Thanks Platt!
>You'll find my list of principles as well as those of others at:
>
>http://members.tripod.com/~Glove_r/Childintro.htm
>
>This is the site of "Lila's Child," a compilation of early MOQ discuss
>posts edited by Dan Glover. You will find the principles in Chapter 8.
>
>I'm sure you'll find many of the views expressed in "Lila's Child" of
>interest--as if you didn't have enough reading on your plate. (-:
Wow . . . 'bout 400 or so pages ! . . . now assembled in one document
so I can word search it. . . (thanks to Dan too!)
*beam*
and it's very exciting to see Pirsig contributing !
>Speaking of love, I don't know much about you, but I already love your
>inquiring mind!
Oh Platt! - *sheesh*!
... bold naivety you mean?... this forum might as well have at least one...
Love,
Tanya
(I am grateful for your time and attention)
Platt's Principles :
Here is my offering of the basic principles of the MOQ. I
wholeheartedly agree with Diana that without agreement on the basic
Principles, a lot of the Squad's exchanges amount to little more than
intelligent but insignificant cocktail party talk. What we're dealing
with here is nothing less than a huge paradigm shift on a par with
Einstein's relativity. If it is to survive and have any influence, it
must "latch" with deep taproots of comprehension and believability. I
apologize for the length, but to condense a 400-page book that will,
in Diana's challenge, "cover everything" and still have some
semblance of meaning I found a truly daunting task. To what degree
I've been successful is for your evaluation.
Principles of the Metaphysics of Quality
1. The Quality Principle. Quality is simultaneously an immanent and
transcendent moral force. It created and gave purpose to our world,
motivated by the ethical principle of the Good, which is its essence.
Quality is synonymous with morality and value. Thus, the world is
primarily a moral order, consisting not of subjects (mental things)
and objects (material things) but patterns of value.
2. The Awareness Principle. The essence of quality is known to us as
awareness without content; pure, unpatterned experience. As such,
it's impossible to describe. Whenever we try, we end up describing
what we are aware of, not awareness itself.
3. The Dynamic/static Principle. To explain the inexplicable, the
Metaphysics of Quality divides quality into two parts, Dynamic and
static. Dynamic Quality is the moral imperative to create; static
quality is the moral imperative to survive.
4. The Levels Principle. Quality became manifest in our world by an
evolutionary sequence of Dynamic Quality events. Left in the wake of
these events were four static levels of evolution; Inorganic,
Biological, Social and Intellectual. Each level is a static pattern
of Quality, organized and governed by its own unique moral laws: The
laws of physics, biology, culture, and reason, respectively.
5. The Awareness Hierarchy Principle. Each higher level evolved from
and included the lower but expanded awareness. For example, the
intellectual level can apprehend mathematical patterns that the lower
levels cannot. Also, all levels possess, in addition to environmental
awareness, an awareness of values. Even a lowly virus knows what's
good for it.
6. The Moral Hierarchy Principle. Because higher levels are more
aware, they are more moral than levels below. Intellectual patterns
take moral precedence over social patterns, social patterns over
biological, and biological patterns over inorganic.
7. The First Dominance Principle. Because a lower level is largely
unaware of levels above it, it considers itself to be the most moral
and strives to dominate other levels. What is moral and lawful at one
level is often immoral and unlawful at another. For example,
biological laws defy the laws of physics.
8. The Second Dominance Principle. Static patterns within levels that
humans identify as entities are possessed by varying degrees of
Quality depending on their affinity to the next higher or lower
level. They often try to devour other patterns to enhance their own
survival. This causes suffering, the negative face of Quality that
drives the creative process.
9. The Dependency Principle. When a higher level attempts to assert
its moral dominance over a lower level, it must be careful that it
does not endanger the stability of the lower level on which it
ultimately depends for survival. For example, if the intellect in its
quest for freedom from social inhibitions causes social instability,
intellect will suffer.
10. The Individual Principle. At the present stage of moral
evolution, only living beings can respond to Dynamic Quality. Humans,
composites of all four levels, are the most capable of responding.
However, responses to and evaluations of Quality vary by individual
because each has a different static pattern of life history.
11. The Truth Principle. Truth, an intellectual value pattern, is a
species of Good. There's no single, exclusive truth, but those of
high quality are empirical, logical, elegant, and brief. In any case,
it's immoral for truth to be subordinated to social values.
12. The Freedom Principle. To create ever higher levels of awareness,
Dynamic Quality strives for freedom from all static patterns. Freedom
is the core value and highest Good in the Metaphysics of Quality.
Thus, the best social and intellectual patterns are those that
promote freedom consistent with maintaining the static patterns
necessary for survival.
13. The Proof Principle. That reality is morality strikes most people
as loony. But in denying that the world is a moral order they have to
employ moral judgment. They cannot refute that Quality is reality
without asserting a value. And they will have to concede that it's
impossible to live without assumptions of what is Good. For life
requires action, action presupposes choice, choice presupposes
purpose and purpose presupposes values.
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