Kevin-
You wrote:
>I wonder how he would classify Pirsig, a schizophrenic who knew how to
>swim?
To this I would first have to ask if we're sure Pirsig can "swim." Or
maybe, more precisely, if Phaedrus could swim.
I think of this passage fromm ZMM, "...but before help comes, slowly,
imperceptibly at first, the entire consciousness of Phaedrus begins to come
apart... to dissolve and fade away. Then gradually he no longer wonders
what will happen next. He knows what will happen next and tears flow for
his family and for himself and for this world." I'm not sure this sounds
like a "swimmer" to me. Phaedrus seems to me to have fought himself into
the mystic waters, so to speak. It destroyed his life, and in turn, his
mind.
You Wrote:
And I also wonder whether the schizophrenic doesn't know how to swim
>because there is something wrong with him/her or because there is something
>wrong with the society which calls him/her "insane?" >
Maybe this is backwards. Perhaps there is something wrong with the
schizophrenic BECAUSE they don't know how to swim. Drowning is the cause
of the "Insanity" and not the effect of it. So then why do they drown in
the first place? Probably because society hasn't prepared the for the
mystic expereince, society never taught them to swim.
What do ya think?
Rick
>
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