Hi Folks
I've been reading the posts and wondering exactly where to break into the discussion. It
seems that most of the posts have been about the levels, DQ, what Pirsig said, what Pirsig
meant, subject-object metaphysics etc. But to most people who have never read either Zen
or Lila and aren't particularly interested in philosophy this will be too abstract.
This approach may be useful when talking to people who think in a particular way, are
interested by abstract problems or get pleasure from mental gymnastics. It's also a very
useful approach to continue in order to get a toe in the door of academia.
However, as an example, most of the people I work with are too busy or too disinterested
to want to bother with this except for maybe a few minutes, whilst having a cigarette or
waiting for some code to compile - an interesting distraction! As soon as they go back to
what they were doing they forget all about it. But these are the people who may benefit
most, in a practical way, from the core principle of the MOQ - VALUE!!!
Almost anyone you talk to will understand this, as it is something that permeates their
lives - often as the perceived loss of it. It seems to be a recurrent theme that turns up in all
sorts of conversations. How do you give values to your kids, and what values. Are you
getting value for money when you do the shopping. Maybe this sounds trite, but think
about it! What was it that drew you to Pirsig and his writing.
Pirsig described value as the core of reality. A Value-centred universe!!
If you start a description of the MOQ try the above for an opener. It's surprising the
reaction it gets. Initially, forget all the clever stuff about the levels and the unknowable
Zen reality of DQ. Forget the SOM bogieman. Get into a conversation about value and
values. Introduce Quality after a while, as ordinary Non-Pirsigian people understand this
concept as well. They may not understand it in the Pirsigian sense (assuming they haven't
read the books) but then again do we fully understand it yet?
Value and Quality matter to most people I've come across. They want to know why values
have changed in their lifetime and why ??? if they're so real.
You can lead them into the MOQ ideas a bit at a time - don't rush them, it's not a race and
they don't want to feel put upon. When they're ready they'll come across.
Horse
MOQ Online - http://www.moq.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Jan 17 2002 - 13:08:39 GMT