Dan said to Marsha:
...I guess we do have different concepts, but the question is, which is more in 
line with the MOQ?

Marsha replied:
...I think all static patterns of value, even those in the MoQ, are 
ever-changing and interdependent, and one might always be able to deepen one's 
understanding.

dmb says:
As I see it, this does quite constitute a philosophical or metaphysical 
dispute. Marsha's problem is more basic than that.
Here she says that static patterns are ever-changing. Since "static pattern" 
means something like "stable configuration" or "persisting arrangement", 
describing static patterns as "ever-changing" is about as wrong as it gets. 

James and Pirsig both say:
"..concepts [are] derived from something more fundamental which he [James] 
described as 'the immediate flux of life which furnishes the material to our 
later reflection with its conceptual categories."
Pirsig says James "had condensed this description to a single sentence" when he 
said...

"There must always be a discrepancy between concepts [static patterns] and 
reality [the ever-changing flux of experience], because the former are static 
and discontinuous while the latter is dynamic and flowing." 

You see, there are only two main concepts here. Like hot and cold or north and 
south, static means not dynamic and dynamic means not static. But how does 
Marsha render this first and most basic distinction in the MOQ? She says that 
static means dynamic, that static means "ever-changing". Yikes! That is exactly 
what static does NOT mean. 

See, this is not a philosophical dispute. Marsha is not interpreting the MOQ 
"differently" so much as she has simply cut herself loose from that system of 
shared meanings we call the English language. 

static |ˈstatik|adjective1 lacking in movement, action, or change, esp. in a 
way viewed as undesirable or uninteresting : demand has grown in what was a 
fairly static market | the whole ballet appeared too static.• Computing (of a 
process or variable) not able to be changed during a set period, for example, 
while a program is running.2 Physics concerned with bodies at rest or forces in 
equilibrium. Often contrasted with dynamic .• (of an electric charge) having 
gathered on or in an object that cannot conduct a current.• acting as weight 
but not moving.• of statics.3 Computing (of a memory or store) not needing to 
be periodically refreshed by an applied voltage.


dynamic |dīˈnamik|adjective1 (of a process or system) characterized by constant 
change, activity, or progress : a dynamic economy.• (of a person) positive in 
attitude and full of energy and new ideas : she's dynamic and determined.• (of 
a thing) stimulating development or progress : the dynamic forces of nature.• 
Physics of or relating to forces producing motion. Often contrasted with static 
.• Linguistics (of a verb) expressing an action, activity, event, or process. 
Contrasted with stative .• Electronics (of a memory device) needing to be 
refreshed by the periodic application of a voltage.• Electronics of or relating 


I really don't see how it could be possible to have any kind of fruitful 
conversation with anyone who uses terms and concepts to mean the very opposite 
of what everyone else means. You might as well be a driver who defines "right" 
to mean "left". When you go out for a drive in your car, you're probably going 
to break a whole lot of laws and maybe even kill somebody. 

 



                                          
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