Platt asked September 25th:
In today's New York Times is an article about Ayn Rand's influence on
business people. About halfway through the article is this:
Ms. Moore, a benefactor of the University of South Carolina, spoke of her
debt to Rand in 1998, when the business school at the university was named
in Ms. Moore's honor. As a woman and a Southerner, she said, I thrived
on Rand's message that only quality work counted, not who you are. Rand's
idea of the virtue of selfishness, Ms. Moore said, is a harsh phrase for
the Buddhist idea that you have to take care of yourself.
Is this another case of the NY Times getting the story wrong? Or is Ms.
Moore out of her mind?
Assuming neither is this case, can anyone explain the Buddhist idea
that you have to take care of yourself?
Ant McWatt comments:
Though I'd agree with Ms. Moore's sentiment that it's quality work that
counts not who you are, it appears that either the NY Times or Ms. Moore is
confused somewhere along the line. Anyway, if it's any help, the phrase
The Buddhist idea that you have to take care of yourself sounds very
similar to the Pirsigian idea that:
The real cycle youre working on is a cycle called yourself. The machine
that appears to be out there and the person that appears to be in here
are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from
Quality together. (ZMM, Chapter 26)
Zen Buddhists talk about just sitting, a meditative practice in which the
idea of a duality of self and object does not dominate ones consciousness.
What Im talking about here in motorcycle maintenance is just fixing, in
which the idea of a duality of self and object doesnt dominate ones
consciousness. When one isnt dominated by feelings of separateness from
what hes working on, then one can be said to care about what hes doing.
That is what caring really is, a feeling of identification with what ones
doing. When one has this feeling then he also sees the inverse side of
caring, Quality itself.
So the thing to do when working on a motorcycle, as in any other task, is
to cultivate the peace of mind which does not separate ones self from ones
surroundings. When that is done successfully then everything else follows
naturally. Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right
thoughts. Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce
work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity
at the center of it all. (ZMM, Chapter 25)
.
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