Hello everyone On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 8:44 PM, David Harding <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Dan, > >>> Well I think it is all a matter of how far you draw the analogy. While, as >>> I've said, freedom could result in chaos which is not DQ, that which we >>> generally talk about when our eyes light up when we talk of freedom is >>> Dynamic Quality. >> >> Dan: >> Right. Chaos as disorder might be seen as the antithesis of intellect. >> But that is not freedom in the Dynamic sense of of what is better. >> Chaos isn't better, it is worse. Rather than moving toward Quality it >> seems to be a falling away. > > Well I'm not so sure it is right to say chaos is good or bad. When > harmonious static quality changes to something better or worse, that change > could be said to be 'chaotic', but it is merely the patterns changing and > forming into a new, better or worse, thing..
Dan: In Lila Robert Pirsig seems to equate chaos with the collapse of culture while stating Dynamic good is outside of culture: "In the static sense the brujo was very clearly evil to oppose the appointed authorities of his tribe. Suppose everyone did that? The whole Zuni culture, after thousands of years of continuous survival, would collapse into chaos. "But in addition there's a Dynamic good that is outside of any culture, that cannot be contained by any system of precepts, but has to be continually rediscovered as a culture evolves. Good and evil are not entirely a matter of tribal custom. If they were, no tribal change would be possible, since custom cannot change custom." [Lila] Dan comments: If you re-read what I wrote above I am not saying chaos is bad as opposed to good. You said that. I was actually agreeing with you here before you twisted my words. Rather than using an either/or scale it would appear the MOQ espouses a sliding scale of evaluation from better to worse. > > To put this all into perspective though… > > When we talk of chaos being free or about how much 'freedom' something has, > this is always on reflection. Dan: Yes of course. As per the Zuni quote, from a static sense if everyone disobeyed the authorities our civilization would collapse. But if there aren't Dynamic individuals who oppose authority, civilization would stagnate and die as well. A Dynamic culture must allow for the degenerates of society for they are the progenitors, the ones who lead the way into the future like the Zuni brujo. David H: > We can say, using the MOQ, that inorganic freedom for instance, is very low, > and that intellectual freedom is high based on how much it variation there > is.. This is the type of freedom more commonly found in the West where we are > interested in how much freedom a certain social structure will bring us. > However, as we both agree - when peoples eyes light up when they speak of > freedom in the West, it is true that they are probably talking about Dynamic > Quality and not of the different 'amounts' of freedom each level has. > > So how do we reconcile the two? This is my point... In the West we want to > experience that 'Freedom' so we try and capture it within a social structure > which allows for as much freedom as possible. While, what we like about > freedom is the end result (DQ), we are still interested in looking at what > particular static patterns can best bring about that freedom, and not at > wholly rejecting those patterns to reveal Dynamic Quality in that way. How > we go about achieving freedom is different than is typically found the East. > We still are interested in creating the right particular patterns to achieve > that freedom. Dan: I see what you mean, but isn't the freedom found in the East also captured within a rigid social structure? Just as in the West, there are the degenerates in the East who break the static molds and lead the way to greater freedom. Gandhi is one example. He was jailed countless times for defying authority. He was little more than a vagrant. While a few other people looked up to him seeking to learn his secret he spent his time weaving his own clothes, for crying out loud. Here we would look at someone like that and denounce him as a hobo and a loser. Now, Gandhi is venerated as a man of vision, the person most responsible for the independence of India from the British. Freedom. But during his life no one paid much attention to him. The British authorities looked upon him as a minor irritant, a degenerate. Were they Zuni priests they might well have hung him by his thumbs to teach him a lesson. Yet he brought down one of the greatest colonial powers ever to exist nearly single handed, without violence or force of any kind. Seems to me that the old Zuni brujo and Gandhi had a lot in common... > >>>> Dan: >>>> Perhaps. But again, the danger is getting stuck on the social rituals. >>>> It would appear this is more prevalent in the East than in the West, >>>> wouldn't you agree? >>> >>> Yes I would agree. But this is my point. It's because they are not >>> interested in particulars in the East that from the Western perspective of >>> freedom - they get 'stuck' on particular patterns. But it is a matter of >>> emphasis. Someone in the East will be more likely to be open to freeing >>> themselves from those patterns by mastery, rather than doing something else >>> and getting 'unstuck' from a pattern in that way. >> >> Dan: >> What I mean to say is something like the caste system in India, China, >> and Japan, etc., for example. How would one go about mastering those >> patterns and getting unstuck? > > It is already a deep part of their culture. There isn't anything they > consciously think about and have to abstract about and wonder about - how do > I be free of these shitty caste patterns? Being from the East they will > value mastery - they won't be thinking about "what can I do to be free of > this situation" because that is an entirely different type of freedom. From > their perspective of freedom - they know what they have to do. It's right in > front of them. > > To take it to an absurd extreme… You could be shovelling coal into the gates > of hell and yet find freedom from it by mastering the shovelling. If