At 10:28 AM 3/21/2009, you wrote:
Ron and Marsha,
I am not sure why Ron's irritation should surprise Marsha. Or why it has
never occurred to her that the brujo was not some shaman knight tilting at
established religious hierarchy.
My, my Krimel, it is you I see as Don Quixote, not the poor brujo,
with your worship of scientific windmills. I would never consider a
poor soul who needs to peep into windows a shaman, yes an oddball,
yes a misfit, but I had never considered the brujo the "most static
of the tribe" either.
Pirsig clearly got a great insight from
Benedict's tale but that insight blinded him to the underlying story. If he
had done his homework a little better he would have checked the reference
Benedict cites. It is a bit of early ethnography by Ruth Bunzel. In it she
tells the tale that Benedict used in "Patterns of Culture," which Pirsig
uses without much editing.
Bunzel's work is long out of print and a couple of years ago I talked a
friend of mine in Boston into getting it copied for me. One of the few
places on the planet that has the original article is Harvard University.
There has been a link to it posted on Case's website for a long time now.
http://ispots.com/media/BunzelsZuniBrujo.pdf
I did read this before, and I think it is great that you make it available.
I don't think you can read Bunzel's tale and see in it a story of dynamic
quality overcoming static quality. Even as Pirsig tells the tale, the true
dynamic quality is the US military, hell bent on destroying native cultures
from one end of the continent to the other. It would not have mattered one
whit whether the quisling brujo advocated peace, war or sacrificing all of
the Zuni first born. I have been to Zuni and it has not prospered under the
white dominance appreciably more than any of the other native peoples.
Okay.
This MoQ Myth is just a product of Pirsig Valuing his personal revelation
over simple fact checking. I too bristle every time the word "brujo" finds
its way into a post here.
RMP values what he values, you value what you value, and since this
is not a life-or-death evaluation, so be it. I'd still like to know
why Ron thinks the brujo was so static. I think he was pretty dynamic.
Marsha
.
_____________
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.........
.
.
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