I'd like to draw your attention to the following quote (LILA, pg. 139) "In the past Phaedrus's own radical bias caused him to think of Dynamic Quality alone and neglect static patterns of quality." This is from chapter nine, when the story of the Zu�i brujo leads him to consider the DQ-SQ division to be better than the S-O one.
What this passage says is that the Quality prior to this chapter nine (i.e. all of ZAMM and the first chapters of LILA) was DQ. In those 40 chapters (ZAMM 32 + LILA 8) DQ equals Quality. But not all of the Quality there is. Only that which is being discussed by Pirsig: DQ = Tao = "manito" = "God" (p. 138) Maybe elsewhere he is not so precise, but this could be due to the fact that he was stating what was already stated here. Don't you find it awkward to talk about DQ, especially to the uninitiated? It would be like saying that ZAMM could be subtitled "A descent into the Yin" when one is not told that there is also a Yang. For the reader of ZAMM, Yin is everything, Yin is the Tao. In this simile, LILA should be subtitled "But there is also Yang... Yang1, Yang2, Yang3 and Yang4... and Ying" and we finally get to see the big picture. ZAMM is quasi-mystical. It is not so entirely since a mystical explanation of reality cannot be given orally or in written, since "the fundamental nature of reality is outside language". (LILA, p. 72) ZAMM uses language to explain Quality (or, now we know, DQ) therefore it is not purely mystical. Zen masters do it all the time, but they had the advantage of other practices: Meditation, Koans, Dokusan (interview master-apprentice), etc. Nevertheless, Pirsig departs of mysticism when he starts defining. When there is more than one kind of quality in his explanation... His explanation, that he intended to be "a bridge between the understanding of the Indians (mysticism) and the understanding of the anthropologists (rational thought, science)" (LILA, pp. 72-73). Another way to see this is that ZAMM is more "ZEN" and LILA is more "THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE". Has anyone noticed that each book contains 32 chapters? Put together is 64, just the number of hexagrams in the I Ching. Coincidence? I'd like to compare the Quality described in Pirsig's MOQ as lava. The one that is flowing, too hot to be contained is DQ. But here and there, lava gets to cool down and form a crust. It becomes solid, cold, immobile, static. But it is the same matter. Does his explanation help us understand mystical reality? As much as a description of the colour red help us "see" the colour red. "taste" guacamole (Did I tell you I am Mexican?), "smell" roses, "feel" a baby's skin, "hear" Mozart... mystical reality is there to be experienced, not to be explained. I would equate the MOQ with a ZEN philosophy for the XX-XXI century western thinkers. It enables you to talk about reality in metaphysical terms without the risk of being mocked and turned down as "new ager" or just "mystical", "unscientific", "illogical", etc. Good "good" days for all of you, Hugo Masse. MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_focus/ MF Queries - [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from moq_focus follow the instructions at: http://www.moq.org/mf/subscribe.html