you > master the shovelling to the point where there is no longer a distinction > between you, the shovel or the gates of hell. Then point to the suffering… > There is none! From a static quality perspective, we can say, 'wow that's > *Really* low quality'. But from the "perspective" of the shoveler, where's > the low quality? Indeed, where's the value judgement? If they have really > become the shovelling then there wouldn't be any such value judgements… It's > just a wondrous unfolding of doing.. > > Now as always, I want to be clear here and state that of course both types of > freedom exist in both cultures - but it is a matter of emphasis... Dan: I would say it isn't so much a mastery of pattens as it is a losing of oneself to those patterns. Mastery may be one way but it is not the only way. > >> Dan: >> See above. It would appear the caste system came about as a form of >> celebrity worship. The same thing happens here in the West when a >> person becomes so famous no one will stand up to them and tell them >> no. Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the list goes on and >> on. But in the East these patterns were and are even more insidious in >> how they keep whole groups of people down without any hope of making a >> better life for themselves. > > Yes. This is where I say that it is because of the historical emphasis on a > different type of freedom than the one found in the West, the East has not > focused on freedom from particular patterns such as the caste system. Both > types of freedom have been traditionally opposed.. When you attend a Zen > retreat for instance, you can imagine the type of response you would get if > you just did 'whatever you liked'. Dan: Now this is a hypothesis contrary to fact! > As discussed in Lila, you do not ultimately free yourself from patterns by > constantly doing other patterns. So from the perspective of the East, if you > are constantly trying something else, then this isn't necessarily considered > a good thing on the path to spiritual enlightenment and mastery… Dan: Being a writer I tend to gravitate to other artists be they writers, musicians, painters, designers, whatever. Sometimes I meet someone who portrays themselves as all the above. They flit about from writing prose to taking photographs to doing illustrations to painting portraits to doing sculptures to writing song lyrics and poetry and on and on. If I could say one thing to them it would be: focus. Even the great geniuses of history couldn't do it all. I think what you are saying seems to be a mirror of that feeling I get dealing with folk who want to do it all. It would appear the restricted social patterns in the East might hold sway over people there to the point where they are forced to focus more than people in the West. This is a better way to approach a harmonious life if it doesn't degenerate into a static prison. > > But of course, there has been and is value in being free from some such a > static quality and doing some other patterns.. Dan: Again, it is a matter of focusing one's attention upon whatever it is they are doing. > >>> Yes. I don't disagree with any of this. But I still maintain that there is >>> value in Pirsig's words from Lila where he points to this difference in the >>> way each culture reflects Dynamic Quality. To me there just appears to be >>> an inherent part of the culture of the East which means they are >>> predisposed to hard work. And I think that inherent part is the way each >>> culture views freedom.. >>> >>> If your culture is more interested in finding freedom through mastery >>> rather than freedom through doing something else then your culture is going >>> to be perceived as harder working no? >> >> Dan: >> Of course there is value in the quote from Lila but I think it needs >> to be viewed in the proper context. I cannot see a peasant going to >> work at Fox Conn with the ideal of mastering the buffing out of face >> plates for the new iPhones. They go to work there with the ideal of >> making enough money to perhaps better their life and maybe send money >> home for the betterment of their family. They do not work long hard >> hours hoping to achieve freedom. That is probably the last thing on >> their mind. > > I disagree. Finding freedom through mastery is a deep part of their culture > and how they have been raised. Dan: How do you know this? Are you a part of that culture? David H: > In other words it is what they value. To give but one example… As you might > know Confucius is well known by most people in China. His sayings are often > quoted by young and old alike as truisms… Here's a couple of his quotes on > the idea of personal mastery: > > "The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full > potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal > excellence." > > "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." > > The same is said for this Ming Dynasty quote... > > "Happiness from happiness is not true happiness. Only happiness from > suffering is true." > > There is no room there in this Ming Dynasty quote to say, it's okay, if you > are suffering or if things get too tough, you should be free to go do > something else… It's a matter of values and emphasis and the East, generally > speaking, emphasises the DQ which can be found through mastery while the West > emphasises the freedom(DQ) which can be found through a particular sq > structure that allows one to be able to do something else if you are > suffering... Dan: How does one go about mastering suffering? > >> Dan: >> I would say human rights are so basic they go beyond being cultural >> and can be seen as universal. But yes, all one need to is look at the >> startling number of creationists in the US to see how a major religion >> influences what a culture values. In the same way, religion in the >> East can have a detrimental affect on culture. > > I'd agree with that, however just to be clear, religion can have a positive > affect on culture as well… Zen for instance, I'm sure you'd agree, has good > views on mysticism for example.. Dan: If not for religion we would still be living in caves. On the other hand, when a religion