Khoo on 1 Feb: > Bo, the Boddhisatva,
Bo replied on 2 Feb: Thanks for the new "rank" but too long hours and no pay ;-) Khoo: But that is the most exalted position an Eastern Buddhist may attain; plus since you have now made a breakthrough for the West, you surely have the adulation of your many followers and a lasting legacy to boot. Bo: How I envisage the MOQ as a "western buddhism" I have told many times No particular enlightenment is required except understanding the MOQ, but that seems to be the needle eye for the camels. Khoo: But how would it work if there is no enlightenment necessary? Is there a methodology to achieve the understanding of the Metaphysics of Quality ? How would you guide the enquirer/camels through the needle into a proper understanding of the Metaphysics of Quality? Is there an “aha” moment ? Is there a need for a Guide? Or is it a Do-it-Yourself kind of process ? Bo: You surely remember my string of reasoning Khoo: Though all these years, tt certainly feels like it has been a long yarn and the explanation I am afraid is lost in the woolliness. Can you explain in simple words ? Direct from your experience? Bo: 1) "Philosophy" is by definition a search for explanations that goes beyond the mythological god-centered ones. Religious philosophy in the Christian, Jewish, or Muslim sense is an oxymoron. Khoo: Is your Western Buddhism therefore a religious philosophy without a God-centre ? If so, how does it differ from other philosophies, both Western and Eastern. How does it differ from, say, what the Dalai Lama has to say. What is its value ? Bo: 2) Thus any culture having had an encounter with philosophy has also had an encounter with the "objective, skeptical attitude" whether the culture got stuck there, i.e. let it develop into a SOM or went onwards is the crux. Khoo: Please explain how a culture may get “stuck” or move on into SOM and then further? How does this process takes place since it is the crux of the matter ? Bo: 3) the former happened to the West, while the Orient abolished their S/O before it reached the "point of no return" (which was Aristotle IMO) and entered a Quality-like stage, AKA Buddhism, Taoism. But as I made clear the "objective (intellectual) level is part of the Oriental constitution and they can be as technological as any. Hence China's and Japan's "wirstschaftwunder". Khoo: I am curious how is it the Orient “abolished” their S/O and did what you say. Do you mean to say the Orient is already at the Quality-like stage ? If S/O is your intellectual level, then the Orient has no intellectual level and how does this square with the second part above? Bo: Further my contention is that MOQ's job to overcome the deeply entrenched SOM rationality required a super-rationality and that consists of the dynamic/static divide and the levels that dissolves the SOM-induced paradoxes. Khoo: What is this super-rationality ? How does a super-rationality overcome a deeply entrenched SOM rationality? Can you give an example based on your experience how this is done? Is this the only “job” that your MOQ/Western Buddhism has – to dissolve the SOM-induced paradoxes ? Is that its mission and vision statement ? Bo: However Pirsig of LILA got so hung up in the Quality=Reality issue (which is an axiom and cannot be proved) that the MOQ was left in shambles regarding the intellectual level and his demonstrations how the MOQ rids existence of the SOM-induced paradoxes are less than convincing, while the correct - Phaedrus envisaged MOQ - does it without problems all paradoxes stem from the subject/object split having cemented into existence's "ground". Khoo: But Pirsig has copyright over the Metaphysics of Quality both for Lila and ZAMM, so he owns them no matter how much in shambles his explanations of the intellectual level was. And he also owns the Phaedrus envisaged MOQ. Can you copyright and own your explanations of the Metaphysics of Quality ? Or do you have to call it by another name? Bo: Well, that's all. The Eastern Tradition's early and easy transition to the Quality-like stage beyond their underdeveloped SOM needed no super-rational ordering (no dynamic/static Buddha ...etc.) creating the "mysticism" that Westerners love to call what they don't understand, yet sense the value of. And within this ordering it is the 4th. level as SOM that does the trick, but is what most of this discussion won't have. Khoo: Do you mean to say, the East is already there, while the West has yet to transcend it over-developed SOM. And…. you need a super-rationality to box in an intellectual level defined as SOM, otherwise the tail wags the dog. Let’s say we go along with you, where will you put all the intellectual activity that is not SOM ? And this super-rationality, is it another level above the 4th, a 5th level that is entirely your innovation on Pirsig’s four levels ? Is this your version of the Metaphysics of Quality over Pirsig’s inferior version ? Bo: "Quality is the Buddha". Exactly! But Buddha obviously has static aspects, and "...providing a rational basis" Right on! Super-rational IMO. "Three areas being united" Definitely! Four IMO, the so-called physical universe that Pirsig's guru enigmatically called "illusory" is incorporated. Khoo: So the Buddha/Quality is the super-rational basis. That’s new. I can’t comment until you have explained what super-rationality means directly from your experience, how Religion, Art and Science are to be united. Bo: It all fits Khoo: If so, we must acquit ! 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