Ham to Bodvar: In ZAMM Pirsig says that "Quality is the primary empirical reality of the world." I take his use of "the world" to mean reality.
Andre: Sorry for butting in Ham but this is incorrect. Quality is the primary reality, 'the world' is the empirical abstraction from this reality. It is in this sense you must learn to understand the 'evil, pain and dysfunction' you talk about. A bit of Buddhist understanding of the terms will help you. Ham: Since these immoral conditions exist in the universe, which is experienced as a balance of goodness and badness, Quality (Morality) cannot be universal. Where, then, do these "negatives" come from? Andre: They come from our incomplete abstractions. That is, we abstract in a subject/object/divisive way which blinds us to see and experience the Quality of the One/All/ nothingness/ Tao. Ham: Are we to conclude, as the biblical scribes did, that evil is the work of the Devil and that all men are born sinners? Andre: The biblical scribes had their own reasons for reducing us to sinners. Remember that in Plato's time the passions residing in and through the flesh, were considered an obstacle to attain Truth...which is different to Quality. We are still at a social pattern of value here trying to dominate the biological value. What better and more devastating way than to use God as the final authority on biological/sinful condemnation! Ham: What "proves the superiority of DQ to S/O" except for our preference of it? Andre: The simple fact the it comes first from which S/O is generated. Read ZMM! Ham: How is man, a finite and imperfect being of limited wisdom, to know for a certainty that Goodness is better than Badness? Andre: Because goodness strives towards harmony. We like harmony in simplicity. Badness is just messy and is used as a 'driving force' toward good. If all were perfect from the start we would not be here. Ham: You suggest that before thoughts were conveyed in language, there were no societies and (according to your logic) no human beings, either. Come to your senses, Bo. What kind of philosophy is that? Andre (not speaking for Bodvar): A whole lot less complicated than it is now. Over and out 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/
