The Grasshopper Lies Heavy: Western & Eastern Philosophy in The Man in the High Castle
by Cameron Cortez
“Edelweiss, edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white
Clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow
May you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, edelweiss
Bless my home-land forever.” (1)
Edelweiss. Image by Ayko Neil Kehl on Unsplash.
As a student of history, alternative versions of timelines have always fascinated me. What if the British defeated the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War? What if John F. Kennedy was not assassinated? My personal favorite, what would the world look like if the Axis powers won World War II? Frank Spotnitz captures the essence of what an Axis dominated world would look like in his four season Amazon Video drama The Man in the High Castle (2016-2019). Based on a book by the same title by Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle explores how people would either survive or thrive in this dystopian alternative history. In this historical fiction, 1962 America is divided with the Greater Nazi Reich in control of the eastern seaboard through the mid-west states, the Japanese controlling the Pacific States, and a Neutral Zone encompassing the Rocky Mountain states. The prevailing ideologies of the Nazi Party or “The Reich,” and the Japanese Empire shape the world of The Man in the High Castle.
The Reich Ruling. Photo by Bartosz Kwitkowski on Unsplash.
It is not difficult for one to imagine a world ruled by the Third Reich with Adolf Hitler’s ideals so plainly stated and executed during the 1930s. Hitler’s manifesto Mein Kampf gives a glimpse at what his dreams and aspirations were. Aside from his racial ideological views and absolute claim to the superiority of the Aryan race, Adolf Hitler notes,
I freed Germany from the stupid and degrading fallacies of conscience, morality… We will train young people before whom the whole world will tremble. I want young people capable of violence, imperious, relentless, cruel. (2)
The Man in the High Castle depicts Hitler’s dream come true, realized to its full extent.
Unencumbered by morality, resources, and adversaries, the Reich achieves technological and scientific breakthroughs that only a purely rational national socialist regime could produce. In both the book and series, the Nazis have taken Gordon Moore’s Law and dialed it to ten.
The theory first postulated by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965 that the speed and power of microchips--that is computational processing power--would double roughly every year.(3)
In this alternate timeline, by 1962, the Germans have not only militarily taken over half of the world, but have also accomplished great feats of science. Achievements such as draining the Mediterranean Sea to make room for agricultural land, developing both the atomic and the hydrogen bomb, colonizing the moon, Venus, and Mars, and mastering inter-dimensional travel to alternate universes. Some of the technology displayed in both the book and series are already miles ahead of what the U.S. accomplished in our timeline. Advances such as international video conferencing and record intercontinental flight that put our modern Facetime and airlines to shame.
One of the hardest things for the human mind to grasp is the power of exponential growth in anything--what happens when something keeps doubling or tripling or quadrupling over many years and just how big the numbers can get.(4)
In the twenty years of being a superpower, the Reich has exponentially grown propagated its ideal, thus creating a world that is rational, efficient, precise, and cold.
The irony is that these are Western philosophical ideas taken to its extreme and exercised to their fullest potential. Friedrich Nietzsche’s nihilistic worldview is blatantly evident in the Reich as well as secularism, rationalism, and even downright Darwinian. Reich leaders are not chosen on merit, but by who is the most fit to lead and can eliminate their competition the most effectively as depicted by John Smith, played by Rufus Sewell. The world the Nazi Party creates is a world without God or devoid of anything spiritual. This point is exacerbated by the Smith family’s story arc as Thomas’ self-sacrifice not only begins to unravel the family but also reveals how each one grieves death and loss in a world where God is dead and hope is lost, which is the most chilling vision of The Man in the High Castle--a world that has sacrificed hope on the altar of calculated scientific efficiency and flourishing.
Photo by 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳 on Unsplash
The counter balance to the Reich in The Man in the High Castle is the Japanese Empire. The story depicts a tenuous alliance between the Reich and the Japanese, but it is on a knife’s edge, likened to The Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Japanese, portrayed as technologically inferior to the Reich, continue to deal with resistance forces within the Pacific States, as well as in China. As opposed to the Nazi’s swift and decisive elimination and extermination of any rebels, dissdents, and detractors, the Japanese instead at times allowed such individuals to live--though treated as second-class citizens.
One could argue the Japanese sought a more harmonious approach to the areas they controlled though implemented through western imperialist methods. In contrast, the Nazis leveled and reforged symbols of America, such as Washington D.C., the Liberty Bell, and the Statue of Liberty, the Japanese coveted American memorabilia and sought to preserve them like collectibles. There is a distinct divergence in the way The Japanese and the Reich rule, and it is as stark as the East is from the West.
Possibly one of the more unappreciated points of The Man in the High Castle is the number of Eastern philosophies inserted into the plot. Popular culture has dabbled in ideas such as Daoism, Ying & Yang, and the Eastern sense of harmony and balance but primarily through martial arts films. To embrace an Eastern worldview and mindset, one has to cast off rational and linear Western thinking and adopt a more pantheistic and cyclical one.
