Hi John, Yes, I was always amazed that all that "radical teaching" experience, and the interaction with Sarah's "seed crystal" came in only his first term of teaching. I fact he only taught for two academic years in Bozeman (the whole of his teaching experience) before the Chicago events. (My own son is already a more experienced classroom teacher than Bob ever was - to put it in perspective.)
I stopped adding detail to the biog-timeline when Mark Richardson took up the baton. His book (and Henry Gurr's site, and the Sven Lindqvist articles on his political activity - all in the Bozeman records) contains more info on Sarah and her own work. Oddly enough I'm on a re-read of Mark's book - he built on all the biographical materials I handed over to him. In terms of biographical writing, this period should be elaborated more, (as should the strangely anti-climactic period in Benares). A project for someone. Nice to stand for a moment at the fount of the quality phenomenon. Agreed. (Incidentally, the college is currently quite active on some arrangements to acknowledge Pirsig's work, with Gennie's daughter too. Did you see the plaque ?) Ian On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 6:39 PM, John Carl <[email protected]> wrote: > I love my new iPhone, however it does confuse me sometimes when I've > copied a quote that somebody said and I don't remember where I got it. > So to whoever said: > > "Reading over some of his annotations in LILA'S CHILD as well as his > notes to Ant it > seems that he is still tweaking the MOQ, adding nuances to it that > heretofore might have escaped his attention. It seems best to allow > ourselves that same latitude... not to be too certain about any aspect > of philosophy or of life." > > > I just want to respond and say thanks, and I agree completely. Of all > the levels, the 4th is the most dynamic, the most in flux and the most > evolving. It might take many millenia for an insect or an amoeba to > evolve, but an idea about evolution can be born on an ocean voyage > and grow to full significance within a decade. And I'd like to point > out that the above quote points to something very significant indeed - > that the MoQ isn't SQ, its DQ. Inherently and self-avowedly. > > Coming down from Elkhorn Pass, my RV plugging along, even though it's > batteries are shot and its alternator dying, as I could plainly see by > my slowing windshield wipers trying to keep up with the increasing > snow, I hadn't much room in my heart for metaphysical concerns. Too > many practical matters weighed down upon me. Like, if I had enough > gas to make it to Walmart in Bozeman. > > I did know that there was a Walmart in Bozeman, and I knew which exit > to take because I had a cell phone connection to my wife back in > California, who had an internet connection which gave me the > information I needed. Thank God for modern times. But I was pretty > sure I would run out of gas long before I got there, unless I stopped > and filled up. And if I stopped for gas, I'd have to shut off the > engine and if I shut off the engine, I knew I couldn't get it > started again. Well, at least you're supposed to shut off the engine, > but the tanks were so far from the engine in the RV that maybe it > wouldn't be a problem. Illegal, but maybe the rules aren't as > strictly enforced in Montana as they are in California. As it turned > out, that is true and so I put my last $70 into my gas guzzling beast > - nicknamed "Cuzzin Ed" from the Chevy Chase movie, Nat Lampoon Xmas > Vacation - and drove on to the welcoming arms of Walmart. Home of the > free parking, free RV camping and cheap batteries and easy money > center. My ma wired me the funds when I got there, and I spent a dark > and cold night in the parking lot while the snow fell, but warmed by > the thought of Western Union funds in the morning. > > And wen they came, and the new batteries were installed, and I had > light, water and central heating again, all the amenities of home, > life looked brighter, and the snow melted and the streets of Bozeman > beckoned me and my bike. > > Everywhere was haunted by the thoughts of the MoQ. I imagined to > myself, with a wry grin, as I walked up and down the aisles of > Walmart, just think, Pirsig once stood at this same checkstand... > > I am enraptured. > > Ok, despite the sarcastic tone, there was something there that I > couldn't explain. An excitement at being in the same environment > which caused all this debate and excitement. Ideas arise out of a > place, come from an environment of place, as well as environment of > ideas. > > And its not really a celebrity-messiah trip, because Pirsig described > it the same! And you can't have a messiah getting shivers over his > own self, or you've just another system of self-aggrandizement in > disguise. When the Narrator of ZAMM goes back and walks in those > halls of learning, HE gets the same shivery excitement I experienced > in the few days following as I explored more of the town and finally > entered the campus at MSU. In the book he describes the rising > excitement, and I say its more than discovering himself, it's > recovering an event. We can sense the rising excitement and the > really amazing thing, is he runs into somebody else who confirms this > shivery moment. He presumes a former student, but her gasp of > recognition, certainly signifies something beyond mere, "hey, how ya > been doin?" > > Something happened here. Something