LS Explain the Dynamic/Static split


clark (clark@netsites.net)
Sat, 6 Jun 1998 04:37:06 +0100


Lila Squad,

Since I have been harping on this subject for a while I guess I had
better throw in my ideas into the mix.

Page 138 Bantam hardback.
   "...The words Lila uses, the thoughts she thinks, the values she
holds, are the end product of three and a half billion years of the
history of the entire world".

Page 140
  "Why, for example, should a group of simple, stable compounds of
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to
organize themselves into a professor of chemistry? .....
  "The question is: Then why does nature reverse this process (entropy).

Page 142
  "...No program controlled or directed this progression. It was the
result of spur of the moment decisions of natural selection."

Page143
  " (The)..spur of the moment decisions that directed the progress of
evolution are, in fact, DYNAMIC QUALITY itself. Dynamic Quality, the
source of all things, the pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality,
always appears as "spur of the moment." Where else could it appear."

  From the few selections given above it seems clear to me that Pirsig
regarded Quality as having been in existence at least before life
appeared.

  By extension I believe he intended Quality as having been in existence
from the beginning. Maybe it was even the spark that triggered the
universe. It would be difficult to deny that he speaks of Quality as
being in operation before sentience burst upon the scene.
  If it is indeed the case that Quality is responsible for the existence
of the inorganic static level and is also responsible for the biological
static level, the bulk of which occurred before sentience appeared, then
it seems to me that we must differentiate between non-sentient Quality
and sentient Quality.
  To my mind, non-sentient quality began in a deterministic way and
later became effectively non-deterministic due to the operation of
complexity and Chaos theory. Non-sentient quality operates on the basis
of the increasing complexity of the universal physical system and seems
to represent a continually increasing opposition to the Second Law of
Thermodynamics. (opposes entropy). It is still operating today.
  Post sentient quality is an artifact of sentience and is judged as
either good or bad on the basis of what is currently perceived as being
in the best interests of the human race.
  These two points of view must occasionally come into conflict
  A case in point is the worldwide increase in temperature on the order
of a degree or two that is currently being measured.
  Pre-sentient quality will react to this as an opportunity for greater
diversification and a change of direction toward greater freedom of
action.
  Post-sentient (human) quality will see this change through the "many
truths" lens and will take much longer to reach a consensus on what is
high and low quality. The results will probably be of very low quality
for the social and intellectual levels of static quality.
  This will not be a case where a higher level is prohibited from
destroying a lower one, but a case where the social and intellectual
levels do harm to themselves without harming the inorganic and
biological levels.
  I have a lot of "working out" to do in this area but I can
hypothetically see where some of the pronouncements concerning the
relationship between the four static patterns of value may need to be
modified.

 My understanding of the Dynamic/Static split is as follows:
 
 I see the interaction of Static Quality, Dynamic Quality, and the four
Static patterns of Value as being circular.
  If one starts with the four SPoVs one starts with the total history
for each sentient individual plus the immediate ambient influences on
each individual. These preconditions predispose that individuals
Dynamic Quality to select certain aspects of that individual's total
field of awareness which will then enter that individual's consciousness
as static awareness (static quality). These consciousness increments
will then be apportioned out to the appropriate SPoV level. These SPoV
latches will then present a slightly modified predisposition to the
individuals Dynamic
Quality to again select aspects of the total field of awareness to again
be presented to that individuals Static consciousness. And so on ad
infinitum. I cannot improve on Pirsig's definition of Static and Dynamic
Quality.
 P 115 Lila Bantam hardback.
  Dynamic Quality is the pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality, the
source of all things, completely simple and always new. ...It contains
no pattern of fixed rewards and punishments. Its only perceived good is
freedom and its only perceived evil is static quality itself.........

 Static Quality- The moral force of the priests, emerges in the wake of
Dynamic Quality. It is old and complex. It always contains a component
of memory. UNLESS STATIC VALUES ARE ALTERED BY DYNAMIC QUALITY THEY STAY
THE SAME YEAR AFTER YEAR.

  Remember that in ZMM Pirsig discusses our inability to absorb all of
the information from our total fields of awareness so that our Dynamic
Quality must be predisposed by static quality and our SPoVs to make
selections from that total field of awareness based on our previous
condition of limited awareness and latched consciousness. Thus we grow
and progress, but slowly and with much gnashing of teeth. If this
interests anybody help me work it out. Ken

I, too would like to add a postscript in view of the happenings in India
and Pakistan lately.

How misty grows the hazy yon,
How myrtle petaled thou.
For spring has sprung the cyclotron.
How high browse thou, brown cow.

Pogo (Walt Kelly)

 



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