The Lathe of Heaven
The following are my notes on The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. LeGuin. These notes are subject to change in the future.
Relevant Background Information
The title seemed immediately odd. Later in the text it is quoted as an epigraph to start chapter 3:
“To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven. (知止乎其所不能知，至矣。若有不即是者，天鈞敗之。)”
This gives the impression that being measured and not aiming too far above one’s station in life is necessary to not upset the natural balance. Fits within a Western understanding of Eastern philosophy (whatever Eastern philosophy is supposed to mean). This is a mistranslation, perhaps most obviously pointed out by the fact that powerful lathes were very unlikely to have existed at the time the Tao Te Ching was written.
A translation by David Chai given in Nothingness, Being, and Dao: Ontology and Cosmology in the Zhuangzi of 天鈞 (translated in LeGuin as “lathe of heaven”) is heavenly equilibrium. A very weighty philosophical concept that relates to the way all things start and end equal in Daoism.
Plot Summary
Chapter 1
Very interesting. Pretty well written first couple of paragraphs describing the nature of the jellyfish. Entrusting its entire being to the ocean. Then that same jellyfish can be ousted by the waves to the sand.
This seems to be the nightmare from which our main character wakes up from. The sun searing into their eyes. They overdosed on some other persons prescription pills to try to keep their dreams at bay. The guard Mannie kept them from getting a record by lying and saying he helped them get the pills.
Vaguely dystopian society as kids need nutrition but can’t get it because of bureaucracy.
Chapter 2
It seems every person gets an allotment of pep pills and sleeping pills. Also global warming has destroyed the environment. Clearly capitalist dystopia.
Orr has dreams that affect reality. Part of the criticism of modernity is that sexual permissiveness went as far as sexual repression. Kind of weird but a sensible critique during the 70’s when the book was written.
Name of the patient is George Orr. He is being put under dream hypnosis using a machine that monitors brain activity using EEG. Some sci-fi explanation is needed to explain how the machine does this.
Horses have been crowded out by people. George’s dream caused the picture of the mountain in the office to become a horse. The doctor had a moment where he remembered the mountain but quickly was set in the reality that it had always been the horse.
Chapter 3
Mistranslation of a Zhuang Zhou quote. Lathe of heaven, the title is an obvious anachronism as in ancient China lathes hadn’t been invented. The real translation is closer to heavenly equilibrium. Regardless the quotation is intended to impart the virtue of accepting the limitations of that which is attainable (in knowledge and in life).
George went to dream again with doctor Haber after work. The commute shows even more dystopia (everything is overcrowded, oceans are rising, pollution is everywhere, no one has hope for the future). He dreams of the horse again, but changes the dream so Mount Hood is now the picture in the office.
The metaphor used at the start of the book is that George is looking for a key to lock away his dreams. Haber uses the metaphor to try to bring all the dreams forward.
George felt seen by the doctor because he assumes the doctor is aware of his dreams power to change reality. This seemed to alleviate the negative sensations the people around him in the train have.
Chapter 4
He meets with a lawyer after work. The structure the lawyer is in is a repurpose parking building. The lawyer is a very typical dominant arrogant person, she uses a lot of insect imagery to make them seem calculating, cold and predatory. He expostulates with the lawyer to help him stop Haber from using his dreams to affect reality. His latest dream gave him a cabin in the woods, except it also made it such that the woods enclosed cabins, which it didn’t previously.
Chapter 5
Haber is a plain and simple utilitarian. He is quoted as not believing morality even means anything unless it is a measured good for others.
Haber is “furious” with George for George’s increasing resistance to Haber. Indicates Haber is unaware of the dreams changing reality. Then we see that Haber’s office has a window view, which he had indicated a desire for before. This tells us Haber is at least partially aware of the transformative effect of George’s dreams.
The lawyer is present and George dreams a dream that makes 6 billion people cease to be. Haber notices that the lawyer is definitely aware of the reality split that occurs and briefly considers all manner of restraining her so his research can continue with George (including violence). She plays straight well enough even when George calls out that his dream changed reality and that the new reality is false to where Haber let’s them both go. Haber drinks to the ‘better world’ he is creating.
Chapter 6
George has set a meeting with the lawyer Lelache, but she refuses to disclose the contents of Dr. Haber’s input on George’s dream.
