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Matthew and Squad.
In reading your post I believe that you have
reached a similar conclusion that I have.
We are the product of a hard
deterministic very early universe which underwent a proliferation of
possibilities due to the action of Quality on the beginning structure of the
universe. Whence it came I don't know. As we passed thru the development
of the levels the issue of determinism became less and less important
because we came to exist in a sea of deterministic disorder in which it became
impossible, because of the increased complexity, to trace determinism back
thru its development even though the universe is still operating
deterministically.
Now comes sentience and the "I" which causes
so much trouble.
Since we are all occupying the same
sea of deterministic disorder in the same age of the universe we are all
subject to very similar influences which means that our "Truths" will be
similar. There is no such thing as "A Truth" toward which we are heading. Each
person will have their own truth basically from the universal operation but
modified by interactions with other "Truths".
Looking back over the history of our
"Truths" we can see that the level of morality is slowly rising on
earth.
Morality is what our consensus of "Truths"
agree on at any given time as having the highest value.
If we had free will then the system would
not work as it does now. We must have the deterministic disorder which means
that we are not strictly determined but strongly influenced by our
previous history of "Truths". Ken Clark
I just discovered this site, so excuse me if I repeat some issues that
you
guys may have already covered in previous messages. I've been looking over some of the recent posts and have noticed that the issue of free will seems to be the hot topic at this time. Like most of you, I've always had a problem with the way in which Pirsig fails to address the problem adequately and basically seems to sweep it under the carpet. The fact of the matter is, there is no defense of free will. MOQ doesn't provide one any better than so-called SOM. Are human actions "determined"? Of course they are. The only other option is that they are completely random, and this clearly isn't the case. The real question is what they are determined by. The answer is that they are determined by our desires. Of course this just begs the question of what determines our desires. Pirsig's answer (which I think is a very good one) is that the ultimate determinants are the values of Quality. However, we do not decide these for ourselves. They are decided for us through a combination of nature and nurture. Our instincts dictate our biological desires, our socialization process dictates our social desires, and reason dictates our intellectual desires. Finally, we all have a desire for a certain amount of change or newness at each static pattern of value, the amount of which differs from person to person (again based on nature and nurture). These are the things that determine our desires and ultimately our actions. The interplay between instincts, society, reason, and Dynamic Quality is different for each person, but this is not because of free will. It is because of different predispositions and experiences. This does not destroy humanity or the individual as some suspect, it merely redefines them. An individual is no more than the sum of his or her predispositions and experiences. That is the essence of self. There is nothing more. This may scare some people, but it seems to be the truth of the matter nonetheless. ------- End of forwarded message ------- |
