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.
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