Patrick and others,
as a newcomer to MD, i appreciate your suggestion to reduce to a few
sentences the a meaning for subject-object-metaphysics, SOM ... as a
lurker, until now, the frequent use of MoQ jargon has been a stumbling
block toward understanding this quite active list and interesting
topic ... since joining the list in early May, this has been the first
thread to which i feel i may be able to contribute something ...
André suggested
>Taoism = MoQ - SOM ...
others commented on the "baggage" of Taoism as a religion, indeed the
"baggage" of MoQ ... hmmm, haven't quite found an appropriate -ism for
MoQ, yet) ... nonetheless, here is my thinking and experience ...
as a longtime reader the Tao Teh Ching, I've long been interested in
Taoism, but never explored it having an innate skepticism for -ism's,
including my own skepticism ... several years ago i became acquainted
with a small community of practitioners of Tein Tao in Houston ...
distinctly different from Taoism, the religion, practitioners of Tein
Tao attempt to simply consiously live the principles of the Tao,
outlined originally in the writings of Lao Tzu and ever evolving in
personal understanding ...
their practice is to be in the oneness, consciously through continual
disciplined meditative awareness, and to be of the oneness,
physically, through harmonious action in their widely varied
professions, from cooks in vegetarian restaurants to physicians ...
there is little "baggage" in their practice, distinctly not a belief,
religion or cult ... yes, there was ceremony with all it's trappings
in an initiation process, but such ceremony is a distant cousin of the
practice, process, experience of oneness ... words such as being in or
of the oneness, become unnecessarily additive and circular in trying
to explain the experiential essence of Tein Tao ... the practice ...
i had neither the discipline nor patience to pursue their practice and
have since moved to tohe other side of Houston to a small town, but
the metaphor of being consciously and physically in and of the oneness
is one i hold very dear ... in my own way, i attempt to practice such
harmony today ... as i'm beginning to appreciate what you all are
about, such an awareness and practice is one i sense buried in the
still mysterious jargon of MoQ... one i recall from my first reading
of ZAMM ...
so that's my two cents worth ... what follows is a brief introduction
...
having just begun a re-immersion in ZAMM, i'm discovering an
integrative consistency with the life i've lead as a seeker, very much
shaped by that first reading 25+ years ago ... my path has also
included a deep immersion and initiation into Native American
traditions and many other studies ...
i now seek to frame or find a structure, inherently frail in my
belief, capable of supporting my personal experience of the logos and
Spirit, of word and experience ... words fail me in explaining
transcendent experience, ephemeral transcendence is lost immediately
on reflection and examination ... yet, as i continue as a wanderer, a
seeker, i continually sense and discover common threads in many
different and quite divergent -ism's ... such is my subjective history
and quest ...
objectively, i come from a similar background as a wanderer through
mathematics, engineering, and computer science ... once a hard-core
rationalist, at some point i discovered a discontinuity between logic
and reality, physics and metaphysics, my world view cracked and
crumbled, i continue to rebuild it through an acceptance and
exploration of the irrational and transcendental ... i have
experienced as much or more beauty there as i ever in the world of
logic ... yet, together they are but a two legged stool ...
today, i teach high school math, a brand new career, research and
write history, dabble with short stories and story-telling, and
continue to seek and explore the unknowable ... pretty frail
credentials i'm afraid, but seldom afraid to express my opinion ... of
necessity i'll remain in lurk mode for some time as i re-read ZAMM and
read, for the first time, LILA ... i clearly see the underlying
definitions of MoQ are to be found there, i'll get to it someday ...
as i recall reading LILA was a pre-requisite for joining this list,
probably a big part of my struggle, but just wanted to take the
opportunity to throw my first two cents into the pool ... 'fraid i
failed at keeping it to a few sentences ...
ron in texas
--- Original Message -----
From: Patrick v.d. Berg <cirandar@yahoo.com>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2002 7:59 PM
Subject: MD What is SOM?
> Hi all,
>
> Reoccuring words in this forum are 'sq', 'DQ' and 'SOM'. There is a
> tendency here to put forward some argument, and then classify it as
> belonging to one of these categories, which then is followed simply
by a
> '.': no further explanation needed.
> I read here in some posts that things can be real independently of
our
> consciousness. That makes me wondering about what SOM means.
> The MoQ is not a SOM philosophy. But is it? If biological and
inorganic
> patterns are real but not conscious, should we not say that these
> patterns are objectively real; since they can exist by themselves,
> without a consciousness to shine upon them needed? Instead of two
words
> "subject-object" we have five
> "inorganic-organic-biological-social-intellectual" (I believe these
are
> the levels: I never was good in them)... but no essential difference
> between these two perspective; it lies only in the jargon that's
being
> used.
>
> Here is a question then: Define in a few sentences what YOU mean by
> subject-object-metaphysics.
>
> (To try to explain the intuitive simple can be illuminating. It
happened
> to me just a few days ago when I explained 'reductionism' to my
father).
>
> Good luck, and with friendly greetings, Patrick.
>
>
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