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This short novel was written in 1968, six years before the intense mystical experiences of 1974 that led to PKD's last novels of 1978-1981, starting with VALIS. But clearly he was already deep into the metaphysical exploration that eventually crystallized in gnosticism.THE PLOTJoe Fernwright is a pot-healer. When I first encountered "Galactic Pot-Healer" (GPH) I thought the pot was the kind you smoke. But no, the main character takes broken pots and puts them back together good as new. He heals them. But there is not much work anymore, his marriage has broken up, and his life is stuck in a dead-end. Then he becomes one of the many individuals across the galaxy recruited by a powerful, telepathic entity known as the Glummung to assist him in a Quixotesque plan to raise a sunken cathedral called Heldscala on a distant planet. The situation quickly becomes more complex once Joe arrives on the planet, and layers of plot make little sense other than as expressions of metaphysical concepts.I found it to be as imaginative and entertaining as you would expect from PKD, but it is not among his finest novels (which include The Man In the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and A Scanner Darkly).METAPHYSICS (with spoilers)PKD's works have been subjected to far more academic analysis than most science fiction authors. I am not familiar with all of it, but it is widely known that the VALIS trilogy expresses the gnostic beliefs he developed after 1974. GPH seems to combine several metaphysical views -- this is my own analysis, not informed by others, so I may be reinventing the wheel.The obvious starting point is Judaism. "Pot-healing" is exactly the metaphor used in the doctrine of "Tikkun olam," or repairing the world. Often used to mean social justice, the idea is that God deliberately shattered the initial creation of pure light, leaving a world of shards so that we humans would have to join God's work and repair the world, making it whole again. The kabbalistic version that must have attracted PKD is dualistic and somewhat gnostic in that it involves saving the souls, which are the fragments of light, and separating them from the material world, which is evil. This view of Joe's "pot-healing" is consistent and apropos. He is the most faithful of the large array of individuals of diverse species and worlds recruited by the Glimmung.Gnosticism is indicated by the purpose of the cathedral, which is to worship a God named Amalita. We are told that Amalita created a sister, named Borel, who tried/tries to destroy all he created, and that he created her to be as powerful as him if not moreso, so he couldn't necessarily prevail over her. In gnosticism, the Creator God is the Demiurge, a false god, several emanations removed from the real God, and the material world we live in is the realm of the Demiurge. In GPH there is also a Black Cathedral and a Black Glimmung, so there are three expressions of dualism that seem consistent with or at least inspired by gnosticism.Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy (and theology) seems to make an appearance at the end in the confrontation with the Book of Kalends, which claims to predict everything, implying a completely deterministic universe ruled by Fate. A fellow recruit says to Joe "[b]e creative. Work against Fate." Whitehead's philosophy proposes a dialectic between God (the One) and the Universe (the Many). His ultimate metaphysical principle includes both, resulting from the dialectic: "The Universe is a creative advance into novelty." This is consistent with the ending, with Joe convinced to try to create his own pots rather than just healing the broken pots of others. In this way he would be part of the Universe's creative advance.PKD has to make clear that the Glimmung is not God, though he/she is very powerful. A question the book explicitly raises, and is discussed by the characters, is whether the Glimmung is an expression of Faust. Is the Glimmung Fated/Doomed to fail? This is a way of focusing the question of Fate versus Free Will.There is one final metaphysical twist in the plot. The Glimmung's victory is made possible by two things: 1) uniting with the array of individuals who lend their strength and skills to the effort, and 2) acknowledging its feminine side. This is not at all developed, but is critical in the plot.THE STYLENothing I've said so far conveys GPH's sense of humor. One of the sources of the comedic element is the Glimmung, who often communicates through strange media such as notes in bottles, and is provided with very funny lines. The cast of aliens is also amusing, including bivalves and dragonflies. And there is a sex/love interest, though it is not developed very far.GPH is a definite recommendation once you've read PKD's best novels and are looking for more.
