LS Program: Explain Dynamic and static quality with ref to LILA

From: Diana McPartlin (diana@hongkong.com)
Date: Sat May 01 1999 - 03:00:45 BST


Squad

The program question for May 99 is:

*With reference to the examples given in LILA, explain dynamic and static
quality and the relationship between them.*

Pirsig introduces Dynamic and static quality in chapter nine of LILA. The
first example he gives is of a Zuni priest or shaman who was a misfit, in
conflict with his culture, because of his unconventional ways, but he
subsequently became governor and helped the tribe evolve and survive.

The second example is the hot stove example which I think we're all well
familiar with. He writes: " A 'dim perception of he knows not what' gets
him off the stove , Dynamically. Later he generates static patterns of
thought to explain the situation"

The third example is of hearing a new record, rushing out to buy it and
then getting tired of it but still thinking it is "good". He writes: "The
first good, that made you want to buy the record, was Dynamic Quality.
Dynamic Quality comes as a sort of surprise. What the record did was weaken
for a moment your existing static patterns in such a way that the Dynamic
Quality all around you shone through. It was free, without static forms.
The second good, the kind that made you want to recommend it to a friend,
even when you had lost your own enthusiasm for it, is static quality.
Static quality is what you'd normally expect."

The fourth example is of a man who feels bad in a nice suburban environment
on an ordinary afternoon yet feels good in a strange old hotel in a
hurricane.

The fifth is of a man who has a nice and stable life but feels bad "without
knowing why", but who then feels good after having a heart attack.

I would be very surprised to hear that there is anyone in the Lila Squad
who has not at some point in their life:

1. felt at odds with society
2. experienced a reflex action in response to pain
3. bought a record
4. been in a storm
5. had a traumatic experience

So it shouldn't be too difficult for us to understand the experiences
Pirsig is getting at.

He then explains how dynamic and static quality explain a baby's growth. He
says that little children are quicker to perceive Dynamic Quality than old
people, and he says that American Indians are exceptionally good at it. He
says that the Indian term "manito" refers to Dynamic Quality. He writes:
"manifestations of skill, fortune, blessing, luck, to any wondrous
occurrence. It connoted any phenomenon that transcended the run of everyday
experience."

Having helped us identify Dynamic and static in our own lives Pirsig then
goes on to show that this split is fundamental to our realities. Throughout
the rest of LILA he explains Dynamic and static in relation to evolution,
morality, sociology, economics, science, psychology, Eastern and Christian
mysticism, the work of William James, the Dharmakaya light and dharma. A
clear understanding of these two terms is therefore essential to an
understanding of the MOQ. Can we please look closely at Pirsig's
explanations - beginning in chapter nine with our direct experiences and
throughout the rest of the book as the terms are applied to other
phenomena - and clarify what he meant by them.

Diana

MOQ Online - http://www.moq.org



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