Hi Lithien, Bodvar, Ant, Roger and everyone
Bodvar wrote:
Lithien, Glove and Group.
The thread was started by Lithien saying:
> when deep in zazen, it is possible to tap a primal reservoir where our
> animal consciousness resides. could this be analogous to an animal
> reality? these are some of my observations from familiarizing myself
> with this inner presence:
You are right. My opinion is that meditation is an inward journey to
more basic value levels (Intellect is easily left behind; Society
not so easily; the Biology even harder, but possible [it is
claimed that the yogi control metabolism]. If the Inorganic level can
be accessed is the million - question) and not so much encountering
Dynamic Quality. The latter is much too unsettling than to be sought
out deliberately.
Bodvar , i think this discussion about meditation and zazen is very
pertinent to your new SOLAQI as well. more specifically, meditation and
zazen seem to open up pathways of communication between the right and left
hemispheres of the brain. but because this is precisely where our sense of
movement arises, it is not only an inward movement in an objective sense,
but an outward movement as
well in a metaphorically subjective sense.
i suggest it is at the inorganic level of the brain that this subject/object
separation occurs and it is a very difficult notion to overcome
intellectually as long as the intellect is viewed as a construct and not a
destruct part of reality. there is an overpowering need by the
intellect to break free of ANY static pattern. this is recognized in all
organized religions and philosophies that are the backbone of society.
therefore a rigid system of social patterns is instilled in all the
"members".
i would hazard a guess that in most of us, it is the left hemispheres of
our brains that contain the structure of culture and it is in the right
hemisphere that contains the structure where intellect arises, and
furthermore, these structures are tied together directly via a bundle of
nerve fibers that run between them. this ties art to the intellect, but it
also tells me that art is an attempt by the intellect to destroy society.
the intellect completely unbridled could be culturally viewed as insanity.
it is the intellect that the brujo follows and not Dynamic Quality directly,
which cannot be experienced.
the professor and the student both follow social patterns of value and
mistakenly refer to them as intellectual pursuits. nothing could be further
from the truth. it is the guy sitting in the very back of the class you have
to watch out for. Pirsig knew that.
that is where the intellect resides, outside of social patterns of value
that are culturally accepted by the majority. discovering differences means
discovering similarities. not only is our language based on metaphor, our
entire perception is only a metaphor, a rememberance.
perception arises because we can separate ourself from everything else.
again, this seems to hinge on the way our brains are constructed. looking at
the object as both inorganic, made up of atoms held together by cohesion,
and living tissue making use of these atoms and holding them in stasis for
short periods, and the subject as social and intellectual patterns that
value these biological patterns of value, but at the same time each residing
in a different hemisphere of the brain, then we begin to realize the
complexity of what it is we are talking about here.
discreation=inorganic[objects]biological=creation=social[subjects]intellect=
discreation
a Quality Event following its sequence, and if it is in precessional
resonance, discreation of the intellect is achieved by new creation and not
simply by deconstruction. see my struction email. we cannot view this in a
linear fashion but rather as a dance between particles that both want to be
and not-be in the same instant. in a Quality driven universe preferences and
probabilities operate precessionally on all static levels. from Ants paper:
Pirsig has this to say about probability and preference:
"When the distinction between them is examined an interesting fact
appears. Preference is always supposed to be subjective. It exists only
at
the intellectual and social levels. At the biological level it becomes
controversial as to whether animals such as cats have a preference or
if
they function according to Skinnerian stimulus-and-response
probability.
And at the atomic level it is assumed that only probability exists."
"The MOQ puts an end to this ancient freewill vs. determinism
controversy by showing that both preference and probability are subsets
of value. As the distinction between subject and object becomes
relatively unimportant in the MOQ, so does the distinction between
probability and preference. There is no basic difference between mind
and matter with regard to free will, only a difference in degree of
freedom. Subatomic forces can express limited preferences too."
(letter from Robert Pirsig to Anthony McWatt, May 3rd, 1997)
i.e. preference is seen as being on a continuum rather than suddenly
manifesting itself at the human level. In the MOQ, the higher up the
evolutionary ladder you go (from sub-atomic particles to people) the
more freedom you have in making preferences. This is why generally a
person's experience will be that much richer and complex than a dog's
while the dog's experience will be that much better than a tree's which
will be better than a piece of rock's and so on.
>From a mystic point of view, I think you can say that experience (or
what Pirsig terms the "Quality Event") creates all entities from
sub-atomic particles to people so the question for whom or what HAS
the experience does not arise (as experience has them).
(from Anthony McWatt's Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality)
my comments:
viewing subjects and objects as sub-sets of static quality arising from
Dynamic Quality is essential for seeing where it is meditation and zazen
takes us.
the inorganic level is in destruction which we cannot form conscious static
latches with. and so the biological layer values inorganic struction
patterns that are stable enough to support it.
life is created, and from actual creation of life springs the non-actual
creation of society. Dynamic Quality values freedom and it is thru the
intellect that that freedom is achieved by discreating social patterns of
value on a continual basis. it is the intellect that is experienced when all
social patterns of value are quieted in meditation and zazen.
vfr4(my cat telling me i have rambled enough)
Roger writes:
Bo, thanks for sharing a rich line of insightful thoughts. Squadies, let me
know if your SOTAQI or your understanding differs materially. The best
ideas
are written in pencil.
Roger, i think that we both agree and disagree on several key issues. i will
attempt to further address them in another letter. my best ideas are not
written at all though.
best wishes to everyone
glove
http://members.tripod.com/~Glove_r/Bohr.html
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