[HPFGU-OTChatter] His Dark Materials

[Aberforth's Goat]

Storm
> [...] did not understand
> what was going on most of the time. I could understand that it
> was terribly supposed to be important but exsactly why eluded me.

And wondered
> what is the dust supposed to
> represent?

not to mention,
> Also what are the deamons?

About the what's-going-on question: The background to HDM is the Christian
concept of the Fall. Traditionally this fall is understood more or less as
follows: Long ago, a particularly mighty angel got sick of playing second
fiddle to God and staged a coup. The coup failed but said angel, now called
Satan, and his followers snuck down (or up or sideways) to earth where they
found the newly created human beings, called Adam and Eve, whom they also
convinced to rebel against God. Adam and Eve did so and were kicked out of
Eden and stripped of their original capacity for deathless life.

(BTW, the Bible does tell the story of Adam and Eve - it's on the first few
pages - but you'll spend a long time looking for Satan's story. But
something along these lines is what Christians have generally taught - and
it's the way Milton told the story in his poem Paradise Lost.)

That's the backdrop to Pullman's story. Now, the angels who lost last time
round (as well as many other persons and beings who are stuck on God's black
books) are setting up for a second try, with Asriel leading the way.

Dust: Dust seems to be a sort of elemental *spiritual* or *conscious*
particle, that pervades time and space. Just as photons and electrons are
the building blocks of light and electricity, Dust particles are the
building blocks of conscious experience. And just as photons and electrons
are to be found in association with flames and electrical sockets, Dust is
to be found in association with beings capable of interacting freely,
intelligently and consciously with the world.

Humans, of course, have this capacity; and as they go through puberty, it
comes into much sharper focus: hence, grownup humans have more Dust than
children. Pullman's religious types figure that it is precisely this
capacity which leads people to rebel against God - and hence they want to
destroy it. [Sane religious people, including Christians, generally think
exactly the opposite.]

Daemons: Here I'm not quite as sure. I *think* Pullman's daemons are meant
to represent the human spirit (or soul or mental essence or non-corporeal
aspect or even qualia). The traditional, European and American way of
understanding people (or any other sentient beings) is to think of two
distinct but ineracting parts: the physical part and the spiritual/mental
part. Pullman has given the inhabitants of Lyra's world the advantage of
having visible souls. It's a fascinating thought, even for people (like me)
who just can't make the two-part theory work.

(An oddity: most people tend to think that the part of a human being which
survives death is the spiritual-mental-soulful-non-corporeal part. In Lyra's
world it's the opposite. This may suggest that Pullman has something more
like "life-force" in mind.)

Baaaaaa!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray, who honestly enjoys the books, even if
he does think Pullman misunderstands Christians and their God.)
_______________________

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been
bravery...."