George goes to the doctor and remonstrates with him to stop the control of the world through his dreams. Haber responds by playing coy, as he can claim that George is simply deluded.
They finally have a theoretical confrontation where Haber responds to George’s accusations of him changing things by stating that the point of man’s life is to make changes, do things and make the world a better place. George disagrees wholeheartedly. This prompts Haber to ask what man’s purpose is, to which George says that man may have no purpose, like how galaxies have no inherent purpose, they just are. He views man’s actions in life as similar to wind on a field of grass, where man is but one blade on that field.
Haber responds that this is an Eastern belief (tipping Le Guin’s hand on her Taoist influence). Not entirely convinced by Le Guin’s interpretation of Taoism.
The book plays a lot on the fact that Haber is so deep in psychoanalysis and playing parts that he himself is unaware when he is lying to himself and what his true impulses are/where his true motivations lie. This is actually an interesting study in perspective for a character. We see this when Haber analyzes the lawyer, he thinks of her lawyer self as a mask, but he has no interest in getting to know the real her, of course inherent here is a projective presupposition of people having these masks and roles that they choose to act out separate from their ‘true’ self. Even the presupposition of a ‘true’ self is an interesting one for a character like Haber who is supposedly a complete instrumentalist.
Le Guin goes even further and says this is possible because of someone having two ‘hermetic halves,’ which is to say that his mind is split separately but still part of one consciousness. She then says that politicians are like this when they instruct pilots to kill to make the world safe. This is an extremely weak line of reasoning.
She references brave new world here to refer to the world that Haber creates. Another show that she thinks his Utopic vision is really dystopia.
Chapter 7
Lelache finds George hiding in his cabin from Haber. She is basically completely in love with him as she finally sees that in his stillness and unwillingness to be bent by others he is quite strong. He also is always kind even when his situation is brutal, which she respects.
Lelache (and I suspect Le Guin), states that people like George have let pure compassion to the wheel. She says the Lama in Tibet is like that. Kind of blind to her own biases there.
We finally know what the first scene of the book was. Nuclear warfare, dandelions sprouting between cement blocks and George dreaming for a better world.
Lelache gets George to dream that Haber is benevolent, and that there are no aliens on the moon. This causes the aliens to come to Earth.
Chapter 8
Aliens are on Earth which is being destroyed by Air Force. Haber is benevolent and trying to get George to have a good dream where peace is on Earth. He inevitably has this dream but Haber can’t even tell that he did and just thinks aliens were peaceful the whole time.
Chapter 9
George eliminates race at Haber’s instruction. The new benevolent Haber is simply forthright, but isn’t the noninterventionist that George wants him to be. It seems Heather has been erased.
George is someone who is even by all accounts and measures. I suppose this is supposed to be a good thing as a doctor other than Haber calls him holistically adjusted.
George speaks with an alien who gives him some vague fragmented English about being one with the universe. Not a fan of the literary technique where you simplify a foreign language into English by destroying its grammar. This makes George resolute that everything is where it should be and he shouldn’t change the world.
The messaging is somewhat mixed, George admits that Haber has actually improved the world, but he thinks Haber will make it worse as he goes for complete control. He is resolute that he will stop Haber.
Chapter 10
He has a dream where he brings Heather back, he then goes to see Haber. In this dream Haber removes his effective dreaming and gives it to himself. George tells Haber to use the alien dream word to make him a better man (okay with being a part of a whole). Haber obviously does not do this and destroys the planet.
Chapter 11
George lives in post-Break world and eventually finds Heather. He is resolute to win her over again.
Final Thoughts
I didn’t find the ideas about how to live one’s life particularly impactful. I don’t blame the writer for this, as when I read this book I had somewhat made up my mind about how I felt about Taoist, and Taoist influenced philosophies. The lack of impact was not helped by the mistranslation and my feeling that the clumsiest sections were those where the message was extremely bluntly delivered by beings the narrator assures us are of a higher level of thinking.
On the other hand, the description of tenderness between George and Lelache was extremely moving and beautiful. Even though there was nothing explicit established in the cabin, it was so evident and palpable the love they felt for each other.
Points of Investigation
- Look into Taoism to see if Le Guin’s representation of it is accurate or a dated (perhaps Orientalist?) view?