big. Something REAL big. And > there's a shivery excitement in the air of the place, that lingers > still. An intellectual pattern was born. It didn't so much come FROM > a man, Robert M. Pirsig, teacher of frosh rhetoric, it came through > him and with him. For the realization that ideas are not generated by > a self, but a self is generated by an idea, is huge in this world. > Ideas are born, evolve, and sometimes die, just like biological > beings. But a key difference between ideas - 4th level patterns, is > that biological beings die and ideas can live forever. And sometimes, > we can't see when they will die, but we can see where they were born. > > I imagine Izzy Newton might have had some of the same feeling, passing > that old apple tree, or why would we even know that story? Gravity > happens in a place. We worship places. > > So when you're at ground zero, where an idea was born, it lends a > shivery excitement to the very air you breathe. I'd expect to find > some resonance in the city itself. If the idea of Quality was born > here, don't you think it'd retain some sort of aura? Don't you think > there'd be that recognition in some subconscious level on the part of > the people who live there today? A remnant of an aftershock of some > kind? I was expecting so, and so maybe that's why I felt like I found > what I expected. But people everywhere seemed very nice, very > friendly. Of course, this was my first extended stop since > fuckyoucalifornians so maybe that played into my perception a bit. > I'd rarely crossed the great divide in my 50-odd years on the planet > and any difference gets magnified to a first-time traveler. > > Also it helped that I was riding a bike. People wave to you when > you're on a bike. Especially if you don't look all serious about it > and wear a helmet and shin guards and paraphenalia, but just ride > around slowly, taking in the ambiance and style of a place. It had a > good ambiance and style. It reminded me of a cross between Nevada > City and Santa Cruz. It had a certain touristy appeal to the down > town, with its mix of winter skiing and summer backpacking people > coming in, like Nevada City, and it added the glamour of being a > college town, with trendy and youth-oriented dominating the sandwich > parlors and pizza joints and bars of downtown. Plus a healthy dose of > working class redneck, The workers of the world, the loggers and > miners and hunters and fishers, that make up a lot of Montana. So a > bit of Grass Valley thrown in as well. > > Later on in my journeys, I'd mention Bozeman, and how much I liked it > and universally met with agreement. I met more than a few people in > North Dakota, who'd come for the jobs, from Bozeman and they all > agreed it's a great place. > > What struck me most about the town though, was the quality of its > brickwork. I don't think I've ever seen such amazing big brick > buildings. Three, five, six stories high. Decorative flourishes > within pleasing proportions that delight the eye. Maybe those masonic > traditions have something important to convey, with their pythagorean > ecstasies. All I know, was I was blown away. And it occured to me, > if I was going to describe it all, the only way would be to start with > the bricks. They are amazing bricks. There is quality in those > bricks. Where did they all come from? Transformed out of the clay of > the ground, by the hands, heart and mind of man, into schools and > churches and banks and libraries. So uniform and clean and strong. > The land is ripe with them. Clay lays in layers with coal, sometimes > the coal catches fire and burns underground for years and years, > forming underground bricks, of no square shape. No classically > defined boundaries of golden ratio, just a mish mash of broken potery, > dug up and used to pave the roads of oil well driller in the MonDak > region. > > Potential bricks. You need good bricks, to build good. So in a town > of good bricks, it makes sense to point to them. A lot comes clear > when you stand on the ground and see, where this idea, this MoQ was > born. It made me curious about thinking of the when. When did Sarah > ask that question? What better place to find out than the internet. > What better internet to use than the ones in the University library? > Just think, RMP himself may have once sat down at this very terminal > and googled Quality. > > I looked up Ian's timeline. Thanks Ian. I also checked my mail > briefly, and found Bo in my in box and told him where I was writing > from, figured he'd get a kick out of it. He did, Pirsig taught > there in '58 and '59, according to Ian's timeline. Two years. Hmmm.. > I thought it was longer than that. Long enough to get in all sorts of > trouble, though. I'd have to guess but I'd say it was more likely, > that it was the second year a fellow teacher would feel comfortable > enough to ask if you were teaching quality this year. Probably near > the beginning of the year, because who cares near the end when its too > late anyway. But not right at the beginning, the second month after > the beginning-of-the-year madness has subsided - October or November > perhaps. A time when things were plodding along enough that you could > take some time and sit at window and stare at the scenery and think > about good questions. > > October, 1959. That has a nice ring to my ears. For me, that was the > birth of Quality. > 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
