Hi Horse:
> I was almost convinced by your arguments but there was something that kept
> nagging at me. If Freedom and Dynamic Quality are the same thing then why
> didn't Pirsig just say that? He seems to spend a great deal of time
> conveying the message that DQ is undefineable:
>
> "To the extent that one's behavior is controlled by static patterns of
> quality it is without choice. But to the extent that one follows Dynamic
> Quality, which is undefinable, one's behavior is free."
>
> and that it is the cutting edge of reality:
>
> "Dynamic Quality is the pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality, the
> source of all things, completely simple and always new"
>
> etc. but I can't find anywhere in the book where he simply states that
> Freedom and DQ are one and the same. The closest he comes to it is:
>
> "Although Dynamic Quality, the Quality of freedom, creates this world in
> which we live, these patterns of static quality, the quality of order,
> preserve our world. Neither static nor Dynamic Quality can survive without
> the other."
>
> where he has the perfect opportunity to spell it out but he doesn't do so
> and I keep coming back to:
>
> "When they call it freedom, that's not right. "Freedom" doesn't mean
> anything. Freedom's just an escape from something negative. The real reason
> it's so hallowed is that when people talk about it they mean Dynamic
> Quality."
>
> wherin he effectively denies that they are the same thing. Freedom is
> negative, DQ (P. implies) is positive. Freedom and DQ are very closely
> related but I still think that freedom is a necessary pre-condition for DQ
> and not DQ itself:
>
> "This creates the problem of getting maximum freedom for the emergence of
> Dynamic Quality while prohibiting degeneracy from destroying the
> evolutionary gains of the past."
>
> But as our good chum Rog says: "I could be wrong"
I certainly could be wrong, too. Perhaps we can agree that freedom is
closely associated with DQ. In the passage you cited above where
freedom is "just an escape from something negative," the negative
being referred to IMO is the heel of a government jackboot on your neck
(which I'm especially sensitive to now because this is the time of year
when U.S. citizens are required to file a Federal income tax return).
For me the most important passage is: "To the extent that one's
behavior is controlled by static patterns of quality it is without choice.
But to the extent that one follows Dynamic Quality, which is
undefinable, one's behavior is free."
"Freedom to choose" is the supreme social/intellectual value that
millions in the Western world have sacrificed their lives to protect.
Finally, again my thanks to you Horse for keeping this site alive and
well. IMO it's the highest intellectual level conversation on the web.
Platt
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