From: Sam Norton (elizaphanian@kohath.wanadoo.co.uk)
Date: Tue Aug 09 2005 - 02:50:27 BST
Hi all,
And thanks to Dario for kicking us off. I liked what you wrote.
I had wondered whether DMB might jump in quickly, as it was his suggestion
originally, but I can say something brief.
Firstly, as a rough rule of thumb, why don't we take 'religion' to mean
those things that apply to the third level social patterns, and
'spirituality' that refer to cultivating an openness to DQ. That leaves the
fourth level open, and ambiguous between them, but it will probably save a
lot of semantic arguments.
Given that the MoQ is "officially" part of Zen Buddhism, one would think
that Zen practices were recommended. However, that might preclude studying
metaphysics at all (_might_) so how about the following:
The MoQ describes four levels of existence, in an increasing hierarchy of
Quality.
The point is to rise up the levels. [For the consciousness to rise? For the
soul to rise? To follow DQ? Not sure how to explain this bit in 'official'
MoQ but it seems necessary to answer the question]
Practices which send the lower levels to sleep, and which cultivate
awareness of DQ, are those congruous with the MoQ.
I'm thinking of things like fasting as a practice which subdues the
biological patterns of the body (very widespread religious practice); and
rituals (including things sweeping the floor) that can be done repetitively
and therefore don't take up 'mental space'. Anyone remember the scene in
Cronenberg's The Fly, where Jeff Goldblum opens up his wardrobe to reveal a
rack of identical suits and shirts - because he doesn't want to waste time
thinking about what to wear, which will give more time to thinking about
teleportation? That seems to be the sort of thing that might be valued in
the MoQ.
I think the more interesting questions are about the fourth level practices,
but I don't want to say anything about that yet. You could probably predict
what I would say.
Sam
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