is allowed to destroy Dynamic Quality it becomes a heavy handed brute looking out only for itself. Again, I don't think we can look at religion as good or bad but rather that which allows for Dynamic growth and that which stifles it. Can anyone honestly say telling children the world is only 6000 years old is teaching Quality? > >>> This is tricky Dan because they do not know - so it is like a hypothesis >>> contrary to fact. Furthermore I disagree with the prediction. I think >>> there is value in being free from a particular pattern by being able to do >>> something else. Not free of all patterns, but free of a pattern which is >>> causing particular suffering. >>> >>> It is this particular type of freedom which is represented in movements >>> such as the freedom of speech movement… If there was not such impetus to >>> free ourselves from a particular negative static quality suffering then we >>> would never see a need to free ourselves from tyranny. >> >> Dan: >> So the quote from Lila is like (analogous to) a hypothesis contrary to >> fact? Does that mean it is without value? And if you feel this is so, >> why did you bring the quote into the discussion. > > Hopefully my earlier extended clarification has cleared up this confusion. > If not, I'll answer this in the next post. Dan: So what I am saying isn't a hypothesis contrary to fact? You seem to have cut out my quote (it is good to know what I am being accused of so I can have a better chance at defending myself) so I reproduced it below: >> Dan: >> I would say 99% of people who talk about freedom have never heard of >> Dynamic Quality. What they are talking about isn't really freedom in >> the sense Dynamic Quality is free of all patterns. But if they >> understood the MOQ, then that is what they would mean. Dan: For the sake of clarity, this is the Lila quote that I cited in my example: "When they call it freedom, that's not right. "Freedom" doesn't mean anything. Freedom's just an escape from something negative. The real reason it's so hallowed is that when people talk about it they mean Dynamic Quality." Dan comments: Robert Pirsig admits they do not know what they are talking about... "that's isn't right." Rather it is what they mean that counts. If they knew about Dynamic Quality that is what they would mean. So if my statement is like a hypothesis contrary to fact, so is this one. I don't see it as such but that is what I assume you mean. And even after reading your extended clarification above I find "confusion" here. So I would appreciate it if you cleared it up. I suspect you are using this as an excuse, as a ruse if you will, not to answer, but I am probably wrong... > >> Anyway, I will assume for the moment that I understand the MOQ to some >> degree. > > :-) > >> So when I talk about freedom of speech and freedom of religion >> I am talking about freedom from social patterns of quality that seek >> to muffle the intellect. And of course there is value there. But >> Dynamic freedom is a movement away from all patterns. > > Yes I would say so. And that 'Dynamic' freedom is not to be found by > changing sq or doing something else. It is found by 'waking up' as you say > and mastering the static quality which is in front of you until the DQ which > is there all along is revealed. Dan: I would say there is nothing to master. > >>> I see. I suppose this is a good question to ask yourself.. Often times >>> internal conflict like this can be healthy and produce a higher quality >>> work. >> >> Dan: >> Sure, there's that. On the other hand, when one gets hung up on the >> 'can I do better in explaining' the work is never done. I get to the >> point where I just know I have done all I can do. What is interesting >> about the ebook revolution is an author can easily go in and change >> the manuscript at a later point in time whereas a print book is much >> more difficult to update and change. > > That is interesting, I guess with ebooks it will become more about how static > an author sees his work and less about the physical limitations of change. > And it's good that you (eventually) find that end point too… Dan: Ah, the end point... a friend of mine asked me recently if I was nearly completed with my writings. I said no. I'll never be completed. Once something is finished another project arises. So I have to keep on writing. He seemed to think it was an affliction, a sickness... this coming from a guy who likes to sit in front of his tv each night and consume a twelve pack of beer. Maybe we all have our afflictions. I would say it depends upon the author, yes. Some time ago I bought a book by an author who sells quite a number of them. To my chagrin I came across multiple grammatical mistakes as well as misuse of words rendering whole paragraphs nonsensical. When I wrote her an email detailing these mistakes she got quite defensive with me, angry in fact. She said since it was one of her older books she didn't care about the mistakes. People were buying it anyway. She said her time was very valuable and better spent writing new books than going back over her old stuff. Now, myself, I appreciate when someone brings these things to my attention. They are easy to fix. It would have taken her an hour at most, probably less, to fix the mistakes and upload a new version. I suspect that wasn't the real reason why she didn't want to do it. I embarrassed her by calling her out even though that wasn't my intention. So these days I no longer inform authors of their mistakes. I roll with them like everyone else. But I still appreciate when someone takes their time to write me about mistakes I have made. > > > > Thanks again Dan, > > I'm interested in your thoughts on freedom here as, at some point - possibly > soon(or not), we should be able to go back to our original discussion with a > greater understanding. Dan: Well, hopefully I have laid out my thoughts in a manner which you will find fulfilling. If not, please let me know where you disagree. And I am quite at a loss as to what our original discussion was about but I am sure we can discover that when the time is ripe. Thank you so much, David. 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