Hi Mary:
First, your post on 28 Jan. to the thread "Is Society Making Progress"
was excellent. Only one quibble. I think Pirsig did indeed imply that
other societies were Qualitative inferior when he pointed out the
murderous characteristics of some Indian tribes who "dashed
childrens' heads out on rocks" and the threat coming from urban
ghettos where one sees "a reversion to rule by terror, violence and
gang death—the old biological might-makes-right morality of
prehistoric brigandage that primitive societies were set up to
overcome." Nor do I think Pirsig would consider a society that supports
or harbor terrorists to be Qualitative equal to societies who support the
intellectual levels' basic freedoms from social control.
Second, your suggestion to let the majority decide how to memorialize
those who died in the 9/11 attack based on the fact that it was a social
level occurrence seems reasonable except for the aesthetics required
by any worthwhile memorial. Every great memorial like the Vietnam
War memorial, the Statute of Liberty or the Taj Mahal, was designed by
a single inspired individual, not a committee. l tremble to think of what
a majority-vote memorial might look like. It would probably have a
replica of Bart Simpson, Snoop Dogg Dog, Britney Spears and the
Beatles so as to be "inclusive." No, I go along with Marco who believes
the memorial ought to be assigned to an artist to create. As he wrote,
"The city of New York should not decide what the monument will show.
The Giant (social) should not prevail over the artist viewpoint." As a
representative of the country who can boast of artistic geniuses whose
works still enthrall, I bow before Marco's "truth."
Finally, a quick search on Google reveals that Aziz Nasafi was a
Persian Sufi mystic. That's all I know. The passage gave me some
solace when I lost my daughter. Pirsig lost his son and wrote about it
in an Afterword to ZMM that you can find at:
http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~ciochett/lit/afterword.html
IMO a DQ experience like those described in LILA are the same as
what many would call a "spiritual" experience or an "aesthetic
experience." So I agree with what Andrea just posted, "Yes DQ 'is' one
spirit (that is, at least it is a very good metaphor.)"
What happens when one's state of being changes at death will remain
in the realm of the "uncertain" until from that undiscovered country a
traveler returns.
Platt
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