Part. 2.
My main objection to your citicism, squonk, is your pretending to
know the man's motives and your pretending to know his level of sincerity.
This is your main objection to my criticism.
I state your words again because i wish you to pay special attention to my
response:
I do not pretend any thing of the sort.
I gauge the value of his work and base my view upon that.
I may be wrong, misguided and Martian for all i KNOW.
But in my view, Pirsig's work is first rate and i joined this forum in the
hope of learning from other first rate thinkers. I find Wilber to be ow
quality intellectually and perhaps worse.
It should also be emphasised that you do not KNOW Wilber's motives or his
level of sincerity either.
Got that straight?
You simply can't know that. You've ASSIGNED these motives and mental states
to him. That's like throwing a bucket of water on him and then insulted him
for being all wet.
Neither can you.
As for your bucket of water analogy, i find that rather silly for the simple
reason that for it to, 'Hold water' i would have to be attributing ideas to
Wilber that he has not expressed and THEN criticise him for them.
His conduct in the matter of media self promotion is addressed after his
intellectual quality has been evaluated. I feel it is legitimate to put the
matter like this:
'Wilber is rather flat on intellectual content.
Why does he promote his Intellectual content to the degree he does?
Wilber is a charlatan.'
This a totally invalid form of criticism. Its fourth rate
at best. I could easily dismiss anything said or written by anyone using
this tactic, including Pirsig.
Unlike Wilber, Pirsig cannot be faulted for his exceptional intellectual
quality.
One does not have to agree with Pirsig, but his ideas have wide ranging
explanatory power.
Aristotle's Form/Matter Hylomorphism may be applied to, Physics, Biology,
sociology, rhetoric, metaphysics and have great explanatory power.
One does not have to agree with Aristotle, but one must take one's hat off to
him for trying.
Wilber is not in the same league as Pirsig or Aristotle in my view, and those
who feel he is are welcome to explain why they feel that way?
I could respond to all of your posts by
simply claiming that "you're just saying all that because you're crabby and
because you hate your mother." But that would be totally bogus. There is no
way for me to crawl inside your mind and know these things. This method of
attack doesn't even work on our closest friends and family members, much
less people we don't know at all. I'd guess that if Wilber was only
interested in book sales, he's write more accessable books, perhaps a novel
with pimps, celebrities and some sex scenes.
The word Sex appears in the title of one of Wilbers' books.
As far as i can see, there really isn't much call for that to have been
included in THAT PARTICULAR BOOK?
I don't mean to come across as some kind of disciple. Its not that I'm even
interested in protecting Ken Wilber per se. It just that I hear this method
of attack on talk radio every time I listen and its just so childish. Its a
step below attacking the person. It first requires the invention and
application of sinister motives, then the personal attack begins. Whistles
are blowing and there are flags down all over the field, my friend.
If Wilber is good then he will be robust enough to withstand venomous
attacks.
My stance is cynical more than anything.
In short, you really haven't answered the question. I mean, you have not
given one good reason why anyone should think the guy is a charlatan. All
you've done is guess at his motives, which is irrelevant even if you could
guess correctly. I asked that question out of genuine curiosity and thought
maybe you knew something that I don't. I've met several people who are put
off by the guy and thought maybe there was somthing to it. Its good to be
skeptical and to be ready to change one's mind about things, but I'm not
moved by this kind "inventive" criticism.
You are dominated by quality according to the MOQ and it is your ability to
discern quality that describes your level of evolution.
That goes for me also.
All the very best,
Squonk.
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