All,
citing ZAMM:
"But why? Phaedrus wondered. Why destroy /aretê/? And no sooner had he
asked the question than an answer came to him. Plato /hadn't /tried to
destroy /aretê/. He had /encapsulated/ it; made a permanent, fixed Idea
of it; he had /converted/ it to a rigid, immobile Immortal Truth. He
made /aretê /the Good, the highest form, the highest idea of all." (p.
486 of cheapest paperback)
It seems that ancient Norse mythology knew, that what Plato tried to do
cannot be done. In this mythology, there is a god called Baldur the
Good. He is the embodiment of Good. But Baldur was troubled by dreams of
his death, and he told his mother about them. His mother made every
object in the world swear an oath, that they would not harm Baldur. She
did not ask the mistletoe, though, because she thought it was too harmless.
Hence, the other gods develop a new hobby: they go to a field and throw
spears and other weapons at Baldur, and take enjoyment in the
observation that they bounce off him without making a scratch. But the
god Loki made a magical spear of mistletoe, and gave it to Baldur's
blind brother. When he thrust that spear into Baldur, Baldur died.
Loki, the embodiment of Dynamic Quality, is a great teacher. Perhaps
Pirsig knows this story, because he went so far as to use the expression
"/aretê/ the Good".
-Tuukka
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
