Greetings, Platt --
> I agree with you that the "Big Bang is a copout that > doesn't explain anything." In fact, the assertion that > "chance" explains anything is equally absurd. > It's part and parcel of the metaphysics of "oops." > > "Science doesn't have an answer to what led to the Big Bang." > What's even more telling, they don't have an answer to "why" > there was a Big Bang. > > Mr. Pirsig put this all into perspective in the following quote > from Lila: > > "...Should reality be something that only a handful of the world's > most advanced physicists understand? ...Should reality be > expressible only in symbols that require university-level mathematics > to manipulate? Should it be something that changes from year to > year as new scientific theories are formulated? Should it be > something about which different schools of physics can quarrel > for years with no firm resolution on either side? If this is so then > how is it fair to imprison a person in a mental hospital for life > with no trial and no jury and no parole for 'failing to understand > reality'? " While I can empathize with Pirsig's protest, especially knowing some of his personal history, I believe there is another side to his argument. Man is not designed to fathom the truth of his existence. His finite intellect is inadequate to deal with the absolute. Nor is it necessary that he do so, since most people can live out their lives blissfully unaware that there may be a reason for their existence. Yet, because there is implanted in every cognizant individual the quest for understanding, we all arrive at some notion of what reality is about. Metaphysics is for those seriously concerned with the existential enigma. For the less intellectual among us, simple platitudes are sufficient guidelines for a contented life; others bind themselves to the canonic law or the theories of science, while some refuse to believe anything that isn't substantiated by empirical proof. I'm inclined to agree with Eckhart's observation that "within itself the soul is free, innocent of all instrumentalities and ideas." If man did not enter the world an innocent creature - if his knowledge were unlimited - he would not be free to shape his reality or realize its values. Consider the alternative. If you were suddenly granted the key to all knowledge, including the origin, meaning and destiny of your life, would it be a gift or a curse? Would you be content with the prospect of never having to make a choice, feel surprise, or ponder an unknown fate? Or would absolute wisdom reduce your life-experience to that of a robot running its prescribed course under the control of an external source or cause-and-effect probability? I've stated in my thesis that "the inscrutability of life's meaning confirms the teleology of our experienced world." If, as I believe, the purpose of cognizant life is to "make value aware", it is only logical that the individual subject should be an autonomous agent "outside the loop", as it were, equipped to experience reality in accordance with his own value sensibilities, guided by his unique perspective, free of the restrictions that knowledge "beyond the experience" would impose on his attitudes and behavior. So, with due respect to Mr. Pirsig in his quandary, I contend that only by confronting the problems of metaphysics head-on can we rise above the paradox of differentiated existence and come to an intellectual understanding of our role in the cosmos. While some will call this "theological nonsense" or "supernaturalism", my contention is that ultimate reality will always be The Unknown to man. You can skirt around it, convince yourself that it's a fantasy, or try to explain it. One thing is certain: whether you are concerned with ultimate reality or not, reality is ultimately concerned with you. Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt, Platt. Essentially yours, Ham Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
