[Steve to Platt] I think we are stuck saying that music is intellectual within Pirsig's framework. It doesn't feel quite right though.
It is manipulation of symbols (notes) that stand for patterns of experience (sounds). [Arlo] I agree, and I don't see this as a problem. I think its easiest when you don't conflate the "music" with the "aesthetic experience". That is, "music" is a collection of symbols (intellect) which when done masterfully point "out" of the picture, provide a metaphor by which the interactants (those viewing, listening, etc.) are able to, for a brief moment, see "outside" the structure of intellect and gaze into the abyss. What Pirsig tried to do in ZMM was point out that ALL our endeavors can be done artfully, and as such even in simple things like repairing a motorcycle can produce art-metaphor in which the object becomes a conduit for escaping "intellection" (as some call it). It may help to liken music to mathematics in this particular instance. Both are the arrangement of symbols toward the expression of some symbolic representation. And both, when done properly, open up the door to an aesthetic experience that transcends the particular symbols. The construction of a motorcycle is the same. So my caution is to be weary of even unintended snobbery (but especially deliberate snobbery) that elevates "music" above other activity, be it literature or mechanics. In other words, the "art" that derives from "music, as from all activity, occurs when the symbols therein are arranged or ordered in such a way as to produce a metaphor powerful enough to shatter the boundaries and foundations of our intellectual description of reality. The "music" is the ordered arrangement of the symbols. Intellectual activity. The resultant "aesthetic experience" is neither contained in, nor part of, the "music". It is a moment of Zen, when our windows on the world are cast wide open, that may just as easily be triggered by a collection of sounds or a collection of gears. 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/
