From: Hugo Masse (hmassevirtual-moq@yahoo.com.mx)
Date: Fri Apr 09 2004 - 15:14:04 BST
I'd like to draw your attention to the following quote
(LILA, pg. 139)
"In the past Phaedrus's own radical bias caused him to
think of Dynamic Quality alone and neglect static
patterns of quality." This is from chapter nine, when
the story of the Zuņi brujo leads him to consider the
DQ-SQ division to be better than the S-O one.
What this passage says is that the Quality prior to
this chapter nine (i.e. all of ZAMM and the first
chapters of LILA) was DQ. In those 40 chapters (ZAMM
32 + LILA 8) DQ equals Quality. But not all of the
Quality there is. Only that which is being discussed
by Pirsig: DQ = Tao = "manito" = "God" (p. 138) Maybe
elsewhere he is not so precise, but this could be due
to the fact that he was stating what was already
stated here. Don't you find it awkward to talk about
DQ, especially to the uninitiated?
It would be like saying that ZAMM could be subtitled
"A descent into the Yin" when one is not told that
there is also a Yang. For the reader of ZAMM, Yin is
everything, Yin is the Tao. In this simile, LILA
should be subtitled "But there is also Yang... Yang1,
Yang2, Yang3 and Yang4... and Ying" and we finally get
to see the big picture.
ZAMM is quasi-mystical. It is not so entirely since a
mystical explanation of reality cannot be given orally
or in written, since "the fundamental nature of
reality is outside language". (LILA, p. 72) ZAMM uses
language to explain Quality (or, now we know, DQ)
therefore it is not purely mystical. Zen masters do it
all the time, but they had the advantage of other
practices: Meditation, Koans, Dokusan (interview
master-apprentice), etc.
Nevertheless, Pirsig departs of mysticism when he
starts defining. When there is more than one kind of
quality in his explanation... His explanation, that he
intended to be "a bridge between the understanding of
the Indians (mysticism) and the understanding of the
anthropologists (rational thought, science)" (LILA,
pp. 72-73).
Another way to see this is that ZAMM is more "ZEN" and
LILA is more "THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE". Has
anyone noticed that each book contains 32 chapters?
Put together is 64, just the number of hexagrams in
the I Ching. Coincidence?
I'd like to compare the Quality described in Pirsig's
MOQ as lava. The one that is flowing, too hot to be
contained is DQ. But here and there, lava gets to cool
down and form a crust. It becomes solid, cold,
immobile, static. But it is the same matter.
Does his explanation help us understand mystical
reality? As much as a description of the colour red
help us "see" the colour red. "taste" guacamole (Did I
tell you I am Mexican?), "smell" roses, "feel" a
baby's skin, "hear" Mozart... mystical reality is
there to be experienced, not to be explained.
I would equate the MOQ with a ZEN philosophy for the
XX-XXI century western thinkers. It enables you to
talk about reality in metaphysical terms without the
risk of being mocked and turned down as "new ager" or
just "mystical", "unscientific", "illogical", etc.
Good "good" days for all of you,
Hugo Masse.
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