LS Re: Explain the Dynamic-Static split


Nick Adams (Nick@SiliconSalon.com)
Tue, 7 Jul 1998 04:25:41 +0100


Dear lila squad,

Several attempts to check-in have been thwarted, the most recent being a
local power outage in the middle of composing a post, such is life in
the epi-centre of Silicon Valley....

>From the beginning I've had trouble with using the term "split" since I do not see Dynamic and Static Quality as being split per se but rather that they work with one another....

Also, "permanence" seems too absolute a term in describing Static
Quality....

So.....

I prefer "Stability" to permanence and by this I mean, by way of
example, the example of mountain climbing given in ZMM....where the
climber needs to make sure that his base camp is together before
attempting to scale the peaks....ie in order to achieve Dynamic Quality
Static Quality must be in place, they are not mutually exclusive....or
"split"

P. expands on this in lila when he he did the etymology of "arete"
coming up with that beautiful string of language that describes
arithmetic.....

If you remember he hit on a string of words: rote, routine, ritual that
at first made him feel like he had backed himself into a corner moving
him away from his idea of Quality and placing himself back in the realm
of Victorian "virtue."

He then describes the ritual practise of Zen monks, who do not fight
Static Quality, but rather embrace it, body and soul....it is by this
embrace of Static Quality, by doing the same thing over and over and
over by rote that the monk is able imbue himself with Static Quality
thus allowing Dynamic Quality to emerge......

And his description of that earth-shatttering piece of music that one
hears on the radio....yes it has a Dynamic effect on the listener, which
eventually fades into Static Quality....

however....

It must also be considered that for this piece of music to emerge
Dynamically there must be a Static element in place as well....

ie the musician must go through, in some cases, years of dedicated
routine to produce such a piece of Dynamic music, it don't come from
nowhere....

Same goes for the listener, there must be an element of Static Quality
in place so that this Dynamic piece of music can be recognized as
Dynamic, otherwise it's just noise.....

And I'd like to re-iterate my example of viewing the World Wide Web as a
single page.....

The Web, seen this way is a Static element, all in one piece, and the
interaction it creates becomes Dynamic, which in turn becomes Static,
which in turn becomes Dynamic.....

So....in brief.....

I see Static as a stable pattern and Dynamic growing out of that
stability into something better which in turn becomes Static, which lays
the groundwork for the Dynamic to emerge....

endlessly....

oh, never mind, the quote from the Dao in ZMM does a better job of it
than
I can....

Regards,

Nick

 



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