Denis and squad,
>Some of you (Bo and Marco I hope ;) might remember me : my name is Denis. I
>posted on this mailing-list until a year ago when I started my service in
>the army (which is now over). I thought this month's topic was very
>appropriate for me to re-enter this
>conversation, so after a month of lurking around in the archives (I've
>checked what you've been up to ;), here I am.
Good to see you back!
>> In order to bring a pragmatic element into the discussion, state how
>> Lila has affected our lives from a personal perspective.
>
>It is a mistake, I believe, to assign a unique cause to the different
>moments and movements of a human life. Life is mostly influenced by the
>momentum of little odds and bits that probably don't make too much sense to
>those who haven't lived them. But anyway, a little introspection cannot
>hurt... :)
Yes, this has been stopping me from making a start on this topic. Lila certainly did
have some effect but it's difficult to say exactly what. For me it spurred an interest
in philosophy and was partially responsible for me quitting my phd
But I think I would have done these things anyway, though perhaps not at precisely the
same time or in the same way.
>Perhaps the most interesting thing about it, is that for the first time a
>metaphysical system recognize itself for what it is : a belief system.
>Something which value is determined by its utility (the Pragmatism RMP was
>talking about) and, most important, its intellectual beauty. Finally
>religion, art and science were reconcilied both in their aim (Good), and
>their source (Quality, intuition of value), if not in their methods. The
>MoQ, for me, became the lense with which I was finally able to observe the
>sum of my knowledge and discern some order and harmony in it. Perhaps its
>greatest benefit is to give back some meaning to an increasingly complicated
>and absurd world.
I think this sums up the value of Pirsig's work perfectly.
I read a book on child development recently in which the writer identified
intelligence as the ability to see patterns in their observations. Patterning
just means organizing and associating new information with previously
developed mental hooks. Gifted children have an unusual ability to pick up
all kinds of patterns and relationships in everyday experience.
I think all that Pirsig is doing in ZMM and Lila is attempting to organize
"everything" into a pattern. Not necessarily because he thinks it's a worthwhile
thing to do, but because he feels a complusion to do it. My favorite part in Lila
is where he analyses all the reasons not to create a metaphysics and then concludes
with "aw go ahead and do it anyway, it's interesting." I could say the same
about running a mailing list;-)
The concept of quality as a real thing has been important to me. I think
I've followed my intuition more after reading Lila than I did before. Most
of the work I do is creative in one way or another and when there are
disagreements (which there always are) someone always says "oh but
that's subjective." I don't usually launch into metaphysics to make my point
but knowing about the MOQ does give me more confidence in my own
judgement.
After studying Lila for three years I've found some serious problems with
the MOQ. I really can't take it as a complete theory any more. I've reached
a plateau. I can't make any ground with the MOQ, and I'm fairly bored with
going round in circles with it after all this time, but it still seems to be the
best static latch I've got.
Diana
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:03:28 BST