Bodvar Skutvik (skutvik@online.no)
Thu, 5 Mar 1998 17:21:47 +0100
Wed, 04 Mar 1998 08:48:27 -0500
Maggie Hettinger (>) wrote to Ken Clark (>>)
> Well, if you want confirmation of a different kind from a different source,
> here's what I can offer. The little booklet I've just finished (which is the
> most complete expression of Pirsig's work as I can make right now) is based on
> creating habits of doing things (setting up social patterns) that involve a
> *much* higher practice of information-gathering and evaluation than people use
> normally. I'm just saying that I seem to have come to the same realization as
> you did, from a different direction and application.
> > I have not had time to go thru ZMM and Lila again with TFFGIC in mind but
> > from what I have in my mind it all seems to fit. I like it because it
> > relieves us from the necessity for appealing to mysticism, at least until
> > we get back to where it all came from.
> It seems to me that "mysticism" is a word that covers two different events.
> One is the true Dynamic Quality experience, which I'm thinking, after hearing
> from the Squad, is a set of linked dynamic shifts, with the evaluative, dynamic
> event happening in all evolutionary levels at once, and then forming new
> patterns.
> The other event is a degenerative thing. It might be the situation in which a
> social/intellectually-focused entity gets on the bandwagon of a biological
> pattern. At first, because of the opposition of biological and social, the
> effect is a centering, balancing effect, and would therefore be perceived as a
> Dynamic event. The difference, I guess, is that the biological pattern is
> embraced, and if the entity *remains* focused on that part of the experience,
> on that force, the Quality balance is lost. (I think Pirsig's Nazis might be
> an example of this. At the beginning, though, when the movement started, it
> might very well have been a "mystical"-type experience, and certainly seems to
> have been from the accounts of people who were involved at the time.)
> Only if you have MoQ as an intellectual tool are these two experiences
> differentiated.
You thrill me Maggie. This is a high quality analysis of - for
example - the Fascist/Nazi movement, and much more credible than the
usual power-hungry mad dictators. Your MOQ-based version applies
definitely on the individual plane. An underdog listened to
Hitler's speeches, got a dynamic (Intellectual) kick: this is the
truth!. Joined the party and experienced the good feeling of
a common cause (Society). His position within the group made it
possible for him to get even with the rich Jew next door and he
marched out in the "Kristallnacht" and smashed the windows of his
neighbour's shop (great biological kick). But this was a
downward slide from Intellect through Society to Biology: a very
dangerous thing, and the good feeling did soon give way to regret
over the forces unleashed.
However, on a greater scale can WW2 be seen as Society's "last stand"
against Intellect. Its final attempt to control it, but it went the
right way: the higher value won. Democracy triumphed over
dictatorship. Still, the MOQ says: Give unto Caesar...give Society
what Society's is.
Congratulations Maggie for being the first to venture beyond the
first page of LILA! (BTW: Is your booklet to be obtained in any
way from over here?)
Bo
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