Hi Trip,
Let me inject some Pirsig into your mission. I'll
quote you first:
>We know better now and the concept of
>enlightement human nature must bend. People are not
>greedy by nature. They are made greedy by culture,
>including most importantly the mass media.
I would venture to guess that Pirsig would say people
are not in touch with their Dynamic Quality. What
happens is a person's mind gets clouded over with
static ideas, and they confuse the static images with
reality. The media works on those images and to an
extent influences the masses. Now, who's fault is it?
If the person would wake up (see Eyes Wide Shut for a
movie treatment of this awakening to DQ), then he does
not need to be influenced. He can fight it with his
Dynamic Quality. That's the beauty of capitalism: it
provides a stage for all these static pupa to emerge
into dynamic butterflies. And the butterflies get the
jackpot. Capitalism rewards those who are in touch
with their DQ (like Virgin's Richard Branson).
Communism does not allow for that and in fact kills
Dynamic Quality (unless you are an insider who can
exploit that).
I think Pirsig would say capitalism is a problem now
only because the intellect is screwed up. How do we
fix capitalism? We have to "fix" the Intellect. We
need an intellect that is infused with morality. Right
now we have an intellect that has no concept of value.
And so because we primarily see the static world with
our intellect we see a value less world. People look
"greedy." The static part of capitalism is screwed up
through the dominance of value less science in the
intellect.
But capitalism is good because it allows for Dynamic
Quality. That is the hope of capitalism: it leaves
room for DQ that other government types don't. I
suppose Pirsig might venture to attribute this quality
of capitalism to the American Indians too. He says
America is Indian and Europen and this opening for DQ
is a hallmark of Indian culture and a hallmark of
Capitalism. If you can come up with another government
that accounts for DQ, then you are on a start to
replace capitalism. Until then you are lost.
>People will always act stupid, foolish, arrogant,
>selfish from time to time, bu they will also be
> alturistic, compassionate, caring and loving. Which
>one is our nature?
I think Pirsig would say both. We are static quality
(order) and Dynamic Quality (freedom). Our latching
onto Dynamic Quality with static mechanisms makes us
blind at times to the "Quality" of the world. We are
bifurcated in our souls but "evil" happens when the
static is too powerful (I think "evil" can happen when
DQ is too powerful). We need a balance. To do that, we
need to improve our intellect by incorporating values
into science. A balance of static quality and Dynamic
Quality is Quality and capitalism allows for that.
Pirsig would also say that Dynamic Quality needs
"degeneracy" as well as "creative" bursts. We
shouldn't use capital punishment because those
"degenerates" might have some thing to add to society
in ways that laws can comprehend.
>There is no Human nature beyond the innate desire to
>create culture, any culture that serves the needs of
>the people
I would say Dynamic Quality is beyond the "innate
desire to create culture." DQ is instantiated in each
person in a different way. DQ is always beyond in some
ways. It's the personal mystery, the mystique, the
revelation of our lives. In some ways, it is hope.
Lila had high DQ (she was in touch more so with her
inner being), poor social quality (she was a slut),
and high biological quality (she was a babe after
all).
Culture is part of the static realm. You can choose
for yourself if you think Pirsig is right. I'm just
trying to help you understand Pirsig.
Angus
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