Hi The Bard:
Roger has responded as I would have to your belief in the "natural
goodness of the collective soul." So I won't repeat what he said much
better than I could. But you wrote something else I hope you will clarify
for me.
> Although your response below was addressed to Rog, I am so disturbed by
> your conclusions that I feel that I must respond. Regarding the
> individual's role in Dynamic change, Pirsig uses the dialectic to examine
> all sides of the issue, often deliberately contradicting earlier
> conclusions.
Do you mean by "the dialectic" that Pirsig uses the Socratic method to
make his points, or simply that he is logical? If the former it must be
well disguised because I don't see it. Perhaps you could point out
where in LILA he uses the Q&A method that Socrates made famous.
I enthusiastically agree with what you said as follows:
>The importance of the society vs. the individual is that the
> individual may indeed be the catalyst ( or even the leader of change), but
> without a coalition of similar believers, nothing ever changes. In a
> harmonic, synchronistic model of the Universe, the individual is the
> messenger, who because of his receptiveness at a given moment in time,
> perceives the kernel of a universal truth. If it hadn't been that
> individual, it would have been another in another place and time. We know
> from history that revolutionary ideas are often perceived by various
> individuals across the globe relatively simultaneously without any apparent
> connection between those individuals. The messenger is very important. But
> if he/she proceeds alone, that kernel of truth will be dismissed and no one
> will be the better for it until another messenger who seeks the affirmation
> of others emerges.
But as I wrote to Roger, whereas you and he rightly point out the
essential role of the collective, I put greater value on the individual
"catalyst." I prefer to focus on the spark rather than the flame. I'll even
go out on a limb and assert that with the possible exception of the
Founding Fathers, no group has ever originated any ideas of lasting
value.
Platt
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:01:46 BST