Hey,
On Fri, Mar 27, 2015 at 11:27 AM, ngriffis <[email protected]> wrote:
Ron wrote: "... The passions are rejected. Pirsig, on the other hand,
seems
to place more importance on emotion and feeling as a guiding principle
toward intellect."
To shift Ron's meaning a bit, I wonder if the forum members would
agree that Pirsig places importance on emotion and feeling as a guiding
principle toward Dynamic Quality? Further, I would like to broach the
subject of how one goes about seeking Dynamic Quality (DQ) in one's life.
Let us hope that there are easier paths than insanity to reach DQ
insights
:)
I must say that I have benefitted, not from my own cutting edge
thoughts, but have only been able to add quality to my life through the
work
of others. I have gained most of my insights into the static and DQs of
the
world through reading. There is so much great knowledge in the world,
but so
few instruction books on how to effectively apply it to one's life. As a
teacher, I see so much missing in this regard.... OK, I know I want more
DQ
in my life, but how do I go about getting it?
Dan:
I work a rather mundane job in order to finance my writing. In fact,
my entire life revolves around these words. At the same time though,
when people ask me where my ideas come from, I can't say, at least not
definitively. If I sit down intending to write something, it's all
shit. Maybe it's like trying to go to sleep. The more you work at it,
the farther away it becomes.
I suspect you already have 'DQ' in your life. As living beings we all
do. The thing is though, we become distracted by the shiny pretty
things that permeate our reality from the time we wake till the time
we go back to sleep. The magic's gone, replaced by the latest
technological innovations, the newest iPhone, the next generation LED
television, just step right up and pick your poison, son.
So, I hope that other members of the MOQ Forum will share any of
the
methods they have developed which allow them access to DQ insights that
have
bettered their lives.
Dan:
Insights arise at the damnedest times... while I'm taking a shower or
driving somewhere or working at some mindless task. When I'm really
wrapped up in my writing I often get stuck. What I mean is, the plot
has holes in it that I can't quite fill. I get to worrying it. Working
it. Mulling it. And when I'm pretty much ready to say the hell with it
all and set the manuscript aside for a few days and work on something
else, wham! I see the solution.
My best contribution comes from, I think, Warren Buffet, who is
said
to be one of the greatest investors of our time. One could call him a
philosopher of investing. He and his partner, Charlie Munger have some
good
insights in to Life, as well. Buffet talked about his "intuition", the
source of that "intuition", and those feelings that led him to his great
successes. He said, to paraphrase, "that intuition without great and
hard-won experience is guessing and, more than not, runs you upon the
rocks.
Intuition becomes the leap of insight that is of value (DQ?) only after
great study and experience." Why? I think it touches upon the idea that
genius, in one form, is the ability to rearrange what is known and with a
leap of insight, create a new and better form, something not imagined
before. One's mind has nothing to work with unless it has been filled
with
the wisdom and insights that have come before. Additionally, Charlie
Munger
added that, in this day of specialization, the more fields one
accomplishes
oneself in, perhaps the greater possibility of a synergy resulting in a
new
and better transmutation...a transformative insight moving us from
static to
DQ.
Dan:
I don't know much about investing. Money is cool and all but it never
mattered enough to me that I'd make a concerted effort to get more of
it. Most times my shoes are fairly tired out and my blue jeans are
cratered with holes. My bad, I guess. I do know a little about
writing, though.
There is a difference between a good writer and a talented writer. The
good writer follows all the rules, dots all the i's and crosses all
the t's. They are punctuation perfect. Their sentence structure is
sound. They use all the words correctly. Yet the words they write seem
empty, bereft of feeling. There is no wow to them.
The talented writer knows all the rules but doesn't stop there. They
develop a style all their own. Their words sing with an other-world
melody. Their sentences might not be complete. Punctuation might be
nonexistent. They might use a word in a way no one ever thought of
doing before. When someone else reads their writing they might be
offended. They might be embarrassed. But in the end, they say wow.
I would offer meditation as a path to DQ, but I have terrible
discipline when it comes to sitting and also believe that Attention
Deficit
Disorder keeps my meditations down to about a minute and a half.
Dan:
Yeah, I got all kinds of excuses too. Hell, I have a million of them.
Still, I sit for a minute and then another. Started running last
year... June I think it was. Kept it up through the fall. Come winter,
I wondered how I'd manage it being as I live in northern Illinois and
I don't much like the cold. I discovered the hardest part of running
is just getting my ass out there. Once I'm hitting the pavement, I set
little goals... make it down the block... make it another half a
block, make it back to my house... go on and run a little more. Maybe
I should mention I turn 60 in a week and haven't run since high
school. Everyone told me I shouldn't run. Too hard on the knees. Too
hard on the body. That I'm too old. It's too cold out there. Stay
inside, dude. Get a treadmill. Better yet, just quit running. Sit and
watch tv like the rest of us. So yeah, I got all kinds of excuses to
use not to run. But I do it anyway. One step at a time.
Has anyone
had better luck with any of the Eastern disciplines to attain increased
DQ
in their lives, a path, I think, Pirsig alludes to.
Dan:
No, not really.
Thanks,
Dan
