John
As a perennial lurker to MOQ, I seldom contribute. My life is such that I seldom have time to draft
the responses I often wish to. But MOQ provides me with constant intellectual stimulation and I am
very glad for its existence. The spirit of freedom in this forum grants me the right of
non-contribution, and I take it gladly.
I have, however, read almost every message posted to MOQ in the last 12 months. And I am writing to
you now with some suggestions based on that experience.
The MOQ is dynamic quality in action. To paraphrase RP, "it is hard to tell true dynamic quality from
degeneracy". The population of MOQ ranges from dedicated and selfless individuals pursuing a greater
understanding of our existence to people attempting to use the forum to prop up fragile self-images to
petulant children with an axe to grind. Some contributors manage to be all three in a single day.
But what makes this forum exceptional is the gems which do come out of it. How do you identify the
gems? Evaluate each post as it comes, regardless of the originator. I have seen sheer brilliance and
then mindless drivel come from the same person, often only a few hours after the previous.
I agree with you in some regards about the need for civility - it would be nice. Also respect would be
a great benefit, more to the perpetrator than the target, as usually only the person behaving poorly
suffers and not the recipient of their vitriol. But I would caution against the desire to append a
social code upon a dynamic forum. It would perhaps be more advisable to simply apply an emotional
filter against everything and everyone you read here. If your purpose for being here is to find
pointers to a greater truth, then a pebble on the road is hardly worthy of your attention.
Your comment "...not to just pour out whatever response arises..." is one I will take issue wth. This
is a known medium for the emergence of dynamic quality (as well as mindless crap). Einstein developed
relativity through simply letting his mind wander aimlessly when known paths had reached a dead-end.
Most results of poorly considered thought are worthless. Likewise, most results of genetic variance
are worthless (or harmful). It's that other tiny percentage that interests me.
So relax and enjoy the ride. Take what serves you from this forum and discard the rest. Someone once
said -"life is full of lumps, but there are lumps in the gravy, lumps in the throat and lumps in the
breast. Learn to tell the difference".
Go in peace
Manning
John and Ruth Beasley wrote:
> I joined MOQ_DISCUSS only a couple of weeks ago. Over the past couple of days I have
> read some sixty messages, mostly from this forum, with increasing anger and disgust...
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