Hello Khoo, I see part of an answer to my question in your post; namely that Pirsig did not provide a practice or mechanism by which one could connect directly with DQ. Based on your premises, it also seems that the MoQ, by putting the Intellectual above the Social, is showing the way out of this mess.
My parents were of what Tom Brokaw has called "The Greatest Generation". These were the people who heroically fought and won World War II and afterwards participated in the greatest peacetime economic expansion in human history. Of those on this forum, perhaps Bodvar is the lone junior representative remaining. The rest of us in one way or another, all owe our current economic position, whatever it may be, in large part to that generation. It was not easy for them, especially in their youth in the Great Depression, but you could argue that they had an easier time of it than those of us struggling to sustain a livelihood now. Even the mediocre can achieve great success in an expanding economy. Those days are gone. They have been eroding away for some time, due no doubt to the very reasons you describe. Were I so inclined, I could expend a great deal of energy worrying about the future for my young son. Instead, I choose to do my best to equip him with the mental tools I imagine he will need in an unstable and chaotic future. Great forces are at work. This is nothing new. These underlying patterns have been there all along, so this is no particular reason for alarm. But it seems they are now bubbling to the surface of our collective consciousness, and this perhaps is. It is now widely known, for instance, that the financial industry maintains five lobbyists for each American congressperson, and the dark matter of the financial universe, the derivatives market, has come to light. In response to this mass of subterfuge has emerged the tea-baggers, perhaps the equivalent of your "laborers"? Mary - The most important thing you will ever make is a realization. > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:moq_discuss- > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Khoo Hock Aun > Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 12:26 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MD] Buddhism and Nothingness > > Hi Mary and all, > > Khoo said on 11 Feb: > > But the Metaphysics of Quality has yet to be fully formed and is only > at is > preliminary stages of development. > > Mary subsequently requested: > > Care to expand on that? > _______________________________________________________________________ > _________________________ > > The Metaphyics of Quality is an explanatory tool for the evolution of > human > civilization and less a pathway for individual salvation. In this > respect, I > would like to re-introduce PR Sarkar’s Theory of Social Cycle to > illustrate > the possible further directions the Metaphysics of Quality could take. > I > take liberty in paraphrasing Dr Ravi Batra from his self-published book > “The > Downfall of Capitalism and Communism” of 1978. > > Briefly, it begins with the view that society is composed of four basic > types, each with a different frame of mind. Some by nature are > warriors, > some intellectuals; some are capitalists/acquisitors and some laborers. > Society evolves by rule of one type to another. > > It is interesting how Sarkar explains the laborer: one whose mind is > dominated by the environment surrounding it. It is ruled by > materialistic > thoughts. A physical worker cannot subjugate material forces or the > physical > environment in which he or she resides. A laborer is simply one, even > though > imbued with physical strength, who lacks the initiative, ambition and > drive > to subdue matter and to succeed in the world. > > The mind moved by the spirit of subduing matter is the warrior mind. > The > warrior loves adventure, is full of courage and high-spiritedness, has > natural curiosity to learn new ways and applies his physical strength > and > skills to solve his or her problems. Those endowed with superlative > martial > qualities want to leave their mark on history, seek eternity through > their > exploits. The warrior type, Sarkar observes is usually composed of > army > officers, skilled workers, adventurers and professional athletes – > anyone > who struggles to solve problems through a direct fight or through > physical > prowess. > > An intellectual’s mind is one more prone to scholarly pursuits than the > warrior mind. The intellectual too wants to subjugate matter, but > unlike the > warrior, he uses his intellectual abilities to attain the comforts of > life. > His mind is subtler than the martial mind and eventually comes to sway > the > warrior. They devise theories, cults and dogmas to confuse the warrior > and > take advantage of his straightforwardness. Priests, scribes, poets, > scientists, lawyers, physicians, teachers and the like constitute this > group. Thus whenever the intellectuals rule, they rule by winning over > the > warriors, who alone are physically and mentally equipped to maintain > order > in society. > > Finally, the acquisitors, who we know as capitalists, have a penchant > for > accumulating material things. They constantly seek to amass wealth and > at > some point in time, the affluent acquisitor comes to dominate the other > three groups by purchasing their services with his opulence. Since > warriors > can be controlled by intellectuals and laborers by warriors, all the > other > types will readily submit to ambitious men and women of fortune. > > Sarkar maintains that wherever civilization developed, in Africa, Asia > or > Europe or anywhere else, an examination of history will reveal this > quadri-divisional social system.He postulates that a society evolves > over > time in terms of four distinct eras. Sometimes warriors, sometimes > intellectuals and sometimes acquisitors dominate the social and > political > system. Laborers never hold the reins, but at times the ruling class > becomes > so self-centred and decadent that for a while society languishes > through > disorder, marking the laboring times. Thus