Hi Ham, Let me first respond to the first part of your post concerning Pirsig. All I really know about RMP is the little I have read, which is not near the total. So take this post in that light. It does have some personal bias, if you will forgive that.
Here's the deal with RMP as I see it. He went down a path of questioning that led to a crisis. The crisis is described in ZMM, which as he states is factual and therefore an autobiography. The crisis occurred when he realized that Truth was subservient to Quality, and that everything is an analogy. He was left without the foundation that he had been indoctrinated with his whole life and succumbed. For a while, meaning was stripped away. It took shock therapy to try to restore some normality in thought and communication. Now some may call this a spiritual awakening, some may call it a severe paradigm shift, some may call it a nervous breakdown. I suppose what one calls it can be defined by what the person does with it after. RMP decided to write a book describing the event. He does this in a very clever and enjoyable way. I remember reading it for the first time and then discussing it with my friends. This was shortly after it came out. It is my understanding that when such a shift happens to one it takes a while to translate it for communication. The purpose of ZMM was to describe what happened and do his best to show how one can find more harmony in existence. Later, for whatever reason, he decided to write a book called Lila. Perhaps due to the success of ZMM, he decided to elaborate on what he had iontuited in terms of a paradigm shift. However, that original revelation could not be put into words, so he created a structure of some kind. Before he wrote Lila, I had already come to a conclusion about Quality, and it did not match that which he proposed in Lila. It was slightly more mystical or spiritual or Eastern or whatever. But I am here to learn what other's think so as to rejuvenate my old and tired brain. So, much of my regard of Pirsig is based on ZMM. As far as I am concerned once the original premise is stated, its interpretation can continue to grow in a variety of directions. It was a criticism of Western Thought, and has its value. How it is tied in with other Western philosophies is not all that interesting to me. I have no idea what his intentions were, but he did have a following and sometimes that may create something foreign. I am indebted to RMP for a reason. This is of course my personal view and may have no basis in reality, whatever that is. I don't take it all that seriously, this is a playground after all, isn't it? I respect your point of view. I will respond to the rest after a few more reads. I will also listen if other people have a different point of view concerning this post. It is not my intention to demean, just to provide a personal opinion. If I worked for NPR they would probably fire me... Cheers, Mark > 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
