Rich, Diana, all the moderators and thou:
I think there is a fairly easy way to begin the project that Rich suggests.
And I should say right up front that I think it is an excellent suggestion.
We NEED to do it. Roger's plan to develop questions for the man himself is a
super fantastic idea. BUT, Unlike Roger, I don't think ANYONE here has
"nailed" the MOQ. That's another topic, but its also just one more reason
why we need a systematic, point-by-point analysis of Lila. We need to focus
on Pirsig's ideas without too much added material. I mean, Pirsig's
references go back to the beginning of history and he mentions nearly every
major philosopher in Western civilization. So I think we ought to stay with
the book exclusively for a while. It will give us plenty to work with and
think about. (And it breaks my heart to make this suggestion because
comparing ideas is the thing I love best.)
We could use the focus forum to go through Lila chapter by chapter.
Obviously, we'll want to read them in consecutive order. We could cover two
or three chapters each month. (I'm thinking that we could read the entire
book over a period of one year.) This method is clear and simple and when
the project is done, the archived posts will sort of automatically be very
attractively organized for everyone to use. Got a question about chater 19?
OK, that was cover in OCTOBER, etc. And those same archives could also be
used as a handy tool for someone like Rich, Roger or Diana to produce a
total vision of the MOQ. Heck, I might even take a crack at it.
I like the focus forum precisely because it is more deliberate and everyone
is at least supposed to be thinking about the same issues at the same time.
Getting everyone to be "on the same page" is a formula for magic. It can be
an extremely powerful thing. I've experienced this is book discussion groups
in the past and, believe me, if epiphany is what you seek, then this is
method to follow. Two heads are more than twice as good as one, if you know
what I mean.
BUT we've also wasted this precious potential by spending this or that month
answering ill-conceived questions. (Remember the star trek transporter
question? ARRRG, what a nightmare! ) Questions can be wrong too. So all I'm
saying is we should stick to the book and ask just ONE QUESTION through the
entire project; What does Pirsig mean when he says...? This method is clear,
simple and relatively fool-proof. Its hard to go wrong this way. It also
would require nothing extra from the moderators. No new set ups are required
and we could start in the middle of next week. Lets go for it.
DMB
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