[Ron] I dont think they were confused about what Pirsig said, I think they were asking why some here arent so dynamic.
[Arlo] I don't think so, Ron. John stated, "contributors to this forum often seem unaware of the transcendent", and yet in the overwhelming majority of posts "Dynamic Quality" is mentioned, the term "spirationality" has been introduced, Buddhism is often talked about, and even when direct talk of "transcendence" is not the focus of a conversation, the undefinededness of Dynamic Quality usually is. How does this translate into "unaware of the transcendent"? It doesn't. What John is saying is this, "contributors to this forum often seem unaware of that the Christian God is Quality, and as such there should be more discussion about Christian worship and liturgy" (because, apparently, Buddhism, the Tao, undefinedness, and pre-intellectual awareness and does not count as 'awareness of a transcendent'). John also said, "The way many of us communicate about the indefinable and ineffable is through the symbolic language of worship and liturgy", and hey, that's great. Just like a great many Buddhist monks do the same, but it misses Pirsig's entire thesis that Quality does not require special ritual. Its like a motorcycle mechanic opining that we don't discuss motorcycle repair directly because he finds Quality in welding old Honda chainguards, or a painter complaing that we don't discuss art because she experiences high Quality moments in painting. But Pirsig's thesis is not about the particular specifics of a Buddhist ceremony, or how to weld a chainguard, or techniques for painting in watercolor but a philosophy that bridges all of these and explains the experience in the immediate moment Quality that brings Buddhist ceremonies, or welding a chainguard, or painting a watercolor, into being. If you want "worship and liturgy", there are churches for that. If you want talk about the best way to weld a chainguard, there are scores of motorcycle repair forums and local repair shops, and if you want to talk about techniques you found helpful in creating your watercolors, there are forums and likely local civic centers where fellow watercolor makers would relish the talk. And hey, there is nothing wrong with chiming in and saying "I'm a welder, and I find that in moments of Quality the self and metal disappear and I experience a transcendence into pre-intellectual awareness", but what does it do to complain that all the non-welders here are "unaware of the transcendent" because they don't talk about welding? 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
