Hi Focs:
The gift of FREEDOM.
On the last page of chapter 3 Pirsig wrote,
"And yet, although Jefferson called this doctrine of social equality
"self-evident," it is not at all self-evident. Scientific evidence and the
social evidence of history indicate the opposite is self-evident. There is
no self-evidence in European history that all men are created equal. There's
no nation in Europe that doesn't trace its history to a time when it was
self-evident that all men are created UNequal. Jean Jacques Rousseau, who is
somethimes given credit for this doctrine, certainly didn't get it from the
history of Europe or Asia or Africa. He got it from the impact of the New
World upon Europe and from contemplation of one particular kind of
individual who lived in the New World, the person he called the "Noble
Savage"."
"The idea that all men are created equal is a gift to the world from the
American Indian. 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 other way. For him there was no other way of life. That's what Ten Bears
was trying to tell them."
I think the "doctrines" of freedom and equality that grew out of Europe's
Enlightenment can rightly be called static intellectual patterns. But
freedom and equality was not a doctrine for the Indians, it was more than
that. Pirsig says the Noble Savage had "equality built into his bones" and
for him it was "no MERE doctrine". Granted, he's not explicitly saying that
it's mystical or DQ inspired, but putting it beyond doctrine seems to imply
that its deeper than the intellect. Again, as you saw in yersterday's post,
I think its in their bones because of the "cosmic confidence" that comes
from having had a mystical vision.
I'm sure everyone is familiar with the principle of equal protection under
the law. This doctrine refers to a sense of fairness in the courts, in civil
rights and and stuff like that. And there is the notion of "equality of
opportunity", which Roger mentioned a while back. It essentially refers to a
sense of fairness in the labor market. And all of these kind of principles
are extremely important top-notch stuff, but they are only doctrines and
they are often violated in our society. Even when these doctrines are
honored and properly enforced, they are still only a pale reflection of a
much deeper sense of equality.
Its been a long, slow struggle to try and live up to these doctrines,
probably because Americans also have that European sense of INequality. The
cultural and social history of Europe built the opposite of freedom into
their bones. Its interesting that many Americans view equality as the
opposite of freedom. But the truth is that for the Indians, or anyone whose
got it authentically and in-the-bones, freedom and equality are
inseperable. There is no freedom without equality and vice versa. It is the
misunderstanding of their interconnectedness that gives us such watered-down
principles like "equality of opportunity", which ususally just means "we'll
give you a chance to do things our way" or more directly, "poor people are
not the victims of inequality, they're just losers". Its a Victorian
hang-over.
I think its partly the hostility toward this misconception of equality that
fuels anti-communism and the fear of socialism. The genuine Indian sense of
equality has nothing to do with Karl Marx or dialectical materialism and it
doesn't imply any kind of universal conformity or monolithic intolerance of
any deviation from the norm. Of course we are perfectly correct to fear and
hate authoritarian regimes like the Soviet Union. They confused equality
with universal conformity and then enforced these horrible distortions at
gun-point. Obviously, Stalinism was a humanitarian crisis and a total
disaster and it had very little to do with genuine equality. Uncle Joe was
the most powerful Czar Russia ever had. I think Russia's communist
revolution failed miserably. The inequality of serfdom had built the
opposite of freedom into their bones. The Czars owned everthing and
everybody for nearly a thousand years and that's a pretty powerful pattern
to overcome. And besides all that, the Russian intelligentsia recieve the
Indian's sense of freedom and equality after it had been watered down
several times. They got it from the French and German, not from the "Noble
Savage".
As a little tangent, I think its interesting to notice that the Indians and
Europeans held radically different ideas about wealth and property. In
Europe the guy with the biggest chunk of land was King and in America no one
owned the land at all. So you can see the connection between property rights
and INequality, no? The plains Indians lived on a vast, open, fence-less
land that streched from Mexico to Canada. There was never a freeer people.
In England, on the other hand, hunting on the King's estate would almost
certainly draw a penalty of death. And I mention all that because Jefferson
had borrowed a phrase from the European Enlightenment tradition - the right
to life, liberty and PROPERTY - and changed it to the right to life, liberty
and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Huge difference. But in spite of that, America
seems to worship prosperity, not for the freedom it allows, but simply for
its own sake. We don't spend our money on freedom and equality, we spend our
freedom and equality on money, so to speak. As Pirsig reminds us, this
conflict is still with us and continues to be the fault line in our culture.
Its a struggle between imitation and authentic freedom, between genuine
equality and the pale pretension of equality.
I really don't mean to impose my ideology on you. In fact, I don't really
identify with any ideology in particular. I'm just trying to expand on some
of the political struggles that Pirsig refers to on the last page of chapter
three.
Thanks for your time, DMB
PS I hope we can take a close look at Ten Bear's speech and compare it to a
careful examination of the Cheyanne worrior's traits.
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
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