Hi Glove,
Thanks for passing along Doug Renselle’s ontological axioms.
Basically I agree with them, but I have a few observations and
questions.
1. Primal or proemial creation in no way depends on man or any
other sentient.
If this refers to creation of the universe, such as the Big Bang, it
assumes a beginning (and its opposite, an end). Does this
contradict #2 which speaks of infinity? (Is the term “proemial”
necessary? I had to look it up and I’m still not sure what it means.)
Also, the term “sentient” bothers me. The dictionary definition is
“capable of feeling and perceiving things.” In Chp. 9, Pirsig
describes Dynamic Quality: “Its only perceived good is freedom and
its only perceived evil is static quality itself—“ If this means what I
think it means, i.e., “The only good DQ perceives is freedom and the
only evil it perceives is static quality itself,” DQ would qualify as
“sentient” casting doubt on Axiom 1. But the next two Axioms can
probably still stand because “awareness” is mighty close to being
analogous to “sentience.”
2. Flux is aware. (from zero to infinite Hertz in infinite dimensions.)
“Flux” and “Hertz” suggest waves. Are there no particles to be
accounted for? Would particles also be aware? Does “flux” include
particles?
3. Awareness scales.
Does this mean awareness scales in spaciousness or intensity? Or
both? Or in some other dimension?,
What happened to Quality? Shouldn’t Quality be included in axioms
relating to the MOQ? Without Quality being specifically included it
seems to me the axioms are suited more to panpsychism than to the
MOQ.
It’s probably unfair to pose these questions to you. Perhaps Doug
will read this and respond.
I do have a couple of direct questions for you, though. You wrote:
“At first glance, these axioms seem to contradict what I have been
stating as far as experience being Quality and awareness being
reality.”
What is the difference between experience and awareness? Doesn’t
Pirsig say that experience is reality? (“Quality is direct experience,
independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions.” Lila, Chp. 5.)
As I understand it, Quality=experience=awareness=reality. There
are no distinctions.
Looking forward to your thoughts.
Platt
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