Hi Jon:
You wrote:
> I've often thought Pirsig considered "God" and "good" to be synonymous, from
> a pragmatic viewpoint anyway. I know he has distanced himself from
> traditional interpretations of God (Platt I'm sure can list all the quotes,
> such as when Pirsig asks Rigel "What God?" and when he talks of being
> initially wary of the works of James, thinking WJ could being trying to
> "smuggle" religion into science, etc.). But the old tableside prayer which
> every child knows begins as "God is good" may be profound.
I agree. Quality is not your religious God of fire and brimestone of the
old testament or love and forgiveness of the new. Nor is it Allah or
Buddha or any other diety remotely resembling a person. But to think of
it as a higher power, a prime mover, a first cause, a creator of all things
and light of the world--powers often attributed to the God of religion--is
correct IMHO. At the very least, Quality is a kind of energy that makes
things happen (dynamic) and preserves what it makes (static). "God is
great and God is good." That's how the tableside prayer begins as I
recall. Substituting "Quality" for God may be blasphemy, but in the
MOQ scheme of things, appropriate. A scientist, of course, would point
out that there's absolutely no objective evidence of a powerful "good,"
oblivious to the fact that he and all his fellow scientists find it good to
be objective. (-:
Platt
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