From: Scott Roberts (jse885@cox.net)
Date: Tue Aug 02 2005 - 21:17:55 BST
jc, msh, Paul,
>Scott prev:
>If we actually did do nothing, things would not stay just the way they are.
>That is the message of the Tao Te Ching. The road to hell is paved with
>good
>intentions, etc.
>Scott:
>The problem is that you do not seem to realize that you are part of the
>problem. As am I, and as are we all. But -- or so I flatter myself in so
>thinking -- to recognize that one is part of the problem is the first step
>in ceasing to be so.
>
>msh 08-01-05, also jc:
>Ok. Then what's the second step?
>
>See, this is the kind of one-hand-clapping nonsense that leads to the
>religion of do nothing and things will get better. I guess it works
>great if you're in the boot with the iron heel, or if the heel comes
>down in someone else's neighborhood. Now, imagine yourself beneath
>the heel, then lecture us about what we should do.
Paul said: As I understand it, Mark, Scott has misinterpreted the term - wu
wei
- or at least, hasn't elaborated on what he means by do-nothing. The Taoist
wu wei principle refers to behaviour motivated by a sense of oneself as
connected to everything else i.e. not motivated by a sense of fundamental
separateness or by the selfish ego. It is operating with a sense of dharma,
which, of course, is what Pirsig identifies with Quality in ZMM. When one
is working with Quality instead of against it, activity can seem effortless,
which is what wu-wei is perhaps better translated as meaning. It is nothing
to do with apathy or mere passivity.
Scott:
Correct -- I didn't elaborate, but I don't think I misinterpreted. One often
sees the phrase "wu wei" as "wei wu wei", that is, action through
non-action, hence my first statement above: "If we actually did do nothing,
things would not stay just the way they are." We are all after the same
thing, more or less: an end to oppression, freedom, etc. The difference is
that the Taoist says that you don't get there by fighting for these goals.
That is playing the game according to the rules set by society, and all that
is likely to do is shift from one oppressor to another. Instead, the first
step is to recognize that we are, each of us, the cause of our problem, in
that we are incapable of acting spontaneously in accordance with Quality.
Religions recognize this: Christians call it original sin, Buddhists call it
avidya (ignorance), Vedantists call it maya. Unless and until we face up to
this, our socially-inspired solutions won't work, whether those of Chomsky
or those of Milton Friedman. Giants cannot be defeated on their own terms.
So the second step is, as I said to Sam in the "how do intellectual patterns
respond to Quality" thread, self-observation and self-deconstruction. One
thing one cannot do, given our current state, is "act spontaneously". This
was a common error of the hippies (and so they mistook the biological for
the spontaneous), as Pirsig points out. So wei wu wei is the desideratum,
and the means to it is to exercise the intellect on oneself. As Nietzsche
put it, it is not a question of having the courage of one's convictions, but
of having the courage to attack one's convictions.
- Scott
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