no single group exercises > social > supremacy and power forever. > > The movement of society from one epoch to another follows a clear-cut > pattern, and this is observed in every civilization: the laborer era is > to > be followed by a warrior era, the warrior era by the intellectual era > and > the intellectual era by the acquisitive era, culminating in a social > revolution. Dr Batra tests this against the histories of Western and > Hindu > civilization and Russian society in his book and observes the following > cycles. > > It is observed that when society lacks all purpose and the ruling elite > oppresses the masses to the maximum that the laborer era begins. A > state or > government exists but its dominion is not respected. The important > point is > that this arises because of the self-conceit of dominant groups who > care > nothing for how their actions affect others. > > In the martial era, the warriors dominate society as well as the > government. > Political authority is extremely centralized, people are highly > disciplined. > Intellectuals and acquisitors enjoy some respect but have little say in > governance. > > The intellectual era is marked by the rise of priests and secular > intellectuals. Many new theories dealing with the various aspects of > life > are formed and used. The initial benign leadership of selfless > intellectuals > gives way eventually to unscrupulous intellectuals who exploit warriors > and > laborers until it becomes oppressive. The intellectual in order to > rule, > will always endeavor to subjugate other groups, much less allow them > equal > rights. > > In the acquisitive era, which comes next, scholars work for the > affluent > class when their corruption by material gain is complete. Everything is > reduced to dollars and cents. Human values begin to recede. Art, > music, > religion, sports; everything is commercialized. > > Concentration of wealth is at its highest and at the end of the > acquisitive > era, all non-acquisitive groups are remorsely exploited by the > acquisitors. > The ideas of the intellectuals help acquisitors stay in power and prop > up > their rule. Of all forms of government, the one loved by the > acquisitors is > that where the central authority is the weakest. > > In the acquisitive era, when the acquisitor’s mentality comes to infect > their subjects, moral degeneration comes to pervade the entire society. > This > results not only from the lewdness of the rich, but also from the > looseness > of family ties, excessive stress on individualism and a general lack of > social discipline that springs from a decentralized political > structure. I > think most, especially Pirsig himself in ZAMM can recognise this era in > the > present state of the world. > > To this, I would add my own observations with respect to the long wave > economic cycles first observed by Kondratieff over a period of 200 > years. > Each 60 year cycle covers roughly two generations; the first generally > good > at producing “widgets and stuff” and making a lot of money in the > economic > expansion of the real sector. The second generation inherits the money > and > invests in all kinds of financial instruments resulting in a rapid > expansion > of the financial sector. > > When technological infrastructure on which the initial expansion was > based > becomes marginally productive as new technology emerges, asset bubbles > emerge in the second phase due to over speculation and eventually the > financial sector collapses, freeing up capital and resources to be > deployed > in the sunrise industries. > > In this sense, financial crisis and economic depressions are the great > levellers that enables brings down established structures and allows an > economy to metamorphosise from one level to another. In global terms, > the > world gains a new superstructure with each long wave cycle. It so > happens > acquisitors, intellectuals and warriors each play their roles in the > evolution of human civilization. > > The picture we derive from this is that within each phase/era/cycle is > a > time of increasing moral value, where society becomes better organized, > leading to a time of decreasing moral value where decadence sets in > until > chaos and disorder prevails until order is imposed again. Dynamic > values > manifest eventually as movements, develop stasis as institutions and > ossify > into restrictive dogmas/ideologies setting the stage for the next > revolution when humanity driven by new dynamic values sweep the slate > clean > again. > > The explanatory power of the Metaphysics of Quality partially accounts > for > the evolution of society through various stages described above and the > evolutionary spiral of increasingly complex development and > organization in > terms of the oscillation between dynamic and static quality. In Lila, > Pirsig > makes a number of statements like: > > “Dharma is Quality itself, the principle of “rightness” which gives > structure and purpose to the evolution of all life and to the evolving > understanding of the universe which life has created.” Another is as > such: > “The physical order of the universe is also the moral order” and > another > “All life is a migration of static patterns of quality toward Dynamic > Quality.” > > It is important to make the distinction that the Metaphysics of Quality > attempts to explain the overall evolution of a society while Quality is > the > individual’s compass to guide him or her through life in the choice of > values. In a karmic sense, we are the sum total of all the choices we > make. > > The pathways to achieve the direct experience of Quality may emerge > with the > further development in the science of the consciousness through the > study of > introspection and comtemplation. Pirsig has not developed a specific > manual > with the attendant prerequsites or provided the support structures for > this; > and this will be necessary if we want to approach Dynamic Quality > individually. I doubt if a “simple snap out of it” will suffice. > > As a starting point for the explanation of human evolution, where