David,
The main idea I got from your response was this: RMP had some great ideas
and insights, but not much useful advice on implementing any radical
changes personally or in society.
>But putting those principles into practice is easier said than done. Remember
>Phaedrus said "HE wouldn't have to rebuild at all" he didn't say you or some
>else wouldn't have to!
Before I found this discussion group of people fascinated with MoQ, I
wandered the world with Pirsig's ideas in my brain, causing me to realign
my head as I absorbed 20th century culture, causing me to look at old
problems with a fresh perspective. I did this pretty much on my own,
simply from recognising the truth (or more accurately - Quality!) of the
ideas laid out in those books, and comparing the way I looked at things
with the way they were presented in the paper, on TV and on the radio.
Over time, this has a profound and radical effect. I took the same facts
fed to everyone, but those facts formed completely different patterns than
expected by the purveyors of information. As this phenomena spreads, I'd
expect to see real results. Like a seed laying dormant in the soil until
conditions are right, radical ideas don't always seem to change the world
immediately, but then someday decades hence, you'll see a forest where
before was only barren desert before.
My main fascination lately has become politics, rather than philosophy or
metaphysics. How would the world be changed if politicians started asking
themselves "what is best" rather than "what is most expedient"? It seems
that the Republican and Democratic parties have pretty much used up all
their juice and I see many signs all around that the American people are
fed up with politics as usual.
What if there were enough people who understood Pirsig's work to start a
Quality Party? Who don't care about right or left but what is best.
I was excited to see that Pirsig himself refered to this idea in a post to
the moq website extolling the virtues of Abraham Lincoln as a great
American Philosopher. He's right, and that points to some interesting
possibilities for social action, don't you think?
Cheers,
jc
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