Hi Arlo, Yes I agree Pirsig argues for the latter. And I realize he says many contradictory things, and that even single statements have underlying contradictions. Many treat his every word as "holy writ".
But he and you, couldn't be more wrong here. How do you think man became socialized? All belief systems do not lead to the same "patterns" of socialization. The primitive cannabals had a specific belief system. It was Christian missionarys that brought them a different one. Even the concept of being civilized once referred to being Christianized. A closer look at what you know doubt consider the abuses of Christians will show that this was a Christian world view joined with the Greeek pagan ground motive. Trace the socializing effect of Zen, or any Eastern religion and you will see that it was custom made for tyrannical rule. Such systems of thought do not acknowledge human freedom, except in obedience to the divinized emperor, and his decrees. Even Hegel notices, and this is a paraphrase, "the asians showed us that one could be free, the emperor, the Greeks showed us the some could be free, free males who could serve in the army, and Christianity showed us that all could be free". This is the abysmal contradiction in Pirsig's, and your, thought. You don't know the origins of the rights you insist on, or the dark history of your own philosophy. So how can we resolve this misunderstanding, history is working it out as we speak. You will be like the French Romantics wondering why their philosophy led to such abuse. But how can moq resolvle this disagreement. It can't! What insights into the nature of truth can it provide. Am I right, are you? Does it matter? Is there truth anyway and how can it be determined? What has moq to say but such naive conclusions about the nature of man and the re-writing of history. Maybe we need a zuni or an aztec to work it out for us. Thanks for your frankness, Jon On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Arlo Bensinger <[email protected]> wrote: > [Jon] > > One quote by William Penn is typical, "We will be governed by God, or ruled > by tyrants". > > [Arlo] > "God" is the biggest tyrant of them all. I'd say our choice is between > submission to an external power, or the actualization of our own. I'd say > Pirsig argues for the latter. > > > 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/md/archives.html > 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/md/archives.html
