Bodvar Skutvik (skutvik@online.no)
Wed, 25 Feb 1998 05:02:09 +0100
Tue, 24 Feb 1998 15:30:18 +0000
Ken Clark wrote:
> Bodvar,
> No! No! No! I have no wish to exterminate the human race. I was just
> reading my mail and came to your letter to Lawrie.
>The point I was trying to make back there was that in my mind the
> highest
> morality in the universe is the system that resulted in us being here.
> The
> force for greater information content that is obvious in the workings of
> the universe. I simply wanted us to recognize our debt to that force and
> place it in the forefront of our thoughts as we perform our life
> functions.
> I think that it is the responsibility of the human race to honor that
> debt
> and to tailor our actions on the Earth stage to minimize our impact. I
> cringe when I hear the "jungle law" mentioned when speaking of the
> biological level. It is a beautiful interlocking system which functions
> perfectly when not interfered with. We are simply an extension of that
> system and the same evolutionary rules apply to us as applies to the
> biological "Jungle".
> Glad to have you back Bodvar. I still need some guidance on the MOQ.
> Ken Clark
Dear Ken. Thanks for the welcome. I do so many strange things
and download all sorts of programs, so sooner or later my machine had
to bust.
I was a little provocative on the Gaia, but it was just to wake
you from your afternoon nap! Now, about the term "jungle law" that
makes you cringe (brace yourself for a lecture). Seen from the
traditional (SOM) point of view animal life is merciless or
amoral. When we watch on TV the hyenas tearing apart gazelles on the
plains of Africa we shudder, but intellectualize it as "survival of
the fittest.." etc.
You see human beings as "...simply an extension of that system" .
Yes,we are biology too, but not a direct extension. Society and
Intellect come in between. Society is built upon Life and Intellect
on Society, but they are also fundamental breaks: According to the
MOQ , separate moral levels! Biology fights Inorganic value for
its life so to say, but Society struggles with Biology and
Intellect resists Society just as fiercely. From Society's pov Life's
values must be controlled (an aside here: what Society IS would bring
about another essay. Even a pack of Hyenas is a rudimentary community
in the sense that the individual is controlled by the many, but I
treat it here purely as the moral level of MOQ with no particular
reference). Reproduction is Life's greatest good and must be brought
under socially approved forms to protect the offspring (The Church
as the primary carrier of social value simply MUST condemn illicit
sex). Consumption - eating - is another value of Life, but the
societal value is to distribute the resources to all - even the weak
who would succumb otherwise.
No, Social order is definitely BETTER than Life's "jungle law".
And yet, Society is harsh seen from the next moral dimension:
Intellect. Yes, Intellect sees the harshness of Society as THE evil.
The most conspicuous "socially" dominated culture to-day is the
Muslim world. Very ordered; thieves are mutilated and unfaithful
wives are stoned, but it is absolutely safe for those who follows its
laws (so is China, with its lack of "human rights", but the Oriental
culture is a totally different case according to Pirsig).
Freedom from this social "discipline" is what the Intellectual moral
level is all about, and accordingly: Social values are the
"evil" of our Western Intellect-steeped culture. Freedom, rights,
democracy etc. - everything that curbs social repression - are our
GOOD. I need not go on, almost all conflicts of our time is rooted
in the Social vs. Intellect struggle.
I do of course see your point Ken, but - excuse my frankness - I think
your cringing is the usual Intellectual blindness to the enormous
burden that the Social morality carries in staving off Life's
greed. According to Pirsig does Intellect "romantisize" Biology
because it sees Biology as an ally (what's bad for my enemy is good
for me), but do you think that evolution would have progressed
beyond the dog-eats-dog stage had it not been for Social control?
You will perhaps find this a strange way of looking upon
existence," but it is the Quality way. I know that I tax your
patience Ken, but let me add this. From the subject/object - or
substance - metaphysics point of view, the material world IS
reality; life is a mere extension of that realm, and society - if
recognized at all - is an arbitrary assembly of human beings, while
intellect is some mysterious superstructure that makes the so-called
sentient beings able to perceive and even think. The Quality
reality is totally different. It consists of four value "dimensions"
. Matter isn't one iota more real than Life, Society or Ideas:
Immensely older and more rigid, but not more real. That goes all the
way up. Mind (of SOM) is not recognized as a separate realm.
Good to be speaking to you again.
Bo
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