Mark and group,
I was reading through the MOQ archive and stumbled across this quote of yours:
"Perhaps the only truly living thing in MoQ terms is the creative force, and all else is residual static." (MF Is the Giant self aware; May 07 2000 - 07:39:24 BST)
Your brilliant quote triggered a chain of thoughts within my mind that helped me redefine the relationship of "God and all existence". You've hit the nail on the head (as far as I'm concerned) and I ask your indulgence as I relish in the joy of creating a better "map" of Reality for myself and others who might agree. Here goes:
Pirsig says, "Good is a noun."
Based on your quote, I would add, "It is the only Real noun... the star of the show. The rest is just supporting cast and scenery (important yes, but not critical because it's fleeting, evolving)".
When a Christian says that you must believe in Jesus to have eternal life, a student of the MOQ can interpret this as him using "Jesus" as a metaphor for the Creative Force... the only aspect of existence that will exist eternally. Everything else is just replaceable props. "Be in the world and not of it".
This resonates with my experiences of watching the news or reading history. It's so hard not to suffer over how much tragedy has existed... and is certainly likely to continue. So much so, that most of us can't even think about it for very long. But, there have been times when the tragedy of human existence takes over my mind and I can't function. I become physically and socially frozen, while mentally the thoughts go faster and faster in my mind to the point where "I" can't even follow them anymore. Perhaps in those moments, I'm feeling a small dose of the 3rd wave of crystallization (the mystical phase) that caused Pheadrus' shock treatments in ZAMM.
During more pleasant mental experiences, however, it seems to me that "the creative force" builds up lower-level static patterns to create enough complexity to adequately express itself within them. This is evolution; inorganically, biologically, socially and intellectually. This is why time flows forward and not backward. This is what all existence is headed toward. Forgive the computer jargon but, it is as if the universe is an interlaced .gif file downloading into a web browser- growing more precise and clear as each "pass" occurs and the image becomes increasingly more visible. The "browser" is the "stable pattern of values on all levels" providing a platform for the content, "Quality", to manifest.
To carry this a bit further, it is as if a huge computer program, called the universe, has created all of the objects within it so that God, the programmer itself, can manifest within the creation. I realize that I didn't come up with this analogy, but I would add that the creative force can value a prop yet still discard it when done with it... when the meaning has been expressed. I turn my computer off and all of the manifestation "disappears". This helps me understand my brother's death, human suffering and the possibility of the "end of the world".
I had been struggling lately with a thought that suddenly popped into my head, "There is no Reality, there are only layers of symbols." and I couldn't stop being disturbed by it. That's the black hole of post-modernism's theme song.
Now, I can now find some reassurance. There is no "substance" Reality. Reality is Meaning which is expressed through layers of symbols." To merely be an expendable symbol isn't so bad after all.
Thank you for providing the "seed crystal" and listening to the ramblings of a madman.
ds
David Sater
dsater@emergingmind.com
"The universe is an interlaced .gif file downloading into a web browser."
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - horse@wasted.demon.nl
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:00:44 BST