Platt,
> Hi Marco:
>
> But in the end, Pirsig was glad to get rid of Lila:
>
> "Across the cabin, on the pilot berth, Phaedrus saw that her suitcase
> was gone. There was a nice empty hole there. That was good. That
> meant he could get the trays of slips back out and have room to get to
> work on them again. That was good too. He remembered that
> PROGRAM slip he wrote to wait until Lila gets off the boat. He could
> cross that one off now." (Lila, Chap. 32).
>
yes, glad as one can be glad after the death of his wife. I agree that it is good to be free from social constrictions; but we must keep in mind that the intellectual/individual level should be supported by the social level. My interpretation of the episode is that also thanks to the social interaction with Lila, P. has gained a newer awareness. The sadness for the departure is natural (he talks of a funeral), as well as the subsequent energy for the regained freedom. But the real value of the whole thing is that now P. has new answers about Quality: Does Lila have Quality? No, the Quality has Lila. Would it be possible to reach for these answers from a complete (very objective) loneliness?
> By the way, humanitarians dedicated to eliminate suffering should note
> the following passage:
>
> "If you eliminate suffering from this world you eliminate life. There's no
> evolution. Those species that don't suffer don't survive. Suffering is the
> negative face of Quality that drives the whole process." (Lila, Chap. 29)
>
Suffering is the negative face of Quality. Humanitarians are not there simply to "eliminate suffering" . Perhaps in many cases they are not up to the task, but this is just their intention: to be part of the "whole process" of "evolution" from a negative Quality to a positive Quality. On the other hand, stating something like "their suffering is natural, and justifies my welfare" should sound terrific to my hears.
Marco
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