Hi All, This is the second post on this subject line. This is probably stuff you guys have discussed before.
We all know what Quality is, and the more we try to define what it is, the farther away we get from it. I am exploring how it materializes. In the first section I described a possibility that it could emerge through the decision making process. If I assume that the expression of Quality is on a continuum between static sets of opposites, such as good:bad, moral:immoral, ugly:beautiful, low Quality:high Quality, etc, it suggests a hierarchical notion to this concept (or thing beyond concept). Whether this continuum is considered subjective or objective is not important. The premise would be that Quality itself has dynamic direction. This would be akin to Shiva having a preference. This god of the Trinity can be both creator and destroyer, however, if we believe there is evolution, then creation trumps destruction. So if Quality has a bias, and it creates evolution, we can say its bias is towards the complex rather than towards the simple. In the same way we can attribute other biases to Quality, such as good preferred to bad, peace to war, beautiful to ugly, and so forth. It doesn't matter if these are subjective or otherwise, the point is that Quality is a continuum between perceived opposites and has a bias which expresses itself more towards one end than the other, thus directing our behavior. This bias would indicate a continual shift in our desired experience. Not only do we perceive this, but we are governed by it (again the fact that it may be subjective does not matter). I also does not matter where this Quality comes from, whether it is inherent in the highly manipulative laws of Nature, or manipulative laws of God; wether it is the unfolding of the Tao, or the increasing knowledge of science. The point is that it is biased (not pure chance) and has direction. The fact that we call it Quality provides the subjective sense that it has meaning in our decisions. In fact, as I state in the post below, our decisions are tapping into Quality in that instant of madness, or revelation. To look at it scientifically, we could say that Quality enters our life though quantum tunneling from somewhere "outside". As brains becomes more complex, decision making ability increases, which would make Quality much more pervasive in our human lives than in a plant's life. While the same kind of decision making process is going on in a plant, it is not governed by so many disparate inputs, and possible outputs as ours. Our consciousness is therefore more in continual harmony with Quality. As we progress to the next level which could be extremely inter-connected human beings through some revolution in the internet, and brain science, so that we would be interconnected at the mind level and then represent only the cells of a community, this decision making would become even more complicated, bringing us closer (yet still far) to true Quality. I we take the sum total of human history, we can see the directions Quality is taking us. It has provided the evolution of structures. It has provided the sense of values. It has provided the morals, the desires, the gods, the science. To take a bird's eye view, it is possible for me to see the evolution process as professed by Pirsig. I then zoom in and realized what Quality has been doing for me all along. And I thought that it was just lonely old me making these tough decisions. Cheers, Willblake2 [Willblake2] Hi, I would like your thoughts, if you are so inclined, on the following topic: The relationship of Quality to non-Being. Let me proceed with what I am thinking about, humor me. The premise is that Quality emerges in my life at the time of a decision.. Decisions range from those that we make once in a lifetime, to those we make regularly, to those that we make subconsciously (whatever that means) every moment we are alive. The conscious decisions are what I'll address, although the same should apply to the unconscious ones. So, let's say that Quality is expressed in our lives through decisions, whether ethical, those of judgement, preference, all. Kierkegaard once stated that "The instant of decision is madness", (sorry, I can't remember where, maybe Fear and Trembling (not to be confused with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is also a comment on the human condition)). He then went on to explain how the moment of a decision is rooted in madness or insanity and requires irrational leaps; his logic seemed pretty good to me at the time. Faith being one of those decisions. I am not concerned with faith, but I thought I would throw that in there because he was. So leaving faith behind as irrelevant, if I substitute Quality and say: 'The instant of decision is the emergence of Quality", this would be my premise. Many philosophies and faiths (including science), are, in my opinion, conferring the decision making to something else, as in "it is God's will", or "I am following the dictates of evolution", or "It was just a matter of chance" or "I was out of my mind". The attraction of these metaphysical disciplines is the freeing oneself of the sense of being in control. This is also true with something like Buddhism, where by freeing oneself of things that require control (grasping and clinging), one is at peace. The notion that Tao, or nature, is everything including myself, or I that am everything, is in one sense complete control, but in the other total loss of concern for control, because there is nothing outside to control (just like I do not control my heart). So, decisions require a certain amount of that sense of control, which is where Quality comes in. It also seems that the release of any sense of control (or self centeredness), or being outside oneself, is very similar to the way we were before we were born and the way we will be after (or between lives, whatever). So in this sense, philosophies (religions) that confer this sense, are in fact bringing us closer to the sense of non-Being (dead?). By this I mean, free from that by which we are trapped in this world (you can interpret this any way you want, but let's say the body/mind). That is, those who truly live with this freedom from the illusion of control, are in fact living close to the sense of what it feels like to not be alive. I interpret some mystical readings this way, as well as my own mystical experiences (at least that's what I think they are). If Quality controls decisions (and I believe I'm right in interpreting that Quality is morals, and ethics, and all the rest which determine decisions), then Quality is the appearance of this non-Being in our everyday lives. Unconscious decisions that we are unaware of and really can't be talked about in this forum, happen at every moment. In that sense, living in Quality, such as racing down a ski slope where there is no time to think and I become one with the mountain, or getting so drawn into a movie that no reflective thoughts happen so that I completely identify, or running scared out of my mind from a bear, is in fact living close to non-being. To live reflectively in the Now or in Quality is impossible. If Quality is that mystical sense of oneness (prelife) which shows up in this way, perhaps I could get a better feeling for it and further develop this sense, but I need a reality check... I've been over-demanding of your patience, thank you. Willblake2 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/
