The problem with Robert Pirsig is that even though he was capable of
apprehending that the American Indian culture is different from that which
is familiar to him, he was incapable of participating. In fact, he couldn't
even hang around with the Indians without Dusenberry. All that erudition
didn't teach him how to do that. The only thing he could do about his
experiences with Indians was to put them into a box labeled "Dynamic
Quality" and leave it at that. And to walk away.
Werewolf is not stating there is no Dynamic Quality. But he is stating
that Pirsig called some things Dynamic because he didn't understand them.
Things someone else would understand. It's nothing personal. Everyone has a
limited amount of energy. Newton said that if he's seen further, it's
because he stood on the shoulders of giants. Pirsig talks about a giant -
the giant - but what if he's the giant for someone else?
Once upon a time Werewolf became the solo guitarist of a band that only
played improvised music. That in itself is kind of funny. That a band with
eleven members can play improvised music. But what is more curious about
that is that Werewolf had never even touched a guitar before.
The first time Werewolf touched a guitar was at the Farmhouse. He was
sitting in the living room where band members liked to smoke cigarettes and
get wasted. Or intoxicated. Or sacred.
Captain gave him a guitar. He just gave it. Werewolf can't remember much
about the event. He recalls Captain gave him the guitar in the living room
and that he didn't think much of it. It didn't occur to him that the guitar
might be his guitar. That he might keep the guitar even if they were to
part ways. And what a guitar it was.
The ingenuity of this Captain was in not doing unnecessary things that are
customary in contemporary culture. He did not talk about the wood. He
didn't talk about how much the guitar cost. Only after Captain thought
Werewolf might throw the guitar away, or sell it, or not care about it, did
he mention that it was somewhat expensive.
A band member once asked the Werewolf how long had he played the guitar.
The Werewolf replied truthfully: "About two weeks." The band member smiled.
Nobody ever gave the Werewolf advice on how to play the guitar. There were
two exceptions. Someone said once that the defining moment of guitar
playing is when it stops. And Captain once said that Werewolf should take
guitar classes. He took one once. The instructor found out that the guitar
was slightly damaged so Werewolf took it to a shop for repairs.
None of this matters to a Pirsigian. What matters to a Pirsigian is the
things that were not done. The things that nobody in the band did.
If a Pirsigian tries to found a band, it might go like this:
"Since intellectuality is the most valuable static construct, we should
form the band according to intellectually selected criteria. For example,
we should choose a genre. After all, how could the band members tell
appropriate improvisation from inappropriate if they don't know the genre?
Also, it goes without saying that every band member must be familiar with
his instrument. Otherwise we would just embarrass ourselves."
But the music was good. Nobody had selected a genre. Werewolf had never
touched a guitar before. But he thought all band members are respectable
people who wouldn't just waste their time. He felt everyone was into what
they're doing. Even he was into it.
Surely such music isn't to everyone's liking. Nobody ever complained about
it, though. That doesn't mean the musicians were unable to tell good from
bad. Once Werewolf played his guitar badly. Soon enough he knew he sucked.
When the song was over there was an awkward silence. Anticipating
criticism, Werewolf retreated to the other side of the room and sat down
with his head bowed.
A band member looked at him as if he was about to say something. But then
he turned away. He realized he didn't need to tell Werewolf. That Werewolf
already knew. So he said something vaguely soothing, and they resumed
rehearsing after a while.
But what if the band members were playing simply because of social
conventions? Because it's cool to be in a band? Or something like that?
Okay, but why is the band cool? Because creativity is cool?
What is creativity, then?
Dynamic Quality. Got to be. If it was there before, it wasn't created. If
it wasn't there before, how could someone know what it was? Nobody could
have known that beforehand.
If Werewolf played in a band again he wouldn't mention this. Unless spoken
to, he wouldn't speak about this. That is against the rules of aesthetic.
That is not how science is done. In science you observe things. Then you
make statements about your observations. Then you speculate about
explanations for the statements. Then you devise an experiment that
verifies or falsifies your speculations. Then you perform the experiment
and observe the result. And nobody minds if you talk all the freaking time
while doing this. Nobody minds if you explain everything. Strip it all down
to the skin and the bare naked bones if you must. Nobody minds.
In art you don't do that.
Pirsig isn't dumb enough not to know that sometimes a bit of mystery is
better. But he couldn't create the mystery with the Indians. He couldn't
even participate in their mystery. He could only call the mystery Dynamic
Quality and walk away, convinced that there was something he didn't
understand. But even though he didn't understand it, it was there.
The band had certain rules that were usually adhered to:
- No leadership
- No genre
- No form
- All rules should be broken unless it's bad to do so
The last rule was never stated, but it kind of logically follows from the
rule of no form. Perhaps this "logicality" is merely rhetorical. Perhaps
not. It depends on what kind of form do we mean when we say: "No form". But
all this could be dissected into oblivion without anybody getting any
wiser. So let's just say those were the rules of the band and not take that
too logically.
These are prescriptions. Forms. They formed a culture: a band. A band that
played music and had gigs. At least some in the audience were impressed. If
that's so important to mention. But Werewolf would rather not mention even
that. Werewolf wouldn't want to tell you any of this if it weren't for
tearing you apart. Metaphorically, in case that needs to be said out loud.
Metaphorically into a mess of blood and guts that is very delicious.
You think the telos of static quality is intellectual quality. Yes, you
think the telos of everything is Dynamic Quality, but the telos of static
quality is intellectual according to LILA.
