Hi Joe --
On May 23, 2011 at 7:19 PM, Joseph Maurer <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Mark,
I disagree with Ham stating that the format for metaphysics
is essentialism. I prefer Pirsig's DQ/SQ format which gives
the nod to evolution. For me it is hard to envision DQ/SQ
in an essentialist format. I find it more compelling to see
DQ/SQ in an existential format, evolution, levels in existence.
Of course you do! Evolution, the levels hierarchy, the divisions of nature,
and morality are what Pirsig is addressing, and they're all existential --
the "objective side" of Value. It is compelling to you because your
experience relates to it. But it's only the differentiated half of the
ontology. Value isn't just "out there", by itself, wanting to be
appreciated. Value is the relationship between man and his uncreated
Source. Take away either of these contingencies, and there is no Value.
My argument all along is that Pirsig did not provide us with a complete
metaphysics. His Quality is the ground of physical existence, not its
creator. Quality (Value) spans two realities -- the physical world, and the
meta-physical Source. As such, Value is our iinextricable link to the
essential Source. The MoQ does not account for creation beyond evolutionary
process. Instead we are left with a conditional, pluralistic universe that
either arises from nothing, had no beginning, or is illusionary. What kind
of cosmology is that?
Once you acknowledge a primary source, your role as the free agent in a
valuistic universe becomes significant and meaningful. You're not just
another creature pushed along in life by natural instinct or some
undefinable thing called Quality. You actualize your universe
experientially, according to your value preferences and rational judgment.
This not only changes the course of history, it enables you to reclaim the
essential Value from which you were negated (estranged) at birth. That
"value complement" is your essential reality. It's the opportunity of a
lifetime . . . and you have only one lifetime to partake of it.
I think Mark is beginning to see the light, and Andre seems to be working on
it. Whether you define Value as Love, Beauty, Desire, or Goodness, you have
the power to identify with it and make it your own. And when you understand
that Value is your affinity for Absolute Essence, you'll see why
metaphysical Valuism makes a lot more sense than existential Qualityism.
Best wishes for your enlightenment to Value,
Ham
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