MD Quality, subjectivity and the 4th level

From: Michael Hamilton (thethemichael@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Oct 30 2005 - 14:38:58 GMT

  • Next message: Michael Hamilton: "MD Re: Quality, subjectivity and the 4th level"

    Hi everyone,

    I'd like to recap some of the suggestions floating about on the MD
    recently. Scott's been insisting that the thinking intellect is both
    static and dynamic - that thinking can be a synonym of Quality. Bo,
    meanwhile, insists on a sharp divide between "intellect" and
    "intelligence", where "intellect" should only be used to describe the
    peculiar brand of intelligence or thinking that has arisen with the
    subject/object divide. Gav made the interesting suggestion that
    intelligence, under Bo's dichotomy, could be the synonym for Quality.

    Now I'd like to ask a question to the majority on this list who accept
    Pirsig's thesis that the subject/object divide is not fundamental to
    reality: do you ever experience your thinking to be anything other
    than a purely subjective activity?

    My suggestion is that, in replying "no" to this question, I place
    myself in the 4th static level, and distinguish myself from the type
    of intelligence that preceded intellect. My suggestion is that the
    subject/object divide is fundamental to what we are. My suggestion is
    that, at the 4th level, Quality manifests itself as separate
    intelligences who feel that they are separate.

    I retract any claim that social- or mythological-level human beings
    did not distinguish between self or other. My claim now is that they
    differed from us in their mode of thinking, in their intelligence. The
    difference is that they did not entirely feel it to the "their"
    thinking, "their" intelligence, at all. As Barfield contends, they
    felt it to be a participation - not something that springs from inside
    some shadowy realm inside their heads, but something more like an
    all-pervading Nous (mind) that they could tap into. Or even gods
    talking to them. It's impossible to generalise about all 3rd-level
    consciousness, as it must have varied quite a lot. But I think we can
    be very specific about what distinguishes our 4th-level consciousness.
    In a word: subjectivity.

    Regards,
    Mike

    P.S. Reading this back, I realise my tone's quite assertive. Really,
    I'm just trying to put my (!) thoughts into words and get these ideas
    out there. I feel like I've encountered a few jigsaw pieces regarding
    intellect, and I'm just trying to get them to fit together. Does the
    picture make sense to anyone?

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