all > individuals and beings find themselves playing their roles and bit > parts, > the Metaphysics of Quality, where Value is the fundamental point of > view, > needs the overlay of other explanations such as cyclical nature of > collective human behavior in terms of the rise and decline of the power > structures, moral development and decadence, the potential of human > consciousness to direct evolution itself, inter-civilisational > integration, > morphogenetic fields in all levels and ultimately the Gaia hypothesis, > universal consciousness among many. We have seen how in the ebbs and > flows, > the relationship of the social, intellectual and even the biological, > is a > lot more complicated and complex; and in Pirsigian terms, where each > level > is demarcated by their dominance in directing human evolution. > > One of my favorite quotes is Victor Hugo’s “there is nothing so > powerful as > an idea whose time has come”. Indeed, one idea can change the world if > its > time has come. And to change the world, all you have to do is think > THAT > idea. > > I would add, a first condition, when a whole host of complementary > ideas, > theories and technology are in place as well. The second condition is > that > human society itself must be conditioned, ready and receptive to the > idea. > Various iterations of the Quality idea may have preceded ZAMM and LILA > but > if none of the above conditions are met, they and the Quality idea > itself > would not be regarded as more than an idiosyncratic novelty. If SOM > continues to dominate the Western mindset, the notion of a Metaphysics > of > Quality will not take root. > > Of course it is a misintepretation of the Metaphysics of Quality to > define > the Intellectual level solely as the subject-object metaphysics when it > is > just one out of many possible intellectual patterns that could come to > dominate society. > > No doubt in America and in Western civilization , subject object > metaphysics > had become dominant and Pirsig in Lila asked from that context: “From > the > perspective of subject-object science, the world is a completely, > valueless > place. There is nothing morally wrong because there are no morals, just > functions. Now that intellect was in command of society for the first > time > in history, was this the intellectual pattern it was going to run > society > with ?” > > Pirsig for all intents and purposes developed the MOQ as an alternative > intellectual pattern for Western civilization drawing on American > experiences and the bedrock of American Indian culture. There are > alternative holistic worldviews with which to run society with. Their > time > may not have yet come, but previews of such are tantalizing. > Just at about the time Peter Russell wrote the Global Brain and in > between > ZAMM and LILA, in 1986, the world reached its overshoot point. Before > that > time the global community consumed resources and produced carbon > dioxide at > a rate consistent with what the planet could produce and reabsorb. > > By 1996, however, humanity was using 15 percent more resources in a > year > than the planet could supply. This year, two and one half decades > since we > first went into overshoot, we are now demanding resources at a rate of > 40 > percent faster than the planet can produce them. At this rate we need > another Earth by 2030. Sustainability and harmony with the living > planet > could indeed be the new intellectual patterns for a global preservation > whose time has come and where they would take the lead in human > evolution. > Sustainability, it seems, will now be the basis of all innovation. > > When the equivalent of 10 billion neurons manifest through our > interlinked > and computer networked individual brains; a global brain would have > emerged > on our planet. Already a global consciousness exist each time a global > event > takes place through the communications infrastructure. Our collective > memories and knowledge increasingly reside in global databases and > communications networks: even when we die as individuals, our > collective > experiences are stored and manipulated as part of a larger life. > > We each lose our individuality in our specialized function in the > larger > whole but gain a global perspective that we are one functioning part of > an > all-encompassing organism. Our lives as humans on the planet become > like the > lives of a cell. Morphogenesis is a fascinating aspect of this > development: > how do each of us, like the cells, develop our own specializations to > become > part of a larger whole. > > If this is the mechanism of evolution of human civilization, what then > is > its purpose ? Intellect leads this evolution and as we are each > individually > the sum of all our choices, the evolution of our living planet is then > collectively the sum of all of humanity’s choices. The act of making > such > choices is a dynamic event; of propensities and probabilities. > We can snuff out life on Earth in a nuclear Armageddon; and it would > not > matter a jot on a universal scale. There are billions of other planets > out > there, each evolving as well. However if an Earth-based global > morphogenetic > field is successfully achieved, morphic resonance may find its way > ultimately in the terraforming of planets, nearby and afar, tailored > for > the needs of human civilization. > > We will invariably find ourselves, after such flights of fancy, again > at the > level of the individual and ask of the meaning of it all. As we journey > through the various bardos, especially that of becoming, the Tibetan > Book of > the Dead, instructs us to recognize the choices that are before us, of > the > wombs that present themselves and to choose correctly so that we may > find > liberation: “The true, profound, essential secret is to enter into the > supreme state of equilibrium in which there is no good or bad, > acceptance or > rejection, passion or aggression”. > > > > Best regards > Khoo Hock Aun > 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/ 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/
