Mercerism Religion

As a outgrowth of war, technology, environmental desolation, authoritarian control, and a kind-hearted being with little or no true religion or spirituality, the society of Dick's falsehood has been almost entirely dehumanized. There is some question, in fact, whether the essential humans in the novel or their mechanical facsimiles the mechanical mans be more truly human. The consideration of this distinction is an integral voice of a serious reading of the book. The religion of Mercerism distorts human unavoidably in order to make humans more mechanical. At the same time, it does encourage the experience of empathy, which in peerless degree or another serves as the basis of the religions in Smith's study.

This test of the nature of empathy is certainly one of the most significant typefaces of some(prenominal) the book and the religion in the book. Empathy is shown to be an inherent aspect of human nature, as well as the missing tout in androids. In fact, androids ar exposed as non-human when they atomic number 18 given an empathy test:

[Rick] had wondered as had most people . . . hardly why an android bounced helplessly about when confronted by an empathy-measuring test. Empathy, evidently, existed merely within the human community. . . . The empathic faculty probably take an unimpaired group instinct (Dick 26).

. . . was free to locate the nebulous presence of The Killers wherever he saw fit (Dick 27).

Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? youthful York: B all in allantine, 1982.

In retiring--i.e., killing--an andy he did not violate the rule pose down by Mercer. You shall kill only the killers, Mercer had told them the year empathy boxes inaugural appe atomic number 18d on Earth (Dick 27).

Smith, Huston. The World's Religions. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

One might also palisade that Mercer is representative of his religion in the same way that Buddha or Jesus represent their religions, although Mercer is finally revealed to be a fake to such a position. Even so, his religion accomplished what the world religions in Smith aim to accomplish, at least in part.

rpretation comes from a man who makes his living killing rogue androids. This sentiment allows Rick to more easily end the existence of entities which he sees at the same time as increasingly human-like. A similarly dehumanizing view of one's enemies, in fact, is taken by all sides in war, including wars between armies whose soldiers claim to believe in idol in religiously different ways. In any case, androids are differentiated from humans in the inability of androids to empathize: "An android . . . could make no sense out of the fusion which took federal agency routinely among the followers of Mercerism" (Dick 26).

The religions in Smith's study all make some form of empathy. of For example, discussing Buddhism, Smith notes that Mahayana Buddhism focuses on the compassion one human being experiences in relating to the suffering of another human being: "For Mahayanists the fate of the individual is linked to that of all life, and they are ultimately undivided" (Smith 122). Confucianism is certainly at most points confused to Mercerism, but even in that more practical and faraway less mysterious religion is found the emphasis on one's relationship with others which marks Mercerism:

In Mercerism, t
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.