The Republic of Heaven

I tend to wonder if Dust was somehow behind the many 'coincidences' that occured so many times in the Dark Materials story. If Lyra hadn't tried to sneak into the Retiring Room, Lord Asriel would have been dead, and she may not ever have went north. If Will hadn't seen the cat on the road with the hornbeam trees, he would never have entered Cittagazze..and so on. I tend to think that Dust might influence things and events in the 'Dark Materials' universe just as it influences things like the alethiometer, or the I Ching stalks. I can easily agree with Yelbakk's statement that in the Dark Materials universe, 'Dust is, in a way, God'.


EngineerScholar

I don't really see Lyra's entering the Retiring Room as a coincidence. She's Lyra, she does that kind of thing it's not like there was chance at work that made her happen to be there, she went in there herself for the specific purpose of being in there.

But Dust being behind the other coincidences is a possibility

I don't really see Lyra's entering the Retiring Room as a coincidence. She's Lyra, she does that kind of thing it's not like there was chance at work that made her happen to be there, she went in there herself for the specific purpose of being in there.

But Dust being behind the other coincidences is a possibility

I certainly agree that sneaking into the Retiring Room was just the sort of thing that Lyra would do. But that she chose to do it on the very evening that the Master chose to poison Lord Asriel seems like quite a coincidence to me!

EngineerScholar

I tend to wonder if Dust was somehow behind the many 'coincidences' that occured so many times in the Dark Materials story.

Yes, it does seem like Dust has its own agenda, doesn't it? The alethiometer doesn't just stop at information, it also gives instructions. Also when Mary communicated with Dust via the computer, it gave orders.

From this, it seems to me that Dust is a collective consciousness... not just individual particles floating around. Somehow they have a sense of unity. Any thoughts?

I tend to wonder if Dust was somehow behind the many 'coincidences' that occured so many times in the Dark Materials story.

Yes, it does seem like Dust has its own agenda, doesn't it? The alethiometer doesn't just stop at information, it also gives instructions. Also when Mary communicated with Dust via the computer, it gave orders.

From this, it seems to me that Dust is a collective consciousness... not just individual particles floating around. Somehow they have a sense of unity. Any thoughts?

Well, my take on that is that Dust was clearly ordering Mary and Lyra to do what is best for human kind, well for conscious beings anyway. Its agenda, if you take Dust as being consciousness itself, was to protect or progress its own existence.

That is, when you think about the message Pullman was putting across, a good thing. Being curious and wise and conscious is a good thing, and it's what the Republic of Heaven is supposed to represent so you could in a way say that Dust's agenda is the same as our agenda.

And they clearly do have a sense of unity.

Yup, I'm actually a 14 year old girl.

Nah, Sally's 16 anyway.

I tried to hit upon someone named Sally the other day. Suffice to say, it didn't work.

I tried to hit upon someone named Sally the other day. Suffice to say, it didn't work.

Tart!

Yup, I'm actually a 14 year old girl.

Nah, Sally's 16 anyway.

I tried to hit upon someone named Sally the other day. Suffice to say, it didn't work.

*Takes off wig*

Mwahaha.

Whoa, that's, kinda creepy. But anyway, I do think dust intervened every now and then. But I don't think it picked up Lyra and threw her in there. I think it just stimulated an idea.

Correction: "Whoa, that's, kinda Alec."

I think that when a handy monitor isn't available, that's the only way Dust can communicate.
I was wondering if Dust can take control of daemons, considering they are made of it to some degree.

My idea of dust is that it was sin..because remember it attracts to adults and adolecents more than children because typically adults are more sexually active and do a lot more grown up things than children such as smoking/drinking etc etc. So basically I thought the church hated dust because dust is a form of free will or-sin.

But who's the judge of sin? If we assume that the church is under the sway of the Authority, and the church defines what was "original sin," whats not to say that "original sin" is just a term created by the Authority to try and further suppress conscious thought?