Hi Dan, Sorry for the late response. I clearly haven't mastered the art of MD posting..
>> You're right. It is good to say that. Static quality represents what we >> actually experience. And there is a degeneracy in claiming otherwise. I am >> being degenerate by claiming otherwise. This is the degeneracy of the >> intellect. Where I say we 'experience' static quality this is what I mean. >> I mean that I am going to treat static patterns as if they do exist and are >> what we experience. Of course, we don't experience them. But there is >> value in saying that we do. This is what I mean when I say it is a matter >> of emphasis. Both views are right. You say 'it might be better' but there >> are no ifs or buts about it. Ultimately, your argument that experience is >> Dynamic Quality is more right than mine. But I still think that saying we >> experience static quality is not wrong any more than it is wrong to attend a >> philosophical discussion group or to get out of bed in the morning or to >> exist generally.. > > Dan: > Sure. We can also say that the city of San Fransisco experienced an > earthquake and everyone knows what we mean. And I have no real problem > saying we experience static patterns of quality either. It isn't wrong > to say so. Sometimes, though, it is better to be precise, especially in > this discussion group. Yes - indeed. >> Yes, it is. Well put. And that's why I say it is a matter of emphasis >> depending on the situation as to what we treat as primary - static quality >> or Dynamic Quality. Certainly, Dynamic Quality is fundamental. And >> certainly, static quality is an attempted 'representation' of Dynamic >> Quality. But by being a 'representation' and manipulating it as such, we are >> treating it as if it exists.. > > Dan: > Knowing it is a representation and treating it as it really exists is > different from actually believing the representation exists. No one > has ever seen the light of the world. We understand that light as a > representation formed in our brains. Yes, belief is different from experience. The MOQ, as it is a good Metaphysics, does away with a need for 'belief'. We experience the representations and then we explain them, as best we can, using intellectual representations. You don't need to 'believe' those representations exist, you just value them and they exist. In fact, value creates their existence. There's no 'belief' necessary. In SOM, belief and truth go hand in hand.. You need to 'believe' something to be true because 'who really know's what's true?' When value is placed as primary that whole belief problem disappears. But I'm not arguing that we ought to believe they exist. I'm saying that we treat these things as if they exist because it is valuable to do so. So because it is valuable to treat these things as if they exist - we give them names such as inorganic patterns of value and we say that we have experienced them. > What are researchers measuring when they measure the speed of light? > Are they measuring the speed of a real beam of light? Or are they > measuring our representation of a beam of light? The researchers are measuring the inorganic patterns of light. They interpret those measurements intellectually by firstly claiming there is a thing such an inorganic pattern of light which they measure. It is static value which creates the existence of static patterns. >>> David H: >>> I the cause is the growing of static quality over time which >>> strangles the Dynamic Quality that is there all along.. I still think >>> the MOQ explains this in a beautiful metaphysical way like I have >>> never seen before. The way to 'kill' those static patterns which >>> strangle the static quality over time is to master them, and they're >>> gone.. >>> >>> Dan: >>> I would say that by opening ourselves up to experience, or Dynamic >>> Quality, we come to see that the symbols we take for experience are >>> just that. >> >> I agree. At any moment, at any time, one can open up to experience and see >> that the symbols we use for experience are just that. But once we have woken >> up, what then? > > Dan: > We do what needs to be done. :) Mmmm. What about we apply the experience of DQ back to our everyday life. >> No. That there is no chance to be better does not immediately imply that >> stagnation has set in... > > Dan: > If something cannot be better it implies (to me) that it is exclusively > static. I agree. Static quality (without DQ) does not get better. But, it is Only static quality which can get better (as a result of responding to DQ). This is the key to our disagreement. The answer, I think, lies here. Can DQ get better? I think the answer to this rhetorical question is obvious. DQ is not any thing so it cannot get any better. This is why I say that once sq is mastered it no longer exists. Because if you have mastered something, how can you get any better at it? This is what you ask me and I agree with your point that you cannot get any better after you have mastered something. I seem to be saying that once something is mastered that's it for all time, for ever and ever. (how depressing). But of course, we both know, that's not how it works. No matter how 'enlightened' one may be, one cannot help but do things and act in a certain way and VALUE things. This is unavoidable. Static quality is unavoidable. Static quality will always ruin our Zen no matter how enlightened and in line with DQ we may be.. >> David H: >> To start with, what is this drive to be better, to become better? Where does >> it come from? People naturally, without even intentionally saying they do, >> experience quality, know what it is, and become better people. Why is that? > > Dan: > I tend to disagree. Some