Dmb,
Interesting because James's radical empiricism and pragmatism turns into ethical relativism without the evolutionary help of the four levels. It seems it was evolutionary progress that James needed too. Remember the discussion about the holocaust producing satisfaction for the Nazis? Evolutionary progress is the big difference between Jamesian philosophy and the MoQ too. You didn't catch that? Marsha On Jul 22, 2011, at 7:24 PM, david buchanan wrote: > > All interested MOQers: > > Dave T said: > > > ...The MoQ is Zen in a Pendleton blanket. Most, not all, but most of the > confusion in the MoQ is the confusion with and within Buddhism. The MoQ it is > an attempt by a Westerner with a tiny amount of Eastern experience and > smidgen of Zen experience to rewrite Zen in a way that is palatable to the > Western mind. > > > dmb says: > Zen in a Pendleton. That's pretty good. Wish I'd thought of that. > Northrop's fusion of East and West is the main inspiration for ZAMM. In fact, > Pirsig said ZAMM is a kind of popularization of Northrop's thick and > difficult book. And then the title is a reference to "Zen in the Art of > Archery", which Pirsig and his pal John Sutherland had both read back in the > road tripping days. And then of course there was some graduate school. He > studied Eastern Philosophy at Benares University in India. All this was > before he wrote his first book, which, he openly admits, doesn't really have > much to say about Zen or motorcycles. > > Not only is it compatible with the MOQ, at least one scholar thinks that > Buddha was a pragmatist and a radical empiricist. James was getting it from > Emerson and he used to bring Buddhists in from abroad to lecture at Harvard. > After one such lecturer give his talk, James not only thanked and praised the > man, he said something like, "You sir, are a much better psychologist than I > will ever be." At the time, James had just written a 1200 page text book on > psychology and with it he had practically invented the discipline. Yea, I > exaggerate things sometimes, but it really is 1200 pages. > > And then there is the perennial philosophy and philosophical mysticism. Both > of these stances make the MOQ compatible with mystic philosophies, as well as > mystic religions like Taoism and Buddhism. Jan-Anders posted a quote from one > of Pirsig's letters to McWatt and it not only gets at one of the differences > between the MOQ and Buddhism, it also seems to shed light on this free will > debate. > > > Pirsig wrote: > > "The MOQ says, as does Buddhism, that the best place on the wheel of karma is > the hub and not the rim where one is thrown about by the gyration of everyday > life. But the MOQ sees the wheel of karma as attached to a cart that is going > somewhere - from quantum forces through inorganic forces and biological > patterns and social patterns to the intellectual patterns that percieve the > quantum forces. In the sixth century B.C. in India there was no evidence of > this kind of evolutionary progress, and Buddhism, accordingly, does not pay > attention to it. Today it's not possible to be so uninformed. The suffering > which the Buddhists regard as only that which is to be escaped, is seen by > the MOQ as merely the negative side of the progression toward Quality (or, > just as accurately, the expansion of quality.) Without the suffering to > propel it, the cart would not move forward at all." > > Did you catch that. Evolutionary progress is the key difference. Instead of > seeking escape from karma and suffering, it is accepted as a necessary > feature of the progress toward Quality. I think this is a pretty big > difference and the consequences of it are a pretty bid deal. > > > > > 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
