LS Bio


Horse (horse@wasted.demon.nl)
Fri, 20 Mar 1998 05:29:28 +0100


Hi
My name's Horse, I live in the Cambridge area in the UK and I've been
affected by Pirsig and his work for about the last 8 years. I first
came across ZMM in 1976 but at the time I was more interested in
motorbikes than Zen or Quality. I re-discovered it again in 1990 when
I returned to university to do a degree in Artificial Intelligence. I
read the book in 24 hours straight through and wondered why I didn't
get it the first time around. Still, such is life.
I found Lila in the university bookshop some time later and read it
looking for the same feeling that I got from Zen, but it wasn't
there. A couple of years later I read it again and realized that I
had made a mistake in the first reading as this was a more
interesting book than Zen but still I didn't fully realize the
fundamental difference between Zen and Lila.
In 1996, whilst at an Open University summer school studying Ethics I
was reading Lila and it was as if someone had hit me in the back of
the head with a mallet. Discussions at the summer school were,
coincidentally about the meaning of life (sounds corny I know) and
it's problems within the suject/object view of the universe. I
couldn't stop talking. I had suddenly realized the importance of the
Metaphysics of Quality. I've re-read Lila and Zen several times since
and never fail to be fascinated by the insight, clarity and
intellectual beauty of the Metaphysics of Quality.
There are a couple of things that concern me regarding the means by
which the MOQ may be disseminated to the world at large. The first is
that it does not become some form of ideological or dogmatic mantra
and the second is that it is not hijacked for political purposes. I
think that this has been the case a number of times in the past -
Darwins theory of evolution being a case in point. Having said that
and having looked through the Lila Squad site and read the most
recent postingsI think this will be unlikely - at least from this
group - as there seems to be an intelligent and considered view of
MOQ. I also think it is important that the MOQ is shown to be capable
of supporting and strengthening many of the ideas that exist today
but which may have previously been rejected as
non-scientific/subjective, and thus by implication meaningless, but
which may now be shown to be valid in a different context.
Some examples may be Ethical systems, some of the Social Sciences and
the Arts in general. Some of these have been dealt with by Pirsig but
I think that many of the areas where the MOQ will throw new light
will be regarded with suspicion by those with vested interests both
within these fields and without.
 A couple of points about the MOQ itself. I feel that there is a
strong connection between fuzzy or multi-valued logic, Chaos and the
Metaphysics of Quality. I'm currently working on this (sporadically
as I have a young boy and a brand new pair of twins who all require
regular attention -not to mention my partner).
I also think that there is a great deal of scope for incorporating at
least some of Pirsigs ideas into my main interest - that of
Artificial Life. Still this is for the future - although hopefully
not too distant.
 Finally, in Lila, Pirsig mentions the battle that has been raging
for centuries between intellect and society. In the past, the means
of distributing the products of the intellect - ideas, beliefs etc. -
have been owned or controlled by those with the greatest interest in
ensuring that society is stronger of the two. Now, for the first time
in history, there is a tool which provides the means for the
intellect to fight back against control and subjugation by society.
It is a tool which, ironically, has been provided by those forces
which exert the strongest control over society. The Internet. It
seems pretty obvious and probably most of you in the Lila Squad have
already seen this but I just thought I'd mention it anyway - just in
case.
Anyone wishing to contact me can do so at either:

horse@wasted.demon.nl
or
darkstar@abduction.org

and please don't read too much into the email addresses.

Horse
mailto:horse@wasted.demon.nl
mailto:darkstar@abduction.org

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