clark (clark@netsites.net)
Fri, 21 Nov 1997 16:22:53 +0100
Mark,
For some years now I have believed that James Lovelock's vision of Gaia
is the vision that should be held by all of humanity. As you are no doubt
aware, Lovelock's idea is that the biosphere was built and is maintained by
life on Earth. That Earth is the actual living organism and the species
that have developed on Earth are Earth's organs, so to speak. How else
explain the mixture of gases that Earth's atmosphere contains.
When I made the statement that the history of humanity on Earth was
immoral, I did not mean that we were a bunch of bad people knowingly doing
bad things. I simply meant that awareness and ego, without an understanding
and acceptance of our position with regard to Gaia, are inimical to the
operation of Gaia. You say that environmental values cannot take
precedence over legitimate social and intellectual values. My position is
that there are no legitimate social and intellectual values which are not
subordinate to biological (Gaia) values.
You say that if we believe in Quality and and the idea that we experience
it before reason, then we believe we know what is good. In your case I
believe this is true but we must remember that Quality operates for
everyone, the bad folks as well as the good folks, and also the good folks
who do not yet understand that anything that is bad for Gaia is bad for us
as well as all of the life processes on Earth. You say that each of
Pirsig's value levels has the moral right to change the level below it. I
say that this is only true within the context and understanding of the
operation of Gaia and that it is this lack of understanding that makes the
human race generally immoral with regard to Gaia.
I believe that Pirsig's philosophical construct is the best thing that
has come down the pike, but I also believe that it has been constructed on
very weak and egocentric human reed which needs a lot of wisdom to make it
work properly. A very good advance in human understanding but a long way to
go.
Can you see now why I am so concerned about the morals issue.
I have used the term Gaia to eliminate some words but I think any term
that you wish to use that encompasses the biosphere will not alter the
meaning.
It will save a lot of time if we speak plainly to each other instead of
speaking elliptically to spare each others feelings. This is what I have
done and I invite you to do the same. Ken Clark
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