my mind instantly leaped to the realization that this syntonic blending could only be possible if both worlds were aspects ('accidents,' to use the Medieval term) of a common single essence from which they were derived. Logically, there can be no other explanation. More, I very soon apperceived that common single essence, independent of given place and given time; this quite clearly is the eidos (in fact several eide forming a dramatic event acted out in human history). And, moreover, I was aware that this was the true story of history, normally obscured by, to quote, 'Local habitation and a name.'" He goes on to delve into a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion of philosophy, history, religion, and popular culture. In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope.
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