dmb:Marsha quoted from Dr. McWatt's textbook, "An Introduction to Robert Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality": >From 5.8.0. Differences Between the MOQ and Eastern Philosophy:
If I'm reading this right, making the switch from re-incarnation to one's descendants removes supernaturalism from the picture but retains a moral stance about future lives. The moral imperative is still directed beyond the present but it remains earthbound. Putting this moral stance within the context of the theory of evolution, I think, alters the way we think about the nature of that process. The aim isn't just a matter of continued survival but a matter of assuming some responsibility for ensuring a better future. Andre: Hi dmb, gav, Marsha, Ant and all.. interesting and I agree about the 'moral imperative' still being directed 'beyond the present',but what about our moral imperative in the present? As you may have gathered I am on the Krishnamurti-tour at the moment, having just read his biography. The close resemblance of his teachings in relation to Quality has struck me again and again. I'll quote at some length the second last talk he ever gave and since it also incorporates his (K's) notion of reincarnation/ rebirth it seems relevant to your observations: 'What does it mean to die? To give up everything. Death cuts us off with a very, very, very sharp razor from your attachments, from your gods,from your superstitions, from your desire for comfort- next life and so on...So how can I find out, actually, not theoretically, what it means to die? I actually want to find out...It means to be totally free, to be totally unattached to everything that man has put together, or what you have put together- totally free. No attachments, no gods, no future, no past. You don't see the beauty of it, the greatness of it, the extraordinary strength of it- while living to be dying. You understand what that means? While you are living, every moment you are dying, so that throughout life you are not attached to anything. That is what death means. So living is dying. You understand? Living means that everyday you are abandoning everything you are attached to. Can you do this? A very simple fact, but it has got tremendous implications. So that each day is a new day. Each day you are dying and incarnating. There is a tremendous vitality, energy there because there is nothing to be afraid of.... . All the things that man has put together have to be totally abandoned. Will you try it? ...No, sir, you can't do it: your brains are not trained for this. Your brains have been conditioned so heavily, by your education, by your tradition, by your books, by your professors. It requires finding out what love is. Love and death go together. Death says be free...love says- there is no word for it. Love can exist only when there is freedom.... .' (pp128-9) If this is not a wonderful interpretation and teaching of: 'While sustaining biological and social patterns Kill all intellectual patterns Kill them completely And then follow Dynamic Quality And morality will be served (Lila p 406) ..then I do not know what is. And if it is not then I completely misunderstand Pirsig, Krishnamurti and Quality (which would be a pity). By acting in this way you serve the moral imperative of the present (and by implication) 'beyond'. It ensures we have a future. For what it is worth. Andre 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/
