From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Aug 15 2004 - 01:37:20 BST
Mark and all MOQers:
1. Is Quality more similar to: a. Whitehead's Process Philosophy, b. the
Tao, or; c. Plotinus' One?
To answer, Dan Glover quoted From Anthony McWatt's MOQ PhD Textbook:
"Pirsig asserts that the philosopher closest to him is Plotinus."
"I think Pirsig has stated this as both philosophers characterise experience
as being a continuum from the divine through the intellect to biology then
to physical matter (the least divine or lowest Quality level); everything is
one, for both philosophers, in the sense of being an aspect of God (or to
use Pirsig's terminology 'Dynamic Quality')."
This idea of a continuum is part of the perennial philosophy...
Ken Wilber:
"To begin with the premodern or traditional sources, the easiest access to
their wisdom is through what has been called the perennial philosophy, or
the common core of the world's great spiritual traditions. As Huston Smith,
Arthur Lovejoy, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and other scholars of these traditions
have pointed out, the core of the perennial philosophy is the view that
reality is composed of various LEVELS OF EXISTENCE - levels of being and
knowing - ranging from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit. Each senior
dimension transcends but includes its juniors, so that this is a conception
of wholes within wholes within wholes indefinitely, reaching from dirt to
divinity." (Emphasis is Wilber's)
Mysticism is also a part of the perennial philosophy...
Pirsig:
247 "Bradley's fundamental assertion is that the reality of the world is
intellectually unknowable, and that defines him as a mystic. ...Both he and
the MOQ are expressing what Aldous Huxley called "The Perennial Philosophy",
which is perennial, I believe, because it happens to be true."
Or as I like to put it, the evidence is so overwhelming, transcending both
history and culture, that we have little choice except to believe it....
Wilber:
"THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY is the worldview that has been embraced by the
vast majority of the world's greatest spiritual teachers, philosophers,
thinkers, and even scientists. Its called 'perennial' or 'universal' because
it shows up in virtually all cultures across the globe and across the ages.
And wherever we find it, it has essentially similar features, it is in
essential agreement the world over. We moderns, who can hardly agree on
anything, find this rather hard to believe."
Wilber:
"THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY (the term was made famous by Huxley but coined by
Leibniz) - the transcentental essence of the great religions - has as its
core the notion of 'nonduality', which means that reality is neither one nor
many, neither permanent nor dynamic, neither seperate nor unified, neither
pluralistic nor holistic. It is entirely and radically above and prior to
ANY form of conceptual elaboration. ..Sri Ramana Maharshi had a perfect
summary of the paradox of the ultimate:"
The world is illusory;
Brahman alone is real;
Brahman is the world.
Am I right in thinking that no explanation is needed. Is it as obvious to me
as it is to you? Pirsig is very similar to Plotinus and Wilber, no? They
have all adopted the perennial philosophy. If we're looking to compare
apples with apples, these mystical types are far better suited than almost
anything else, no?
Thanks,
dmb
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