Ham, Emptiness (Nothingness) means empty of independent, inherent existence, not non-existent.
Thanks for your response. Marsha Sent from my iPad On Jan 4, 2012, at 3:32 PM, "Ham Priday" <[email protected]> wrote: > Greetings, Marsha -- > > > On Mon, 2/2/2012 at 11:54 AM, "MarshaV" <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> [Ham previously, to Mark]: >>> Marsha has misconstrued Buddhism as a philosophy founded on nihilism, >>> and this does an injustice to Pirsig's Quality thesis. I had hoped to >>> see the promised outline of your ontology over the holidays, which is why >>> this response is delayed. > > [Marsha]: >> Not true. To be a nihilist, would be to believe things do not exist at >> all. Things conventionally exist; they exist as patterns of value; they >> exist >> as useful fiction (as in the tale of Nagasena and King Milinda). > > "Fictional things" are non-existent, and a reality of "emptiness" doesn't > support their appearance, fictional or not. > > My problem with you, Marsha, is your tendency to reduce everything--including > Quality--to nothingness, which is true Nihilism. There is nothing "useful" > about such an ontology. It doesn't explain creation, space/time existence, > the conscious self, or the ground of experience. The purpose of philosophy > is to define what ultimately "IS". Patterns are not definitions, nor are > "conventions", illusions, relations, or moral precepts. None of these terms > define the Primary Source. > > Whatever philosophical merit there is in the Buddhist concept of a "unified" > reality is lost without a primary source to support it. Pirsig's MoQ at > least acknowledges the reality of Quality. But Quality (Value) does not > stand on its own; it must be realized in order to exist. And, as an agent of > that realization, you are living confirmation that Sensibility is real. So > why would you want to deny the reality of your conscious self or the Essence > from which it is derived? > > It may be politically correct, or even "fashionable", in our secular age to > disparage believers and identify with the nihilists, but it is self-defeating > and intellectually regressive. Spirituality will ultimately win out because > intuitively we can't dismiss it. That's why religion and mysticism have > dominated human behavior since the dawn of history. Only by applying reason > to value-sensibility will mankind discover the authenticity that is his true > potential. > > Peace to you, Marsha, and best wishes for an insightful new year, > Ham 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
