Arlo, Art, begins, I believe, with love. The highest form being the love of wisdom. Crafting this value allows one to build it into their lives. It is a discipline to be sure.
Art does pertain to a certain human activity, that of love. simply because all human activity has the potential to be artful doesn't necessarily mean that all human activity is artful. Else there wouldn't be a distinction in quality. -Ron ________________________________ From: Arlo Bensinger <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:41:44 PM Subject: Re: [MD] Why the quality of the modern world is no good. [Marsha quotes Pirsig] "Programs of a political nature are important end products of social quality that can be effective only if the underlying structure of social values is right." (ZMM) [Arlo] I think its more than just "programs of a political nature" that are impacted by social values. In ZMM, Pirsig juxtaposes this thought with "programs of an economic nature" (in this case, modes of production, labor). "To speak of certain government and establishment institutions as "the system" is to speak correctly, since these organizations are founded upon the same structural conceptual relationships as a motorcycle. They are sustained by structural relationships even when they have lost all other meaning and purpose. People arrive at a factory and perform a totally meaningless task from eight to five without question because the structure demands that it be that way. There's no villain, no "mean guy" who wants them to live meaningless lives, it's just that the structure, the system demands it and no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing the structure just because it is meaningless. But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is upon effects only, no change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government." (ZMM) He further describes the effect of this, a general lack of "identity" in labor as follows. "The creator of it feels no particular sense of identity with it. The owner of it feels no particular sense of identity with it. The user of it feels no particular sense of identity with it. Hence, by Phædrus' definition, it has no Quality." (ZMM) He also talks about the other end of labor, namely "consumption" and how this, too, is effected by the general SOM pervading ALL forms of this culture. "Along the streets that lead away from the apartment he can never see anything through the concrete and brick and neon but he knows that buried within it are grotesque, twisted souls forever trying the manners that will convince themselves they possess Quality, learning strange poses of style and glamour vended by dream magazines and other mass media, and paid for by the vendors of substance. He thinks of them at night alone with their advertised glamorous shoes and stockings and underclothes off, staring through the sooty windows at the grotesque shells revealed beyond them, when the poses weaken and the truth creeps in, the only truth that exists here, crying to heaven, God, there is nothing here but dead neon and cement and brick." (ZMM) Finally, I have to say one thing. I am always a little taken aback when people here use the descriptor "artist" as if it should/does refer to some particular domain of human activity. Isn't the entire point of Pirsig's Metaphysics that "Art" is unjustly divorced from its rightful role in ALL human activity? Isn't the goal here to stop thinking of "art" as some special form of human activity and see that ALL forms of human activity are artful? Don't we just further this unjust distinction every time we refer to "art" this way? For example, you asked "Do you think it is the role of the artist to make culture uncomfortable?". How is the role of the "artist" different from the role of the "teacher" or "craftsman" or "gardener" or "baseball player"? Isn't the very problem here that teachers, craftsman, gardeners and baseball players FORGOT that they, too, are artists? That "art" is the appearance of Quality revealed in ALL human activity? ("Art is high-quality endeavor. That is all that really needs to be said." (ZMM)) In this light, there is no "role of the artist". There is an intention to our activity, and whether or not the product of our activity is Quality (Art) depends on the manner we approach said activity. If your goal is to convey as message, perhaps the outcome is "art" or perhaps it is not. If your goals is a rotisserie, perhaps the outcome is "art" or it is not. If your goal is to challenge social norms, perhaps the outcome is "art" or perhaps it is not. You are not an "artist" who challenges cultural norms, you challenge cultural norms and strive to do so revealing Quality, and if you do then your challenge is "art". 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