Bo, All
UNITY
>3WD
> > 4. I thought Bo mentioned something recently (can't find it) about
> > static quality as a unity, whole , or one.
>BO
> It was over at the MD where I tried to reach Struan Hellier (in vain).
> The static levels - from inorganic to intellect - is a UNITY, no fence between them.
3WD
Your comment on static unity is helping me pull together some disparate
trains of thought I've been laboring with. When we say "unity" what do
we mean? What is the nature of this "unity"? I recently reread
discussions of this by W. James and K. Wilbur and they both use the same
phraseology to introduce it, "the nature of the one and the many."
James claims that the basic difference between the rationalist and
empiricist PoV is that the former starts with the whole then subdivides
it into parts while the later starts with the parts and builds them into
a whole. According to James one of the problems with the rationalist
position it that if one assumes an "absolute" monist whole to start with and
this must be predicated on some "absolute original knower." Which, of
course, is not empirically verifably.
Wilbur claims this basic tendency has been around for as far back as we
have records but the deep schism in the West between these two PoVs
arose in part by a misreading of Plato and later Plotinus that happened
during Enlightenment. (Ref: Acending and Decending-A Brief History of
Everything p250-3). He then goes on to conclude that "from Plotinus in
the West to Nagajuna in the East we see an emphasis [in some
philosophies] on balancing and integrating these two movements". That
"the union" between the "empirical", "static", "from the Many to the
One", the "path of wisdom", and the "spiritual"[ineffable, mystic] "from
the One to the Many", the "path of compassion", is a more complete
vision of reality. The MoQ, whatever its problems, at least sets its
course firmly along this "united" path. But what unites them? Utility is
an obvious choice. The common thread between radical empiricm and Zen is
utility. One proposes a way or path using intellectual utility the other
a way or path using non-intellectural utility; both seeking useful good.
And they both join together, or start (your preference) with experience.
If this conjecture is right then possibily a way to address the
perceived problems with the static levels might be though a better
understanding of radical empiricism.
3WD
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
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