Hello re-members:
Directly following the text book description of the old vision quest, Pirsig
writes...
"The source Phaedrus had taken this material from concluded that 'current
research and discussion are clouded by political and social issues,' which
since the 1960's has certainly been true."
Directly following Hoebel's description of the Cheyenne Indian male
characteristics, Pirsig writes...
"Now if that isn't a description of ..Hopalong Cassidy..., there never was
one. With the single exception of the Indian "mysticism" the
characterization is perfect."
Ironically, the one characteristic white America refused to accept, their
mysticism, is the source of all the traits we love to call our own. Ha! Its
just more evidence of how much this topic is "clouded by political and
social issues", no?
And of course it is not just Native American mysticism, there is a prejudice
against every religion, especially the more mystical ones. Modern Western
culture is pretty much unique in this respect. It goes along with our love
for scientific objectivity and other "offical truths" In fact, the use of
mind altering plants in religious ceremonies was widely practiced in Ancient
Greece and in much of pre-Christian Europe. The Inquisition went a long way
toward stamping out such practices, even making it illegal for women to
practice medicine. Our whole devil-worshipping, broom-stick riding witch
mythology comes out of the demonization of the female priests who knew about
such hallucinogens. I say all of this only to re-inforce the point Pirsig
made. Culturally speaking, we've got some serious re-thinking to do about
certain "drugs" and the experiences they precipitate. Anyway...
Its a spiritual thing. Dusenberry invited Phaedrus to a "meeting of the
Native American Church".
"You're going to convert me?" Phaedrus said facetiously.
"Maybe," Dusenberry said.
Appears to me that Pirsig was converted that night.
"What's the purpose of staying up all night?" Phaedrus asked.
Dusenberry looked at him meaningfully, "Visions," he said.
"From the fire?"
"There's a sacramental food that you take that induces them. Its called
peyote."
And just in case there is any doubt that Pirsig is talking about a religious
practice, he tells us that...
"...the Indians had quietly brought peyote up from Mexico in the late 19th
century, eating it to induce an altered mental state that they considered a
form of RELIGIOUS COMMUNION. Dusenberry had indicated that Indians who used
it regarded it as a quicker and surer way of arriving at the condition
reached in the traditional vision quest..."
We can start to see that the Indians didn't trip at rock concerts or
parties. Its not something the kids did when their parents went out of town
for the weekend. No way. Peyote was eaten by the most powerful and
prestigious members of their community. It was a part of their religion,
their church and their way of looking at the world. It was a very important
part of their values and morals. I think it was the source of their
attitudes about freedom, equality, directness and simplicity.
It was a sacrament, thought to be the flesh of mother earth, much as we
think of the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. The communion
wafer and the peyote button are both eaten in an act of kind of ritual
cannibalism, where one ingests the divine in order to become and participate
in the divine. And this notion is very much tied in with the idea that
peyote is really a DE-hallucinogen. That is to say, it clears the mind. It
induces a more accurate vision than we are allowed to have in our "normal"
states of mind. Thats how the "Great Spirit" reveals itself. You know, "If
the doors of perception were cleansed,...."
Ha! Peyote is soap to cleanse your perceptions!
"The nucleus of this intellectual web was the observation that when the
Indians entered the teepee, or went out, or added logs, or passed the
ceremonial peyote, or pipe, or food, they just DID these things. They
did'n't go ABOUT doing them. They just DID them. ... There was no sense of
ceremony. They were ENGAGED in a ceremony but the way they did it there
WASN'T any ceremony."
"This directness and simplicity was in the way they spoke, too. They spoke
the way they moved, without any ceremony. It seemed to always come from deep
within them. ... Yet there was a warmth beneath the surface that you
couldn't point to the source of."
This kind of authenticity and lack of pretension is in stark contrast to
Victorian circumlocutions and Lila's tacky nails, no? And notice the bit
about their attitudes coming from a place deep inside? Their respect for the
vision quest allows them to know who they really are. And I think this
"cosmic confidence" is also the source of their greatest gift to the world;
the idea of freedom and the idea that "all men are created equal". I believe
these values are founded on a profound mystical insight.
"What causes that steady look comes from something much deeper.."
"Europeans who settled here only transmitted it as a doctrine that they
sometimes followed and sometimes did not. The real source was someone for
whom social equality was no mere doctrine, who had equality built into his
bones. To him it was inconceivable that the world could be any othe way.
That's what Ten Bears was trying to tell them."
I think we can see a lot of this in Pirsig's case too. I mean, he explains
how the experience not only provided insights that would lead to the
construction of the MOQ, but he also tells about the deep feeling of warmth
and sympathy, how he'd discovered a source of himself that he wasn't even
aware of, that this other half of himself became known for the first time
and that he'd finally come home for the first time. (Open a can of DelMonte
corn to celebrate!)
Finally, I can "testify" to this kind of experience. And, my friends,
homecoming doesn't even begin to describe it. Take the "ah haa!" of your
greatest insight, the "oh my God!" of your greatest orgasm, add them
together, multiply it by a thousand and then you'll be in the general area
of the ball park.
But as spectacular as it all sounds, its just part of a process, a tool for
development, not so much an end in itself. Its supposed to improve your
life, not induce you to abandon it.
Thanks for your time. DMB
P.S. I'd guess that Pirsig stayed away from this area in ZAMM simply because
1974 was a really bad time to be "pushing" mind-altering drugs. You know,
the idea was especially clouded by social and political issues then. Still
is.
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
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