John Beasley and all MOQers:
Your April first post, the one about the distinctions between intellectuals
and mystics, between ideas and immediacy, deserves a detailed answer. But I
only have time for a single post this weekend. Instead let me just say that
its interesting and I have no major problems with your descriptions as far
as they go. The thing is that you're talking realities that apply to about
the top 1% of the world's population. From their perspective the world of
ideas is constrictive and are at a level of development that is beyond all
that. They've entered a spiritual realm. But even they, as the myths always
go, are destined to return to the ordinary world as teachers and such. In
any case, I'm interested in advocating the intellectual level insofar as it
is under siege by the social level. I'm interested in that battle because it
defines this historical moment. That battle describes the world's struggle
to achieve a new phase of development and the outcome will decide our
future. In this sense, ideas are not a constrictive trap. They're an
improvement and they represent the best possible aspirations. Yes,
transcending all static patterns is the ultimate goal in the development of
the individual, but in terms of the historic battle between the social and
intellectual levels such mystical aims would be premature at best. And its
true that the MOQ and Wilber both paint a picture where the individual and
the society are intertwined with whole evolutionary process, but that's just
one more reason to advocate the intellectual level. As Wilber has it, only
40% of the world's population has transcended the mythic/fundamentalist
level. That leaves 60% who have not.
Pirsig didn't just disagree with his teacher's somewhat Nihilistic view
toward the use of atomic weapons, he was angered and outraged by it. The
voilence and sheer power of these kinds of arms has us in a situation that
is far more precarious and far less affordable than Wilson ever imagined.
These kinds of problems simply can't be solved at the social level - and
mystical transcendence isn't the right tool either. War, genocide and
exploitation are antics of the giant and can only be tamed by the
intellectual level.
Joseph Campbell recognized this same struggle in his first book, more than
fifty years ago. Here he writes about the world's problems as a symptom of
restricted consciousness, an underdeveloped grasp of life.
"Every failure to cope with a life situation must be laid, in the end, to a
restriction of consciousness. Wars and temper tantrums are the makeshifts of
ignorance; regrets are illuminations come too late. Who and where are his
ogres? Those are the reflections of the unsolved enigmas of his own
humanity. What are his ideals? Those are the symptoms of his grasp of life."
dmb
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