James Sire coined the worldview pantheistic monism where,
The soul of each and every human being is the Soul of the cosmos.(5)
In both the book and the series, Trade Minister Nobusuke Tagomi and Juliana Crane utilize Eastern practices such as meditation and I-Ching to access the alternate world dimension where the Allies win World War II. For both characters, it gives a certain edge in dealing with various situations--transportation into an alternate reality at will would come very handy indeed. It also gives them a different perspective of current events from everyone else, borrowing things from the alternate dimension. Tagomi is able to secure film reels of the U.S. Bikini Atoll nuclear tests to deter the Reich from striking Japan. Juliana gains the upper hand against John Smith by spending time with his alt-world self and learning the relationship dynamics between John and his wife, Helen. These advantages were only possible with the Eastern practice of meditation and the use of the I-Ching.
I-Ching from Song Dynasty. Photo courtesy of wikimedia.org.
One of the predominant practices in The Man in the High Castle is the use of I-Ching. The I-Ching, or The Book of Changes, is a divination method utilized as far back as the Zhou Dynasty in China during the 9th century B.C. A user would pose a question and by casting lots, whether it be dice, coins, or straws, which would determine random numbers and then interpret the readings by a hexagram through a book of sayings to give guidance for a decision.
The Great Commentary contains a late classic description of a process where various numerological operations are performed on a bundle of fifty stalks, leaving remainders of six to nine.(6)
This method is a refined version of the ancient Chinese divination method of oracle bones.
Hexagram from Song Dynasty. Photo courtesy of wikicommons.org.
In Dick’s novel, Hawthorne Abendsen utilizes the I-Ching to help him write the book The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. In both the book and series The Book of Changes proves useful for characters in making decisions, as well as discovering how to traverse dimensions. More importantly, it helps provide a solution for the climactic end of antagonist John Smith. wikipidia.com
From the Great Commentary's description, the Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi reconstructed a method of yarrow stalk divination that is still used throughout the Far East.(7)
Zhu Xi’s The Nature of Principle reveals the Eastern worldview to what brought about the end of John Smith’s life:
Original nature is an all-pervading perfection not contrasted with evil. This is true of what Heaven has endowed in the self. But when it operates in human beings, there is the differentiation of good and evil. When humans act in accord with it, there is goodness. When humans act out of accord with it, there is evil… Now what is received from Heaven is the same nature as that in according with which goodness ensues, except that as soon as good appears, evil by implication, also appears, so that we necessarily speak of good and evil in contrast.(8)
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy Film. Image by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash.
Juliana essentially becomes the good to match the evil John Smith plans to perpetuate into the Pacific States by following the I-Ching. The Man in the High Castle paints both the good and the evil of each character into the story exceptionally well. With their ying came their yang. Within the good, there is a bit of evil. And within the evil, there is a bit of good.
For the protagonists in The Man in the High Castle as well as the readers/viewers, the only hope is the book/film entitled The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. This acts as the good news for many of the characters: there is hope for a world not under the oppression of the Reich or the Japanese Empire. It is no coincidence that the title is a reference to Ecclesiastes 12:5 in the Bible, making it truly gospel.
When people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred.(9)
Each character searches for hope and salvation in their own right--especially the antagonists. Nearing the end of the season, their sins seemingly catch up to them, and the proverbial Reaper comes to collect their debts. For Inspector Kido, his son is indebted to the yakuza. John Smith’s family unravels at the seams, and Reich High Command seeks to replace him as Reichsmarschall. Resistance forces look for any hope of surviving a full-blown attack. Robert Childan hopes to secure a future with his new wife. Everyone needs saving whether you are the Reichsmarschall of America, the Führer of the Reich, the Chief Inspector of the Pacific States, a second-class citizen, or a lowly merchant of American memorabilia. It does not matter how much wealth, power, influence, rank, or prestige one accumulates, as the writer of Eccelsiastes states,
Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Everything is meaningless!”(10)
The Ecclesiastes 12:5 verse depicts the imagery and symbolism of aging and growing old. The white almond tree’s blossoms represent grey hair, and the grasshopper no longer has as much spring in its step. Within the context of the entire chapter, Solomon imparts the wisdom of remembering God when you are young, not when you are old. This is almost an admonishment to every character in The Man in the High Castle for forsaking God and doing whatever they saw fit.
Each and every character misplaced their hope and faith, whether it be in search for a better life outside of the rule of Japan or the Reich. Each put their trust in science and technology to reclaim what was lost or to pave a better future. Even those who caught a fleeting glimpse of an alternate reality are still bound by the merciless whims of the I-Ching.
In the end, Western and Eastern philosophies will fail. All the things we strive for under the sun, whether they be pleasures or achievements, will fade especially in light of our mortality. Solomon’s final words are encouragement to all of us,
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.(11)
Cover photo
by Julius Drost on Unsplash.
works cited
Robin Spielberg / Richard Rodgers / Oscar Ii Hammerstein Edelweiss lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC.
Plaque at Auschwitz.
Friedman, Thomas Thank You for Being Late An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2016 pp. 25.
Friedman, Thomas Thank You for Being Late An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2016 pp. 36.
Sire, James The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog InterVarsity Press, USA 2009.
Smith, Richard J. Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: the Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and its Evolution in China. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press 2008.
ent Columbia University.
Adler, Joseph A. Introduction to the Study of the Classic of Change (I-hsüeh ch'i-meng). Provo, Utah: Global Scholarly Publications 2002.
Zhu Xi, The Nature as Principle Primary Source Document Columbia University.
Ecclesiastes 12:5 NIV Bible.
Ecclesiastes 12:8 NIV Bible.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV Bible.
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