Ant McWatt (ant11@liverpool.ac.uk)
Wed, 21 Jan 1998 06:45:41 +0100
On Wed, 14 Jan 1998 20:50:55 +0000 Bodvar Skutvik
> Hello Anthony McWatt are you listening in?. I have a vague
> recollection that the question of a "goal" for existence was
> answered by Robert Pirsig in a letter to you. That he said that he
> had been confronted with the seeming paradox that Dynamic Quality was
> both the source and the goal, but I am not able to remember what his
> conclusion was, nor am I able to find the actual letter. Could you
> please look into your files and see if there is something resembling
> this?
> Thanks.
> Bo
>
Hello Bo,
That Quote for you!
"Hunting for weaknesses..." (in your paper) "I find that on
page one, paragraph four, there is a sentence,
'Fundamentally Pirsig`s term is a MYSTIC one, and refers to
the undifferentiated, indeterminate, reality from which the
universe has evolved (or grown) from.' Although this is
true at a Buddha`s level of understanding, it would be
confusing and illogical in the world of everyday affairs to
say that the world is evolving both from and toward the
same thing. I have had some reader mail that has pointed
out at one place I seem to imply that Quality and chaos are
the same and at another that they are different, so I
haven`t been clear on this myself and have left an opening
to attack. To close it up, let us say that the universe is
evolving from a condition of low quality (quantum forces
only, no atoms, pre-big bang) toward a higher one (birds,
trees, societies and thoughts) and that in a static sense
(world of everyday affairs) these two are not the same."
(letter from Robert Pirsig, March 29, 1997, the word
"MYSTIC" originally in bold not capitals)
Well, I hope that is some help.
Another phrase of Pirsig`s, maybe someone familiar with
physics such as Doug or Ken, could help me out with, is the
following:
"Atoms are created by the preference of quantum forces for
certain stable relationships. These quantum forces are not
objects of any kind. They are believed to have existed
before the Big Bang and can be shown to exist today in
absolute atomic vacuums. They are just patterns of
prefence that appear out of what is called mass-energy.
But if one asks what is this mass-energy independently of
its preferences one finds oneself thinking of nothing
whatsoever.
(letter from Robert Pirsig, March 23, 1997)
I am giving a paper on February 12th on the MOQ to the
other post-grads so I would like to know if there are any
physics books (or physicists) which would support the view
expounded by Pirsig above.
Any suggestions from anyone would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Anthony.
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