Erin, Platt, Roger, Wim and all MOQers:
I think its pretty clear that disagreement and criticism really bugs some
people. For some reason it seems to bother some people more than others.
This is unfortunate insofar as it tends to turn honest debate into an
exercise in defensive posturing. This is not good insofar as it turns
discussion into a clash of egos. Roger, for example, was apparently
offended at my criticism of the USA's foreign policy and answered it with
lots of personal attacks upon me. His answer was, ironically, to call me
petty and mean-spirited. Its understandable because nobody likes to be
insulted, but I'd beg everyone to try and rise above hurt feelings because
that kind of response doesn't help to move the conversation forward. Quite
the contrary. I'll admit that there's part of me that just wants to return
the favor, but I'll try to resist that impulse. Instead of tossing out
insults I'll try to turn my response into something useful and interesting.
Wish me luck. I'm only human.
For starters, let's consider this Pirsigism about three different mirrors...
"Its like a hall of mirrors at a carnival where some mirrors distort you one
way and some distort you another. Already he'd seen three completely
different mirror reflections this week: from Rigel, who reflected an image
of some kind of moral degenerate; from Lila, who reflected a tedious old
nerd; and now Redford who was probably going to cast him into some sort of
heroic image. Each person you come to is a different mirror." P254
Its interesting that these three reflections say as much about Rigel, Lila
and Redford as they do about Pirsig. Maybe they even say more. That Rigel
sees him as a moral degenerate, I think, only shows how Rigel sees himself.
His values are at the quais-Victorian social level. And Lila's view shows
where she's at. Her values are largely biological. And Redford's a film
maker, but a relatively smart one. His business is to depict heros. (I'm
with Redford on this one. I see RMP as a cultural hero.) In a very real
sense, each one of them is projecting their own values onto Pirsig. Anyway,
the author continues this idea...
"Maybe mirrors are all you ever get. First the mirrors of your parents, then
friends and teachers, then bosses and officials, priests and ministers, and
maybe writers and painters too. ... But what controls all these mirrors is
the culture: the Giant, the gods; and if you run afoul of the culture it
will start throwing up reflections that try to destroy you." P254
Its pretty clear what Pirsig is saying here. The giant controls the mirrors
and thereby controls our image of ourselves. We tend here to think of the
intellect as the main culprit in the kind of ego traps that the mystic is
forever trying to overcome, but I think that's not quite true. Its the giant
that needs to be transcended. Its social level values that determine the
illusory self. I don't mean to confuse the intellect with the mystical here,
but I think intellectual values really can serve as a means of
transcendence, at least partially. The fourth level values can help to make
the mirror less important to us. They can help to loosen the grip of those
distorting mirrors. An intellectual approach helps to put the mirrors in
their proper place. As Pirsig says...
"All the badges and trophies, all the blue ribbons, all the promotion up the
business ladder, all the elections to "high office", all the compliments and
flattery of tea parties and cocktail parties (And DMB adds, all the internet
discussion groups) are celebrity enhancements. All the feuding and battling
for prestige among academic and scientists. All the offense at "insults".
All the face of the Orient. Celebrity. Celebrity. ... In fact you can
measure the quality of a university by comparing the relative strengths of
the celebrity patterns and the intellectual patterns." P257
Now, getting to specific kinds of mirrors, American mirrors, look at what
Erin said on the issue of patriotism....
I really don't understand the idea of being proud or guilty of being
American.
I am glad I was born in America but I had nothing to do with this matter so
I
do not feel pride our guilt about it. I would feel proud about a personal
achievement that is partly possible to due to the environmental conditions
of
my country. But patriotism seems to be about the birth itself -- its like
waving the old RED, WHITE, AND BLUE because I was born with red lips, white
teeth,and blue eyes. Just seems silly.
This seems like a pretty healthy attitude. If we identify too closely with
our country, we can get kinda crazy. We can't rightly take credit for a
nation's greatness or folly. Our nationality is strictly an accident of
birth and we have no more choice over it than we do our hair color. (I have
blue lips, white hair and red eyes, but that's only because I'm cold, old
and stoned. Ba-dump-bump)
Jospeh Campbell takes on this same theme of social transcendence at the end
of his first book, THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, which was first published
in 1949. He says...
"But there is another way - in diametric opposition to that of social duty
and the popular cult. From the standpoint of the way of duty, anyone in
exile from the community is a nothing. From the other point of view,
however, this exile is the first step of the quest. ... The image of man
within is not to be confounded with the garments. We think of ourselves as
Americans, children of the twentieth century, Occidentals, civilized
Christians. Yet such designations do not tell what it is to be man, they
denote only the accidents of geography, birth-date, and income. What is the
core of us? What is the basic character of our being? The asceticism of the
medieval saints and of the yogis of India, the Hellenistic mystery
initiations, the ancient philosophies of the East and of the West, are
techniques for the shifting of the emphasis of individual consciousness away
from the garments. No man can return fron such exercises and take very
seriously himself as Mr So-and-so of Such-and-such a township, USA - Society
and duties drop away." JC's Hero 385-6
Now this brings us to the part where I have to resist the temptation to be
merely insulting. I hope that it is taken as criticism with a purpose. It
may feel every bit as unpleasant as petty name-calling, but I promise that
the intention is much more than that. To take criticism of your nation as a
personal attack only shows that you indentify yourself with the giant. It
demonstrates an attachment to social values and an enslavement to the giant.
And clinging to this third level value system is immoral to the extent that
it contradicts intellectual values. The highest ideals of the USA are
intellectual values and the long list of foreign policy follies that so
offended Roger contradict those values. They are a list of the antics of the
giant and they represent the unprincipled actions of an imperial empire.
Further, it seems to me that genuine American patriotism, for lack of a
better word, is to be found in the celebration of these highest ideals;
equality of rights, equal justice, equal representation in a principled
democracy, etc. Roger wants to believe that my criticism are inventions or
disortions. He wants to believe there are good reasons for all the
objectionable actions of his country. He wants to believe that the USA is
among the most generous of the developed nations and when the facts flatly
contradict that he wants to find good reasons for that too. Mirrors. He
looks at the USA and sees himself. He looks at criticism of the USA and sees
criticism of himself. He sees criticism of corporate power and sees a threat
to his own power. Its a painful ego trap. His insulting reactions express
the anger of the giant. It leads him to see insult where none is intended.
It causes distortions in interpreting the MOQ too. I don't mean to pick on
Roger. Nobody is immune to the mirrors. In fact, they're very important. But
to get trapped in this way is not just patriotism, it is nationalism and
extreme nationalism is pretty much the definition of fascism. That's why
flag-wavers make me nervous. When it get out of hand, extreme nationalism
doesn't just result in name-calling or philosophical distrotions. It leads
to lots of cruelty and death. In such a situation offending people is the
least of our problems.
I'm not interested saving face so much as saving heads.
Sincerely sorry if it hurt to read these words.
DMB
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