Hi all,
Some time back, I mentioned that I was hoping to have a little conference on
the MOQ, next summer, and asked if anyone was interested or able to
participate. There was a lot more response than I had expected - considering
the overly-romantic, often immature, at times controversial, past postings
of mine to this list, which I have now gone back and re-read with a heavy
dose of self-criticism and a little anguish over some hasty remarks. Mais,
c'est la vie.
My intent in organizing a conference was to present a paper summarizing
Pirsig's ideas and my comments on them which I have been working on for a
long time now, and is finally completed. I had hoped to persuade others to
present their views, and engage in open discussions. For myself, I had hoped
to "completely and clearly" explain the MOQ, as Pirsig conceived it, and in
relation to other philosophies. As far as "complete" goes - that is not so
difficult as it has been time consuming. But for "clearly", well, only a
reader could judge that. But something, I know not what, is just not good
enough, when I take the whole thing into consideration.
That being the case, I have decided not to publish the work, nor did I send
it to various people for criticism while I wrote it, as I said I would,
because I could see myself clearly enough where it was weak and where I had
gone wrong or misrepresented Pirsig. Further, it happened that I was able to
do an independent study course at university in which I could focus on the
MOQ, and write (that) paper for it - and of all the supervisors, I ended up
with none other than the chairman of the philosophy department, who is an
Aristotelian scholar, and, unlike the antagonist in ZAMM, an open-minded and
caring individual (you'd have to be to spend time listening to my
diatribes). So the paper is done, though I haven't received his verdict on
it, yet either way, it simply isn't satisfactory.
This post is getting too long as it is, so I'll put aside the personal
psycho-drama, and not flatter myself into thinking that it really matters to
you why I have decided not to organize or participate in a conference on the
MOQ. Suffice it to say that I do not think it is a useless or non-valuable
endeavour, but I do think that I am not up to the task. I know Pirsig's
words and ideas inside-out and upside-down, and while they still have some
quality, the excellence I once encountered in them has gone a bit stale, and
I have my own lines of philosophical inquiry which need to be pursued
without reference to the MOQ.
Well, it looks like I've just contradicted myself. Enough is enough. So,
take care everybody, be good.
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