John, could you do us a favour and give a little history of events here ? I understand your "essay" is in 3 parts, One or more part(s) being written quite some time ago ? Was your interaction with Paul and the Lila Squad back at that time, or more recently ? Apart from the essay, what was your interaction with the Lila Squad ?
Ian On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 5:33 PM, T-REXX Techs, Inc. <trexxte...@bellsouth.net> wrote: > Mark, Anthony, and any others, > > I come to this topic to intervene and reconcile. It grieves me > when what should be constructive dialogue among good people deteriorates > into personal confrontation. It doesn't need to happen that way, and I > think I can help. > > What I'm about to say will anticipate what you will read in my > subsequent essays on "Quality and Inspirationality", but I don't think this > can wait until then. Inspirationality is a way of thinking with the > expanded rationality Pirsig envisioned in ZMM. I want to present to you one > example. > > Electronic communication can be a great vehicle, but because of > its inherent terseness, it can also interfere with communication. In > Victorian terms, it tends to be "ungracious". This makes it easy to form > "filters" about the writer. (Remember the "Cleveland Harbor syndrome"?) > Once those filters are formed, they become highly resistant static patterns > that are self-reinforcing. They amplify instances that affirm them and > filter out anything that contradicts them. Electronic communication seems > especially predisposed to the formation of these filters. This is a prime > example of a general principle: Perception projects. > > Our "rational" inclination is to suppose that perception is just > passive collection of information about an "objective" reality out there. > But consider what happens when you meet someone for the first time. There's > so much a priori stuff kicking around in your mind. There are also some > preconceptions based on what you already know, or think you know, about the > person. If you know what his job is or what his role is, you will already > have expectations based on that role. We haven't even gotten to the > person's appearance, the setting in which you meet, or any of the rest of a > long list of cues that activate positive or negative associations and > activate filters, almost like your biological immune system. By the time > you shake hands, you've got a complex and formidable static "straw man". > You will begin relating to this "avatar" you've built, and it will be very > difficult to develop any kind of relationship with the actual person. But > there is something you can do. > > It doesn't feel good to be in an adversarial relationship with > someone. (Well, sometimes maybe it does. But I hope that's not the usual > case. :-)) But given that the "person" you're relating to is really a > highly artificial static pattern, you can fix that with a deliberate act of > will: > > Change your perception of a person, and the person's behavior > will change. This is an inspirational way of thinking. It's not > "rational", but it works. This isn't speculative or conceptual; it's > practical. I have done it repeatedly, and it works every time. I think the > reason it works is because you have surrendered some of your static patterns > and allowed Dynamic Quality to dissolve them and open a pathway for > authentic relationship. You can never get rid of all your static filters > and perceptions. But you can replace some of the negative ones with > positive ones. Then further relationship with the other person will build > and strengthen positive filters. The thing about this that doesn't make > "rational" sense is that this works perfectly well even though the other > person knows nothing about your decision to change your perception. > > From reading what another person has written, you can't know what > was going on in his life, what preconceptions and filters he had, what > personal history had contributed to what he said and how he expressed it at > that moment. If you find yourself reacting negatively to what he has > written, please try to take a step back, change your perception, and try to > relate to the person behind the writing. If you can do that, then you are > engaged in a beneficial relationship, and you can both work to realize the > value in it. > > I'll give you a personal example, by way of confession. When I > first submitted my essay for posting on the robertpirsig.org site, I felt > like a snot-nosed kid trying to insinuate my way into a game with the "big > boys". I "perceived" everyone in the Lila Squad as a professional scholar > and philosopher, skilled at rhetoric, logical debate, intellectual > discourse, and armed with an arsenal of "philosophology". I felt > intimidated and defensive. > > Anthony shared my essay with Paul Tuner, and Paul generously > reviewed it and critiqued it in terms of consistency with MOQ. I genuinely > appreciated Paul's help. But because of my elaborate array of filters, I > perceived "attack" where there was only genuine assistance. I perceived an > overpowering and disdainful professional philosopher where there was in > reality just another IT tech like me. (But he really is scary smart!!) I > now see what I was doing, and I have decided to change my perception of Paul > Turner. Paul, if you read this, please know that I value your kindness, I > value your knowledge, and I value your honesty. I want to relate to the > real Paul Tuner and not my prefabricated ghost of Paul Turner. I look > forward to our further work and fellowship together. > > Kind regards to all, > > > > > > > > John L. McConnell > > Office: 407-859-2637 > > Cell: 321-438-6301 > > Home: 407-857-2004 > > Email: <mailto:trexxte...@bellsouth.net> trexxte...@bellsouth.net > > > > 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
