AN ATTEMPT AT A RATIONAL MOQ MYSTICISM.
It's not exactly wrong to say Pirsig "balances" mysticism and
rationalism. But I think it's more accurate to say Pirsig "uses" or
"employs" rational thinking to describe a mystical view of reality.
That's the degeneracy to which he confesses. The MOQ is an intellectual
description of a reality that is beyond all intellectual patterns. In
the past, descriptions of the same mystical reality were found in art,
myth and theology. Pirsig's is literary art, but it is also largely
intellectual. That is the most remarkable and degenerate aspect of the
MOQ!
I've read all the posts and am really loving it. Roger's recent summary
was an excellent piece of work. I'm always grateful for his summaries
and synthesies. Rich's posts have fascinated me. Yea. Soul. Definately.
Kevin and I are too much alike. He's my evil twin. I'm hoping this post
shows why mysticism is mis-placed as a fifth level. I have to say that
Platt and Struan seem to take the whole issue less than seriously. Are
you saying hippies, floating dope smokers and old religious forms best
represent mysticism? Do I detect an irrational hostility in your
comments? Seems intellectually dishonest as well. You guys know we're
talking about "abandoning all static patterns in favor of DQ". I'd love
to have a personal conversation with all of the recent posters, but time
constrains.
Instead, I'll try to explain the MOQ as MYSTICISM idea. The MOQ says all
of reality is composed of one thing; Quality. The MOQ says that Quality
can best be divided (intellectually) into two kinds of Quality; static
and Dynamic.
Static quality includes every "thing" that exists in the universe. SQ is
all time and space, galaxies and stars, planets and people. SQ is the
phenomenal world. It is everything we can see, measure or imagine. SQ
even includes thoughts and ideas, social movements and political
revolutions. Yes, SQ even includes art and religion, lust and
enlightenment, fear and beer. Everything you can possible imagine is
static Quality.
The other HALF of reality is DQ. This includes everything you can NOT
imagine. DQ is the aspect of reality, of Quality, that is undefinable.
It is beyond all words or concepts. It is forever a mystery. Pirsig
describes it as unpatterned Quality, or the undifferentiated aesthetic
continuum, or most commonly, Dyanamic Quality. The idea is that DQ is
beyond all static patterns, including intellectual patterns.
Yet DQ is the very ground of reality. It is the medium in which all
static patterns exist. Static patterns are manifestations of Quality,
while the ground remains un-manifested Dynamic Quality. Static patterns
precipitate out of DQ. DQ and static Quality are made of the same stuff,
but static patterns are particular inflections of the infinite potential
in DQ. Static patterns actualize or realize a little piece of the
endless possibility in DQ. All things are One.
In China they say the "world of the ten thousand things" is just an
illusion. In India they call this illusion the Maya. In Christian
mysticism they call it sin and evil.These are different ways of saying
that static patterns aren't really the seperate and substantial "things"
we think they are. They are other ways of saying that one can awaken to
a larger and brighter view of reality.
There are countless expressions of this idea. The allegory of the cave
springs to mind. Or The Truman Show. Even the historical period known as
the enlightenment is an example this universal idea of overcoming
illusions. It's one of those true myths that every language and culture
has produced. The standard pronunciation is misleading, but Atonement is
really At-one-ment. Or as they say in the East, at one with the cosmos.
This is a reference to the abandonment of all static patterns in favor
of DQ. Western culture has the same concept of divine identification, of
union with the ground of being. Jesus is reported to have said "I and
the father are one". He was saying that he and god are made of the same
stuff, that they're the same thing. Put another way, static patterns
and Dyamic Quality are two sides of the same coin. They're both made of
quality. In our culture, these ideas lay dormant under a cloud of
authoritarian literalism, fundamentalism and fanaticism.
AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION exists between things like instinct, intuition,
insight, inspiration - and the mystical experience. DQ is not only the
ground of being, it is also the driving force behind the evolution of
the universe. Instinct, intuition and insight each represent the Dynamic
at work in seperate levels of static patterns that exist in living
beings like us. The static patterns at all levels are constantly in
contact with DQ's evolutionary force. SQ responds to DQ at the
biological level as instinct, at the social level as intuition and at
the intellectual level as insight, inspiration, invention and
creativity. But the mystical experience itself is beyond all static
patterns. For a moment, eternity, infinity, pure DQ is experienced
directly and without the mediation of static patterns. For a moment, the
individual (soul?) becomes indistinguishable from the ground of being.
Reality is experienced directly.
It can be described afterward, as long as you don't mind being a
degenerate and remind your listeners that any descriptions are only a
map and should not be confused with the real place. (There is no Heaven,
Nirvana, no Oz, and the Promised land isn't really about real estate,
they're just maps.) In the final, rational analysis, even these
impossible and degenerate maps are superior to even the best
intellectual models because the former is based on a direct perception
of infinite reality and the latter is a perception of finite static
patterns.
The mystical experience cleanses the doors of perception and reality is
"seen" as it truly is; infinite.
Wow! This is getting way too long. But one more point has to be made.
The code of art, the fourth moral code, which isn't really a code at
all... could be stated as a commandment. THOU SHALT HONOUR DQ or THOU
SHALT NOT STAND IN THE WAY OF THE PROGRESS OF EVOLUTION. I really think
it just means that dynamic is always better than static.
Thanks for the time,
David B.
MOQ Online Homepage - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Unsubscribe - http://www.moq.org/md/index.html
MD Queries - horse@wasted.demon.nl
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:02:56 BST