Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

When the religion of Mercerism and its elements are compared to the religions of the world as described in Huston Smith's The World's Religions, the basic elements of those religions are found in Mercerism, but in every case in a perverted form. Dick intends not to create a viable religion, but to depict those aspects of religion which are used by powerful social, economic and political forces to control the people and impose civil order and stability. This study will examine the religion in Dick's novel and will compare its central elements with the elements of the religions in Smith's work. The essence of the comparison will be the argument that Dick uses Mercerism bot

. . .
he did not violate the rule laid down by Mercer. You shall kill only the killers, Mercer had told them the year empathy boxes first appeared on Earth (Dick 27). On the other hand, John Isidore, a subnormal "chickenhead," considered mentally and otherwise inferior to Rick, is also a Mercerite, and empathizes with the very entities Rick is paid to kill. John practices without qualification the call to empathy at the heart of the empathy ritual which is in turn at the heart of Mercerism itself. This ritual involves the Mercerite's taking hold of a machine which allows the holder to imagine Wilbur Mercer himself making his way up a hillside while being stoned by unseen evil forces. In partaking of this ritual, the holder--and all other simultaneous holders--experience empathy with Mercer, even to the point of suffering the identical physical wounds that Mercer suffers when he is hit by a thrown stone (Dick 18-19). The religions in Smith's study all involve 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
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Dick Mercerism, Buddha Jesus, Increasingly Rick, Heaven Earth, Mercer Mercer, World's Religions, Mercerism Dick, Wilbur Mercer, Mahayana Buddhism, Mercerism Confucius, religion mercerism, religions smith's, religions smith's study, truly human, dick 27, empathy heart, world's religions, smith's study, heart mercerism, elements religions, androids dream electric, dream electric sheep, dick 26,
Approximate Word count = 1617
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep