Hi Walter, Horse, Platt, David B., (Diana, if you read this) and all,
Seasons greetings everyone.
This is basically a continuation of the "Bottom up Morality" thread, but
I've changed the subject line because I believe that many things are
starting now to come together (for me, at least).
Many months ago, Diana commented on a communism vs. capitalism
discussion by saying that for either system to work it must be applied
with CARING. I've carried that comment with me since.
In recent posts, several of us have made the point that "moral"
decisions require us to take account of as much of the sceneraio as
possible basically to open our eyes and LOOK OUT. Looking out is, of
course, synonymous with caring. You care for someone by looking out for
them. Pirsig as the narrator of ZAMM provided us several examples of
people applying their craft carefully, with full attention. He also gave
us a counterexample of recklessness. A few years ago, I read
psychiatrist Scott Peck's "The Road Less Travelled By" in which he makes
the point that the opposite of love isn't hate, but lack of caring.
David B.'s Xmas message of LOVE makes perfect sense. The morality of
Pirsig's quality lies in the equation linking value/caring/love. People
who love/value/care about each other also look out for one another.
Does Lila have quality? Does Lila have love? Does anyone care for her,
does she care for anyone?
Rigel answered the question by his own actions. He was looking out for
her all along!
But how can each individual maintain a constant lookout in every sphere
of life? Moral codes, laws and recipes are there to help. Their aim is
allow us to live moral lives by "autopilot". This has put western man to
sleep - he can follow rules, but mistakes this for morality. We have
stopped caring and stopped looking out. No wonder we've had such
terrible moral crashes this century.
Jonathan
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