Hi Squad
With this post and because the massive amount of free time promised by
the winter vacation, I would like to renounce my "Lurker" status and
move into the realm of "pseudo-member." That being said, allow me to
make a proposal (perhaps a modest one) that arises out of some
frustration I feel each month about this time. Regardless of what the
PROGRAM may be, it seems that much of the discussion gets bogged down
within disagreements concerning the validity of the four level system
and particularly what the fourth level consists of and what role it
should have. This is a major stumbling block. I think we should extend
this program until some sort of consensus is reached as well with
regards to the four level structure which is really one half of what
constitutes the MoQ (the other being the concept of DQ). How can you
have an MoQ while rejecting its view of reality? I beleive that once
some degree of consensus is reached, this group can move forward with
its discussions instead of always falling back on the same general
debates, however covered over with a the facade of a new topic. If such
an agreements cannot be reached, so be it, but I think it would be well
worth the Squad's time to try and develop some catechism of quality [CoQ
=)] -- to be periodically reviewed to avoid static dogmatism, of course.
Accordingly, the following is my take on the intellectual level.
In a recent post, Diana described the intellectual level as thinking. I
don't think this goes far enough, however. At some point in the past, a
discussion developed concerning how to classify the situation in
Arkansas where middle school boys killed some of their classmates. In
an attempt to resolve this debate, Donny (maybe?) wrote a post that
seemed to suggest to me that it is what you are thinking about that
determines the thought's placement within the four level structure,
(Donny, if you had nothing to do with this, I'll claim the idea for
myself -- it may be bad enough that you want any part of it, which is
fine also). Thus, thoughts that concern how to exploit the racial
differences between oneself and another species (such as our missing
link ancestors) in order to survive a violent confrontation exist on the
biological level -- they occur in order to sustain the organism's
biological patterns of value and nothing else. Thoughts that concern
the implementation of something like affirmative action in order to
promote the equality between races would exist on the social level exist
on the social level -- they deal with social institutions and effect
social interaction.
The thoughts that compose the intellectual level would seem to be more
abstract then. It seems to be responsible for the creation of concepts
such as Truth, Freedom, Equality, and God. The victory of intellect
over society that Pirsig describes as having occured in the 1920's (at
least in America) is why (as Diana very accurately pointed out) these
two levels have become intertwined and overlapped and thus, rather
ambiguous. It is through this process that we see the social level
making a mess of the concepts created on the level above it: the Clinton
fiasco with its ever-changing definition of Truth; the value placed on
freedom allowing the biological level to run unchecked; equality reduced
to affirmative action and the anathema of "reverse racism"; and God
being used to justify the murder of abortion doctors and homosexuals.
I think I agree with Bodvar's thinking (I forget the acronym and would
also like to hear more about it) in that I think S-O thinking equals
logic (Please forgive me B. if I'm butchering your theory) and that this
is the means in which the intellectual functions. Thoughts that utilize
this process and focus on things like the MoQ for example, would seem to
exist on the intellectual level.
This is all just a trial balloon for now I guess. I'm sure with more
thought on my part, problems will emerge, but right now it seems
blessedly clear, so I'll retreat.
Kilian
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