Bodvar Skutvik (skutvik@online.no)
Sat, 8 Nov 1997 18:05:38 +0100
Doug and Anders wrote:
> "In the Metaphysics of Quality the world is composed of three things:
> mind, matter, and Quality. Because something is not located in the
> object does not mean that it has to be located in your mind. Quality
> cannot be independently derived from either mind or matter. But it can
> be derived from the relationship of mind and matter with each other ..etc.
I notice that you refer to the same passage of Pirsig's SODV in your
responses to Maggie's "Quality Event" request. Okay nothing wrong
with that, and quite natural as the QE is treated there, but ever
since I saw this paper I had a feeling that it was attempt from
Pirsig's side to make himself understood by an unprepared audience.
Nothing wrong by that either, he retreats to the ZMM argumentation
stage to make the same impact as this book had on so many readers.
You will notice that the cited passage similar to the "getting
hotter" on page 233 (of my Corgi paperback).
If one analyses what he says it ends with the assertion that quality
is the cause of subjects and objects, but the opening (..the world is
composed of three things..) easily gives one the impression that
subjects and objects are the major components of reality while
quality is a third entity outside of the two. In LILA, however, this
trinity is discarded! Then Doug enters his favourite field of quantum
mech. and compare the MOQ with complementarity and say that QE
corresponds to what Bohr calls "observation". All right, you Doug
surely put this inside the quality context, but to an "uninitiated"
this sound as if the human mind (consciousness) brings ...the
unmeasured particle... to materialize, and this is mind-matter, not
dynamic-static, interaction.
The absurdity of the SOM is lifted because Quality "Mechanics" says:
The big divide of existence is NOT between subject and object but
between dynamism and permanence! But this lands the MOQ into its own
dualistic problem. How does the dynamic/static interaction take
place? What "mechanism is involved? This is what Maggie asks about.
My answer is that the static patterns of the lower levels are more
or less unyielding (there is no interaction) The laws of nature
(Inorganic value) are the most static values in the world - no
wonder, they ARE the world!. Life is less so, but still rather
permanent. The value of social cooperation - as such - is also
ineradicable, but communal configurations change in big or small
scale (politics), and in my answer to Maggie I call the social
leaders' visions "quality events". Finally the Intellect, and I have
the impression that this level still is regarded identical to the
MIND (of SOM) and that it is here that the exotic Quality Event is
supposed to take place in the deep recesses of quantum-size
lineaments. (Supposedly to keep the world from disappearing!)
As I understand the quality idea, the Intellectual level is the most
dynamic one (freest), but nevertheless static. The resemblance to
mind of SOM is because thoughts/language are the "carriers" of
intellectual ideas opinions etc. Because these patterns change
rapidly, one gets the impression that they are dynamic - and
volatile they are - but while they last they are static. And isn't
much of our thinking pretty static? The SOM track is so deep
worn that our train of thoughts coasts along in circles, but thanks
to Pirsig there is now a switching point.
Thanks for reading.
Bo
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