Agreed Mel, Arlo, Platt, Marsha, And don't forget, before motorcycles and rotisseries, also one of Pirsig's learning experiences was building a boat. Code of Art in the commonplace.
Regards Ian On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 10:41 PM, MarshaV <[email protected]> wrote: > > Greetings, > > I certainly agree. Both posts were wonderful. > > > Marsha > > > > At 04:35 PM 1/27/2009, you wrote: >> >> Hi All: >> >> It appears Mel has struck a deep responsive chord with his recent >> description of lessons from a boat builder. >> >> Mel's post was preceded just a day or two by Arlo's post citing the >> importance of ZMM reuniting ''art' with everyday activity. >> >> I don't know about anybody else, but if after a decade of discussions this >> site was compelled to come away with just one message for the world, I >> think it would be these recent posts from Mel and Arlo. >> >> I wonder how many other contributors agree that they neatly and memorably >> summarize the MOQ's guide to personal fulfillment. >> >> Regards, >> Platt >> >> > > mel: >> > > A boat builder with whom I used to work >> > > frequently repeated a phrase: 'beauty is free'. >> > > The first few times he said it, the timing was >> > > a mystery to me--Why did he say that, now? >> > > >> > > Eventually I got it. He was prodding me >> > > towards seeing that how I made the structural >> > > pieces of the boat look were more important than >> > > the simple plan-form of structure. Analogous >> > > to how different the musical score is from the >> > > performance. >> > > >> > > Inevitably, the 'beautiful' elements found >> > > efficiencies that the purely functional lacked. >> > > What seemed an accident or a trick was instead >> > > a deeped insight. Whenever I made a part >> > > more beautiful in appearance, it was also stronger, >> > > better fit, more efficient, etc. It was so, because >> > > I had unknowingly paid attention to more parts >> > > than simply the abutting or adjacent bits. >> >> [Arlo] >> This may be slightly off your topic, but I've always thought the most >> important part of ZMM was in reuniting "art" with everyday activity. That >> is, what both the classisists and the romanticists got wrong was that >> "art" was divorced from other forms of human activity into a realm of >> particular behaviors. We (in the general sense) tend(ed) to see "art" as a >> very specific subset of painting, theatre, music, literature, etc. What >> ZMM resolved was that "art" was an aesthetic/Quality that could be (and >> should be) (and IS) an integral part of everything from building >> rotisseries to repairing a motorcycle to welding a chain guard. >> >> In ZMM, both the classisists and the romanticists were seeing "art" >> from its old perspective, the classisist shrugged off "art" as >> un-important or trivial (syrup of style kind of stuff), while the >> romanticists were seeing "art" as a bounded domain of particular >> activity (drumming or painting or the like). The "rotisserie builder" and >> the "abstract sculptor", Pirsig reminded us, are both "artists" when they >> follow Quality in their particular activity. Thus the resolution to the >> romantic/classic divide is a larger view that begins with a redefinition >> of "art" and its relation to everyday, lived "life". >> >> >> >> 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/ > > . > _____________ > > Look, there's no metaphysics on earth like chocolates. > (Fernando Pessoa) > . > . > 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/ > 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/
