Hi Wim,
WIM: Your quotes from 'The art of doing nothing' may also point toward a way
of
combining mysticism and social activism. Especially to 'let our actions
issue from a still center' comes close to Quakerism. I don't see how your
quotes relate to the MoQ however.
How do YOU think mysticism and social activism can be combined (without
words borrowed from yet another writer)?
I was once told lovingly by an ex-boyfriend that i was like an adolescent who
said saw the world how it "should be" rather then how it "is".
That always makes me laugh. I think MOQ shows these are not mutually
exclusive.
I would say my attempt to combine social activism and mysticism is by using
MOQ as a framework of what the world really is and a guide to how it should
be.
You said you don't see why "The Art of Doing Nothing" is related to MOQ-why
not?
I remember reading on the internet where Pirsig quoted a Buddhist saying
“don’t do anything”—when he was contemplating whether he should join in the
discussion or some activity like that.
I know you didn’t want me to bring in yet another author but I have to ignore
that request because Campbell says it so well.
There is one part of the “The Power of Myth” where Joseph Campbell tells a
story where he had asked a Hindu guru “if everything is divine, then isn’t
brutality, suffering, etc divine?” The Hindu guru answered “Yes for you and
me”. It turns out that had been the guru’s first question.
Now I do believe mysticism and social activism can be combined but I don’t
want it to be yes xyz has quality but we need to eliminate xyz. I think xyz
have to recognized and accepted as having quality before a “proper” social
activism develops. I think compassion to suffering is a good response in the
Buddhist context “all life is suffering”.
I just don’t want to cling too tightly to a destination of “no more suffering”
but having that destination seems like a right path to me. If the social
activism involves clinging tightly to any idealistic destination then I think
some people start missing the quality in the ordinary day to day life
activities and their social activism is no longer life affirming.
Campbell talked about the relativity of good and evil-- I believe
in recognizing this as important in social activism. Moyers had asked Campbell
if the ultimate conclusion of this is to accept everything as it is—Campbells
answers was “That is not the necessary conflusion to draw. You could say , I
will participate in this life, I will join this army, I will go to war, and so
forth.. I will participate in the game. It is a wonderful, wonderful
opera---except that it hurts.”
The MOQ also shows how good and evil may be relative—what is
good for one level is not good for another. The MOQ also shows that
everything has quality. Thus the MOQ is a good guide in how to participate in
the opera,war,fight, etc despite the relativity of good/evil and acceptance
that “it is all Quality”.
I didn’t give any explicit examples of how to combine mysticism and social
activism because I think it may be different for everybody. I would consider
writing novels is a form of social activism and may have a bigger impact then
many typical examples of social activism. I guess in conclusion I want a
practical, personal social activism.
____
On another note you had said that collective morality was the unconscious
not social to you. I am not clear why it can't be a collective conscious
(social) and a collective unconscious that creates a collective morality.
I think the importance of a collective morality is the recognition the
interconnectedness of everything--- you can get this internally and
externally.
Cheers,
Erin
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 - 16:02:16 BST