people may better themselves at the expense > of others. Does that make them better people? Some people may better > themselves by ignoring their family and devoting all their time to > their career. Does that make them better people? Some people may > better themselves by sticking their noses in other people's affairs > and meddling where they are not wanted. Does that make them better > people? > > I don't mean to say people are naturally nasty and brutish, however. > Most of us like to think of ourselves as enlightening beings who > wouldn't hesitate to help others who are down on their luck. > > Don't know if you read my tweet about the study done in New York > concerning panhandlers: > > http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/06/do-you-give-money-panhandlers > > It's interesting that nearly everyone asked said they did. The author > surmises: panhandlers would all have houses in the suburbs and buskers > would all be millionaires if everyone here were telling the truth. Yes, I don't deny people can be bad. Of course they can. Of course people make mistakes. Of course people still mostly just look out for themselves. But if you look out at the history of the world, things have gotten better. But this is not really vital to my point and was a rhetorical question so I'm happy to leave it at that.. > > David H: > I think it is because people, like all things, are static quality. It > is only static quality which can get better. Any and all static > quality can always be better. > > Dan: > I unsure if I agree. > > "Static quality patterns are dead when they are exclusive, when they > demand blind obedience and suppress Dynamic change." [Lila] > > If we feel we've mastered something, that it is perfect, then we > inadvertently suppress any Dynamic response to change... to become > better. How can one improve on perfection? If something is perfect, > doesn't it demand blind obedience? Yes, this relates to what I said above where static quality (without DQ) does not get any better. But I still maintain that it is only static quality which can better. Any static quality you can think of can get better. That is the nature of static quality. Static quality is pain. To put it in Buddhist terms, static quality is suffering. We treat static quality as if it is reality and it isn't and this brings us suffering. But without that suffering, things don't get better. We need static quality to make those latches. Once those latches exist we need to suffer with them by mastering them, to break them up and reveal the DQ which is there all along. This is not blind obedience. There, hidden in the most ritualistic static quality, the Dynamic Quality (and freedom) lies. As Pirsig writes in Lila: "You free yourself from static patterns by putting them to sleep. That is, you master them with such proficiency that they become an unconscious part of your nature. You get so used to them you completely forget them and they are gone. There in the centre of the most monotonous boredom of static ritualistic patterns the Dynamic freedom is found." > > David H. > You can always think of a way some such a static quality can be > better. But alternatively, can Dynamic Quality get any better? That's > like a Zen Koan, but being that it isn't any thing, > > Dan: > Dynamic Quality isn't any 'thing' but it does exist. Yes, exactly, and so does static quality. :-) > > David H: > it can't get any better because it is undefined betterness itself. If > that's the case - is Dynamic Quality then stagnation? Of course it > isn't. This is my point. > > Dan: > It is better to say Dynamic Quality is not this, not that. Our > response to Dynamic Quality may stagnate, sure. Not Dynamic Quality, > though. Indeed. No disagreement here. > > David H: > My point is that the way we get better is through mastery of some such > a static quality. Once this static quality is mastered, there is > nothing left but an unfolding of doing. Of course, over time, some > such a static quality will reveal its head once again and this static > quality will be there to be mastered, and so this process goes on and > on.. life. > > Dan: > Perhaps we are saying the same thing only in different ways. I think we certainly see things very similarly. But I think there is great value in saying that enlightenment exists and that it can be achieved through the mastery of static quality. The MOQ shows beautifully metaphysically how static quality and Dynamic Quality can live harmoniously together.. > Dan: > Yes, I agree with that. And we're all probably guilty of being > dismissive of others at one time or another. Lord knows I am. Still, > if we can form certain commonalities regarding the MOQ, then it is > easier to advance our intellectual understandings. If we go off on > wild tangents like some contributors have a tendency to do, claiming > we know better than to read the books and listen to the author and > those who have studied the MOQ extensively, then confusion and > frustration results. Yes. That's right. > Dan: > I would say static quality is never gone. If we seek after > enlightenment we will only draw farther away from the path even as we > walk upon it. When we see 'it' for what it is we no longer waste our > time. If static quality is never gone, what then is Dynamic Quality? Do you know? Even by static quality - logical terms you cannot argue that you know what Dynamic Quality is if there is always static quality. Seems like, even though I think we both agree that we see things very similar when it comes to the MOQ - I think there are important differences that I'm enjoying discussing with you.. Thanks Dan, -David. 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