Dust in Philip Pullman's trilogy of novels His Dark Materials is a fictional form of dark matter (as we call it in our world), an elementary particle that is of fundamental importance to the novels. In most universes including our own Dust is invisible to the naked eye, but can be seen once The Amber Spyglass has been invented, as well as on special film. Philip Pullman Philip Pullman, (born October 19, 1946) is a British writer, educated at Exeter College, Oxford, who is the best-selling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy of fantasy novels and a number of other books, purportedly for children, but attracting increasing attention by adult readers. ... A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that develop a single theme over three works. ... The trilogy, in order of succession from left to right. ... In cosmology, dark matter refers to hypothetical matter particles, of unknown composition, that do not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be detected directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter such as stars and galaxies. ... In particle physics, an elementary particle is a particle of which other, larger particles are composed. ... Will and Lyra (in yellow) The Amber Spyglass is the third and final novel in the His Dark Materials series, written by British novelist Philip Pullman, and published in 2000. ... Film stock is the term for photographic film on which films are recorded. ...

Unlike ordinary particles Dust is conscious. It falls from the sky and is attracted to people (especially adults) and objects made by people, which makes it of great interest to the Church which thinks that it may be the physical manifestation of Original Sin. We later learn that Dust is actually a kind of cosmic force for good, conferring consciousness, knowledge and wisdom. Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... Original sin is usually understood of the condition of sinfulness (lack of holiness) in which human beings, according to Christian tradition, are born. ...

It is Dust that provides the answers given by the alethiometer, and by the I Ching system of divination. Dust was previously known (in Lyra Belacqua's universe) as Rusakov particles after their discoverer, Boris Rusakov, and has other names in other worlds, including sraf (in the world of the mulefa). In the Philip Pullman trilogy of novels His Dark Materials, an alethiometer is a device that tells the truth. ... Alternative meaning: I Ching (monk) The I Ching (Traditional Chinese: 易經, pinyin y jīng; Cantonese IPA: jɪk6gɪŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jik6ging1; alternative romanizations include I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ... This man in Rhumsiki, Cameroon, tells the future by interpreting the changes in position of various objects as caused by a fresh-water crab through nggàm[1]. Divination is the practice of ascertaining information from supernatural sources. ... Lyra Belacqua is a fictional character created by Philip Pullman and the heroine of the His Dark Materials trilogy. ... The mulefa are a race of beings who inhabit a parallel Earth in the novel The Amber Spyglass, the third part of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. ...

Angels, including The Authority, are formed when Dust condenses, but they are not in reality the human-like figures they appear to be. The Annunciation - the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear Jesus (El Greco, 1575) An angel is an ethereal being (meaning it is of the air)whose duties are to assist and serve God or the gods of many religious traditions. ... The Authority in Philip Pullmans trilogy of novels His Dark Materials is the equivalent of God - or according to Pullman the God of the Inquisition. ...

Inspiration

It has been suggested that the term dust derives from how in Genesis, God creates Adam and Eve from dust; or possibly a borrowing from the poetry of William Blake. Another possibility is that in Buddhism the term "dust" is almost universally used to refer to the sensation, knowledge and entanglement with the world that inhibits enlightenment. Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin), also called The First Book of Moses, is the first book of Torah (five books of Moses), and is the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of... William Blake (1807) William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 21, 1827) was an English poet, painter and printmaker. ... A replica of an ancient statue of Gautama Buddha, found from Sarnath, near Varanasi Buddhism is a religion based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. Buddhism gradually spread from India throughout Asia... Bodhi (Pali and Sanskrit. ...

See also

• The Book of Dust, a forthcoming Pullman novel in the same series.

The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman will be a companion novel to His Dark Materials, focusing on the stories of the secondary characters of the trilogy, such as how the balloonist aeronaut Lee Scoresby met the armored bear Iorek Byrnison. ...

References

• His Dark Materials: A Look into Pullman's Interpretation of Milton's Paradise Lost, by Karen D. Robinson. Mythlore[1], #92 24.2, 2005.