Julie,
Thanks so much for your guided tour of Amnsterdam! Felt like I was there
with you!
I, too, have quietly read the excellent discussions on this list and found
many "gems" and some which are still a bit "over" my head. Perhaps your
comments are an opportunity for me to contribute something worthwhile.
Read ZMM in the 70's when I was racing and riding motorcycles. Didn't
understand any of it except the part about accepting the physical
(classical?) reality of choking my carburetor on a cold morning rather than
hoping the motorcycle will respond to my (romantic) intentions, as if it
were a mind reader and somehow willing to violate the laws of physics on my
behalf!
Since then I've read Lila, which helped me realize that you must get up and
walk over to where the other person is "standing" to "under-stand" how
things look from over there--how essential it is to be present in the here
and now to really experience it.
Another way for me to respond to your essay is to suggest that (among the
many other things you discussed) you are talking about a Zen Mind, or what
one of my teachers called Beginners Brain--that openness to see everything
fresh, without (static?) conditioning or judgment "coloring" your
perceptions of the experience.
Thomas Sheehan, an author, said, "We know only what we interpret--we cannot
peek over the edge of our interpretations to see things in the raw..." I
suppose he is right if you experience life primarily through your
intellect. But words tend to satisfy my intellect very quickly, making me
only "think" I understand.
I'm new to this list in particular and to metaphysics in general, so this
may not have anything to do with SQ vs DQ. And I'm certainly not suggesting
that we experience SQ in our heads and DQ in our heart, wherever that is.
In any event, a great deal of my "unfinished" business during this earth
walk seems to be centered on learning how to get out of mind and back into
my body, where, at least for me, real learning has always occurred. In my
opinion, for example, it was my body, not my brain, that "knew" how to run
and ride. Or at least I like to "think" it so.
And perhaps I will never "know" if I am free or determined. If only one of
those two extremes are true, then I confront that "truth" with an
"attitude": If anyone ever asks me if I am free or determined, I will say
"Yes!"
Hope this is, at some level, a positive contribution to MOQ. I'm listening.
Thanks...
Billy Dean
Info@billydee.com
http://www.billydee.com
"It is the journey that enlightens--not the destination..."
Kwai Chang Caine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Julie Kesting" <kestrel@xs4all.nl>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2001 1:58 PM
Subject: RE: Re: MD Self, Free/Determinism : a short essay (again... ;)
> Howdy folks,
>
> I have been reading this mailing list for several weeks now, and I am
> nowhere near as fully versed in the field of philosophy as many of you
> appear to be. I've taken a course on Metaphysics so I'm not completely
> ignorant, but I have a looong way to go yet. Nor am I as familiar with
> excerpts and interweaving of Zen and Lila as you all appear to be. I've
read
> Zen a couple times, and Lila once through, slowly and with much thought.
>
> We choose which path we walk... When you step off at Leidsplein you risk
the chance that
> something dynamic will happen - but if you keep your head down and walk
with
> determination (pardon the pun) you will experience static Amsterdam.
>
> "...but to the extent that one chooses dynamic quality... one's behavior
is
> free.
> -Persig "
>
> At any point along the way you are *free* to chose DQ. All you have to do
is
> perceive it.
>
> -Kestrel
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