[dmb]
> Marsha added something to the discussion:
> "There was a 'something wrong - something wrong
> -something wrong' feeling like a buzzer in the back
> of his mind. It wasn't just his imagination. It was
> real. It was a primary perception of negative
> quality. First you sense the high or low quality,
> then you find reasons for it, not the other way
> around. Here he was, sensing it." (LILA, Chapter 20)
> "In the Bible it is said that "In the Beginning,
> there was the Word," but in the deepest realm of Zen
> meditation there is no single word." - Nanrel
> Kobori-Roshe
> dmb goes on to say:
> Yes, thanks. That "buzzer" feeling or "primary
> perception" is exactly what I've been talking about.
> Reading the classical pragmatists has helped me see
> more clearly the role it plays in everyday
> experience. This hasn't taken anything away from my
> fondness for philosophical mysticism and the
> congeniality between that and "pure experience",
> which is where the Zen meditation fits nicely. But
> Dewey and others have helped me see how quality or
> the primary empirical reality figures into every
> thing, every day and all the time. As Pirsig says
> here, you sense the quality first and find reasons
> for it later. The hot stove example is meant to
> illustrate that order too.
> It was interesting to notice that in Dewey's theory
> of inquiry, which is more or less an abstract
> description of the modes of inquiry we already use
> with the most success, the original impetus, the
> primary felt quality, is more than just a
> pre-conceptual or pre-intellectual event which is
> later explained. It guides the whole process, which
> includes several ways of shaping and sharpening
> those conceptual and intellectual explanations. That
> 'something wrong' feeling will prompt us to look for
> clues to the source of the problem, we'll formulate
> some ideas based on those clues, we'll think up some
> ways to test those ideas. If and when one of those
> ideas passes the test and we've found the problem,
> we'll start thinking of ways to solve it. The final
> solution might require more tests and such but no
> matter how elaborate we get about our inquiry the
> answer will only make sense in terms of its ability
> to somehow resolve the originally felt quality. The
> end as well as the steps in between are all guided
> by that original impetus.
> There is a nice parallel between the original
> impetus and role played by "the call to adventure"
> in the hero's journey. (For those who haven't
> already heard me drone on about this for years, the
> hero's journey is what Joe Campbell calls the basic
> structure of myth and this structure can be seen in
> all forms of drama. Now it is deliberately used as a
> format for screenplays and such.) The standard
> opening of the story will show the would-be hero in
> his everyday enviroment. This is the baseline, the
> unproblematic situation that is about to be
> disturbed. The call to adventure is what does the
> disturbing. It announces a problem in the situation
> but almost always in a very obscure or mysterious
> way. Some event disturbs the equilibrium and demands
> attention, maybe its small or maybe there's been a
> murder or some great injustice. Then there is a
> phone call, a letter, a package left at the door.
> The would-be hero lured by questions, by clues
> and/or by outright pleas for help. They say its more
> fun and dramatic to portray the hero as reluctant,
> so that the call to adventure can only be accepted
> after some initial resistance. But one way or
> another the hero is convinced that its in his
> interest to embark on the adventure. The steps taken
> in inquiry are parallel in these later phases of the
> journey too. The hero has to first find out what the
> problem is, has to diagnose the problem, think of a
> way to sovle it and his actions put all this to the
> test. But my point is, as odd as it may seem,
> Dewey's model of inquiry has helped me appreciate
> the importance of that original event, the
> disturbance that gets the story moving. In some
> ways, the whole story is prefigured in the first
> scene. The whole movie is about resolving the
> opening event. In the end there is a consummation
> that only makes sense in terms of the original
> problem.
> And its kinda cool that both are all about growth
> and transformation through active engagement.
What you've said provides some more insight into this
poem I posted in October as follows:
"Cougar, What's the Tapping for?"
What have you done lately?
The night is on-going
The great horned owl hoots
The dog barks and silence...
What have you done lately?
The fire in the cloudy night
First light and the fire is still
The wood burns out...
The walk was nice.
The sleep was short.
The wind blew all day.
Cold, quiet, and here...
This is me breathing.
This is the pressure off.
This is what happens.
Dark, sleeping, moonlight...
The yearning has gone on.
Authority speaks loudly.
This voice is pushed aside.
Cougarpaw taps the water...
Long and far this flows.
Islands of rocks for a foot.
Jump, a little wet.
Beaver dam, beaver stick...
Blowing leaves on the branches.
Autumn leaves on the earth.
Green still lingers.
Red, yellow, and orange...
This means so much to me.
Doubt is so strong.
Stirs the fear in the heart.
Jump cougar, don't be afraid...
Authority pushing the voice aside, what have you
done lately, this yearning, doubt is so strong, fear
stirs, and so much more. Abstract thought can fit
into anybodies head, and made to fit your life.
Jump Cougar!
Jump!
Jumping Mouse anybody! (Ron remember that one)
As long as there is a path and somebody to walk
along this path and today there will be a parking lot
at the beginning and a creek is where I will stop with
the family today, and then we venture back. A
waterfall is along this autumn cold day, too. Goin'
to McConnell's Mills.
woods,
SA
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