Was the band static? Yes. It was once. It might have ceased to be. But
it's something that happened and that we can dissect into parts we can
label. If we want to do so. Normally Werewolf wouldn't want to do so. But
now he does, because he wants to show you you just don't have enough boxes.
It's up to you whether you want to put every static thing into a box or
not. But you came here on this MeaDow because you did want to do that.
Well, if you're going to do that anyway, you might as well do a good job.
The band is static because it is something that happened before but that
has ceased to happen. However, even when the band was happening, its telos
was not social and was not intellectual. It wasn't even biological. The
telos of the band was aesthetical.
If Bo was here he'd think the band members have brainwashed Werewolf into
thinking there is such a thing as aesthetic quality. He'd say the band
members merely take delight in how Werewolf unknowingly attempts to please
them. But Bo couldn't have played in that band. The band members wouldn't
have invited him. Bo doesn't know how to play, and that doesn't mean the
same thing as Werewolf not knowing to play. Just because Werewolf had never
touched a guitar before doesn't mean Werewolf doesn't know how to play the
guitar in the same sense as Bo doesn't know how to play the guitar.
Werewolf knew how to play the guitar, but nobody knew he knew before he
actually played. Even he didn't know he knew. Perhaps the Captain of the
band knew but that he kept to himself.
And why?
Why would Captain keep something like that to himself? That's absurd! A
scientist would rush to publish such a discovery. Hey, everyone! Come look!
Werewolf can play the guitar! And now I'm going to give him his guitar and,
to the amazement of everyone, he can play it! Even he will be stunned and
in disbelief of his latent talent that now becomes apparent and obvious to
everyone!
If Captain had done that Werewolf wouldn't have known how to play the
guitar. Werewolf would just have fumbled a bit with something that was
supposed to be a chord. Then he would have retreated into the shadows
wondering whether he had failed Captain or whether Captain had set a trap
for him. He would've become confused and disappointed and there would've
been no band.
The band had a fifth rule. This was never proclaimed as a rule of the
band. But someone who appeared to be a founding member of the band said he
believes in the fifth rule. The fifth rule was that aesthetics is important.
Is aesthetics different from Dynamic Quality?
When Werewolf played the guitar badly in a rehearsal, he knew he sucked.
In fact, he had played the guitar badly before. Not often, but sometimes,
at least slightly badly. In fact, all he ever thought about while playing
the guitar was: am I playing well?
That was an exaggeration.
There were moments when he played and he saw visions. Or was thrilled by
his own blood dripping from his fingers. There was a meditative aspect to
the playing. And that was the best thing about it. That was what made him
feel like a musician instead of merely acting like one. But it wasn't like
that all the time. Sometimes he did actually think: is this tune I'm
playing beautiful?
And that's all there is to it. He didn't think much about what "beauty"
means. If he did, he might have recited the rules in his mind: "No
leadership. No genre. No form. Break rules." And he might even think about
the Golden Ratio or symmetry. Sometimes. He was embarrassed that he did
that but he thought all the band members do something like that sometimes.
It's just not something that was supposed to be talked about. Just like
going to the toilet and doing what you do there.
Werewolf isn't the kind of a person who complains about how people in
movies never go to the toilet. Werewolf thinks those things aren't usually
shown in the movies because they aren't aesthetically pleasing. And even if
they are that sometimes it's anyhow difficult to portray them in such light.
But that's again a wrong wording. Difficult. It's not difficult. Beauty is
never difficult. Beauty is unusual. If going to the toilet is beautiful, it
is not beautiful in a difficult manner. It is beautiful in an unusual
manner. But difficult things are those that scientists do.
When you're dealing with difficult things you need a seat belt, a helmet,
maybe a gun, traffic signs. You need to read the instructions carefully.
You need to be serious. You need to pay attention.
But if something is beautiful yet people don't expect it to be beautiful,
that doesn't make it difficult. It only makes it unusual.
Some people have ample experience of unusual and beautiful things. Looks
like Pirsig only had one: the Indians. The beacon of light in his perhaps
even ugly life. The beacon that just shone brightly and blinded him and he
had to walk away not knowing what to do about it.
Yeah. He wrote a book about it. LILA. But he didn't go back. He couldn't.
He wasn't invited. He wasn't one of them. He was just a guest. And he kept
scolding some anthropologists for incompetence. They didn't even notice
what he noticed. But even he couldn't participate in the American Indian
aesthetic. He was only capable of noticing it.
That's actually quite a feat. The people who butchered the American
Indians probably didn't even notice that these people have some kind of a
culture. They just noticed these people live in tents because they're
backwards. These people shoot arrows with a bow because they don't have
guns. These people turn into alcoholics because they can't tell the fake
pleasure of alcohol from the real pleasure of life. Or maybe they can.
Maybe many of them just don't care how alcohol always leaves the drinker
in debt. Maybe they, in their aesthetic lifestyle, were used to thinking
that pleasure is free. So, if something gives them pleasure, it's just
quite alien for them to think that they will be indebted by the pleasure.
They don't know what debt is. They know that if they respect nature they'll
never get in debt. At least the creditor won't be nature. The creditor may
be progress. Dynamic Quality.
Soldier blue on a barren wasteland. Run to the hills. Run for your life.
Dynamic Quality is coming.
Was that Dynamic Quality aesthetical? The Dynamic Quality that told
soldiers that if you take an Indian's wife and use her as a shield, he will
be more reluctant to shoot an arrow at you?
Is that beautiful?
No.
That's quite intelligent. That's definitely Pirsigian. But it is not
beautiful.
Tuk
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
