Hugh,
It HAS occurred to me (and many others on this list) and I believe it IS a koan! I totally agree with you.
Pirsig writes:
"To the intellect, the process of defining Quality has a compulsive quality of its own. It produces a certain excitement- even though it leaves a hangover afterward... Writing a metaphysics is, in the strictest mystic sense, a degenerate activity." (Lila; Ch. 5, page 74)
And, of course, we can add the Zen wisdom: "The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon."
Yes, the intellect, in it's current form, is the obstacle.
However, the flip side is: Why ever point at anything at all then? Why did Pirsig write the koan in the first place? He didn't help Quality one bit by adding yet another voice in the cacophony of human existence.
The answer is stated in ZAMM (I can't find the quote so I'll paraphrase):
Pheadrus wasn't trying to help Quality. Quality is fine. What Pheadrus hoped to accomplish was to expand rationality itself so that it could embrace new concepts which it currently couldn't even acknowledge because of it's metaphysical roots.
The reason I'm involved with the moq.org is that we have a group of people here who understand this and realize that intellectual ideas can and do evolve. All that is required is that we seek new ideas that are more inclusive by being more Dynamic- like a philosophical algebra. I believe this "algebra" is what Pirsig is trying to create when he talks about whether eating meat is a moral activity.
He basically says that it depends on whether humans (a more dynamic form of life than cows) are starving. If there is enough non-meat food, let the cows live so that they may continue to pursue Quality on their terms also.
I'm not sure if I totally agree with him (what about the Greenhouse Effect/Methane issue), but I do see what he's pointing at and I think his finger has higher Quality. I think there's a joke in here somewhere. ;)
ds
-----Original Message-----
From: Hugh Greenaway [SMTP:hugh.greenaway@diamond.co.uk]
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2000 12:11 PM
To: moq_discuss@moq.org
Subject: RE: MD Brilliance and the ramblings of a madman
Has it ever occurred to you all that ZMM and LILA is one big koan ?
to intellectualise is to totally miss the point of Pirsigs koan.
the very words used by Pirsig: The Buddhist monk has
a precept against indulging in idle conversation, and I think the basis
for that precept is what motivates me" (letter of Aug. 19. 1997 to
Bodvar Skutvik).
As soon as you think you understand something-you miss the point.The
intellect is the obstacle.
:)
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