From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Dec 08 2002 - 02:31:51 GMT
Sam and all:
Eckhart:
Those who seek God in ways will find ways and not God.
DMB says:
The subject line and Eckhart's pithy comment go well together, no? Hmmm.
Maybe you don't see it that way. It seems we have different ideas about
mysticism and Dynamic Quality. We have different ideas about what is static
and what's not, about what's intellectual and what's not. Your responses
tell me that I've failed to make these things clear. Since the MOQ
essentiall IS a static intellectual description of a mystical reality,
struggling with this brings us to the very heart of things. Let's try
something else.
In Porete's distinction between 'Holy Church the Great' and 'Holy Church the
less' he says, "Holy Church the Less is not the 'less' because it is
corrupt, but because unliberated souls seek the good without freedom of
spirit " Like many of the quotes we've shared, we may think its true for
different reasons. I think its an important distinction to make, but it
seems to blame the unliberated souls for their own "dependence on the
sacrimental and devotional economies of the Church" and there is no
suggestion that the Church might be in the business of instilling that
"freedom of spirit". As I understand it, this lesser church is one where
static patterns are mistaken for what they symbolize and thereby destroy the
dynamic, or even prevent the mystical. As I understand it this lesser church
is about all there is. The Western religions have failed to convey the
mystery beyond the static symbols. The task of religion is to bring the
individual into a relationship with the cosmos, to create the sign posts
that will reveal the mystic reality underlying the world of static things.
"Phaedrus saw nothing wrong with this ritualistic religion as long as the
rituals are seen as merely a static portrayal Dynamic Quality, a sign-post
which allows socially pattern-dominated people to see Dynamic Quality. The
danger has always been that the ritutals, the static patterns, are mistaken
for what they merely represent and are allowed to destroy the Dynamic
Quality they were originally intended to preserve." (chapter 30)
This is the question. Does it preserve DQ or does it lock life out? This
will tell us which is degenerate and which is morally re-generative, no? I
mean, static is NOT just another word for dead. Sq preserves the world too.
It IS the world. But when is a sign post too static? When does become a
fossil? When is a god dead? When is a church dead? When it fails to bring
the people into a living relationship with the divine. And when is that?
Presently. By their fruits ye shall know them? The Crusades, the
Inquisition, the 30 years war? That's some rotten fruit. In the 20th century
the churches have repeatedly aligned themselves with the most lethal kinds
of reactionaries. Even their finest moments are social and sentimental,
feeding the naked and clothing the hungry. This is nice but far from doing
that task of preserving the mystical tradition.
"The Christian West was too alienated from its own mystical tradition to
resist this secular effort to eliminate a living cosmology, symbolized
religiously by the Cosmic Christ. Augustine's theology, which heavily
influenced the philosophy of Descrates, has no Cosmic Christ. Augustine's
preoccupation with human guilt and salvaltion offered no resistance ..."
Matthew Fox The Coming of the Cosmic Christ.
Let me be more specific. Except for superficial differences, a particular
picture of reality is conveyed to the individual in a mystical experience.
It provides a certain kind of "big picture" knowledge. You see the things
behind the things. The secrets are revealed. One comes out of the cave. Its
been said many ways. If you'd like to see what this picture might look like
in some detail, I know of a book that does just that. The author had a
mystical vision that connected all his thoughts into a single giant
metaphysical system. Ha! Seriously, the MOQ shares this oldest idea with the
ancient cosmologies of the pre-socratics. This is what he meant when he said
they were closest to the MOQ. It roughly matches the perennial philosophy,
which is that universal ancient wisdom found in all traditions. Ophreus had
a hierarchical and evolutionary cosmology too. And this is precisely what
contemporary theology does not have, a total picture of reality, a cosmology
that includes the individual. That coming home feeling. Its not the simple
or sentimental thing you might imagine. We're talking about human psychology
and the structure of galaxies, not a holiday by the fireplace. Which brings
us to what is arguably the most misunderstood Pirsig quote of all time...
"The physical order of the universe is also the moral order of the universe.
RTA is both. This is exactly what the MOQ was claiming. It was not a new
idea. It was the oldest idea known to man. ..it provided a huge historical
panorama in which the fundamental conflict between static and Dynamic
Quality had been worked out." (Lila, chapter 30)
Think about that for a moment, will you? The oldest idea known to man is
that the physical order of the universe is also the moral order of the
UNIVERSE. Morals are what you get at church. If you want to know about the
stars, ask a scientist. Scientific objectivity doesn't like the idea that
they're the same and its hard to swallow at first. But then why should it be
any other way? Why should the universe have cul-de-sacs? Or walls? That
would be even harder to swallow. As I understand it, Pirsig, Wilber and
others adopted this perennial philosophy, this oldest idea, all say that the
universe is living, breathing and conscious from top to bottom, from dirt to
divinity, its all "moral".
We find cosmological mythologies in the presocratics so easily because
physics and religion had not yet seperated. They were undifferentiated and
part of something larger that included them both, along with art. Now they
are not only differentiated, they're disassociated. They need to be
re-integrated at the intellectual level, but they still need that oldest
idea, the one that comes from the mystical vision. And this is not just
fancy intellectual footwork, because the mystical vision insists that
underlying reality is a unified whole, so science, morals and art are all
unified in that.
Fritjof Capra says that "the concepts of science show strong similarities to
the concepts of the mystics. Its not just physics that has parallels to
mysticism, its also biology, psychology and various other sciences. The
philosophy of mystical traditions, the perennial philosophy, is the most
consistent philosophical background to modern science at all these levels."
I mean, let's face it. No self-respecting, thinking person can tolerate a
religion that has nothing to do with the physical universe as we understand
it today. And I'm sure you'd agree that those anti-intellectual religions
that denounce evolution and the big bang in favor of creation myths are...
just plain dumb. No. We deserve a spiritual tradition that makes sense, that
doesn't ask you to check your brain at the door. At the same time, our
scientific understanding of the strutcture of the universe only exaggerates
the spiritual alienation. The loss of the mystical tradition in the churches
and amoral scientific materialism. Hell of choice. Let's pick neither.
Nobel laureate Roger Sperrry says, "current concepts of the mind-brain
relation involve a direct break with the long-established materialist and
behaviourist doctrine that has dominated neuroscince for many decades.
Instead of renouncing or ignoring consciousness, the new interpretation
gives full recognition to the primacy of inner conscious awareness as a
causal reality."
Awareness as a causal reality. Imagine that. The kind of cosmology we need
has been locked out by both the social and intellectual levels, religion and
science are hostile to each other, but they share a common hatred of the
mystical traditions. The whole society is hostile to it, but at least people
don't get denounced as heretics or burned at the stake. And there are plenty
of cracks and holes in that cultural immune system. Yes, we'd be talking
about a radical and profound change, but these values are already in the
culture. They lay hidden and buried all around. Plus its true. Nothing sells
like the truth.
Apologies to anyone with eye strain,
DMB
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