From: David Morey (us@divadeus.freeserve.co.uk)
Date: Sun Aug 15 2004 - 11:47:55 BST
Hi DMB
All well and very good. But the advantage of
Pirsig & Wilber and a number of other thinkers is that they
explain how we have got ourselves embroiled
in dualistic approaches to existence such
as SOM. Much PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY, I've
read the Huxley, presents an alternative without explaining
how the division between dualism and non-dualism has
occurred, how they are related, and how we may get
back to non-dualism without losing the gains we made on
the journey through SOM. PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY
can seem like going backwards and losing what we have
gained through SOM rather than a going forward to a new
form of non-dualism. You can surely see this danger/problem
with PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY?
regards
David M
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Buchanan" <DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2004 1:37 AM
Subject: MD Plotinus, Pirsig and Wilber
> Mark and all MOQers:
>
> 1. Is Quality more similar to: a. Whitehead's Process Philosophy, b. the
> Tao, or; c. Plotinus' One?
>
> To answer, Dan Glover quoted From Anthony McWatt's MOQ PhD Textbook:
>
> "Pirsig asserts that the philosopher closest to him is Plotinus."
>
> "I think Pirsig has stated this as both philosophers characterise
experience
>
> as being a continuum from the divine through the intellect to biology then
> to physical matter (the least divine or lowest Quality level); everything
is
>
> one, for both philosophers, in the sense of being an aspect of God (or to
> use Pirsig's terminology 'Dynamic Quality')."
>
> This idea of a continuum is part of the perennial philosophy...
>
> Ken Wilber:
> "To begin with the premodern or traditional sources, the easiest access to
> their wisdom is through what has been called the perennial philosophy, or
> the common core of the world's great spiritual traditions. As Huston
Smith,
> Arthur Lovejoy, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and other scholars of these
traditions
> have pointed out, the core of the perennial philosophy is the view that
> reality is composed of various LEVELS OF EXISTENCE - levels of being and
> knowing - ranging from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit. Each
senior
> dimension transcends but includes its juniors, so that this is a
conception
> of wholes within wholes within wholes indefinitely, reaching from dirt to
> divinity." (Emphasis is Wilber's)
>
> Mysticism is also a part of the perennial philosophy...
>
> Pirsig:
> 247 "Bradley's fundamental assertion is that the reality of the world is
> intellectually unknowable, and that defines him as a mystic. ...Both he
and
> the MOQ are expressing what Aldous Huxley called "The Perennial
Philosophy",
> which is perennial, I believe, because it happens to be true."
>
> Or as I like to put it, the evidence is so overwhelming, transcending both
> history and culture, that we have little choice except to believe it....
>
> Wilber:
> "THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY is the worldview that has been embraced by the
> vast majority of the world's greatest spiritual teachers, philosophers,
> thinkers, and even scientists. Its called 'perennial' or 'universal'
because
> it shows up in virtually all cultures across the globe and across the
ages.
> And wherever we find it, it has essentially similar features, it is in
> essential agreement the world over. We moderns, who can hardly agree on
> anything, find this rather hard to believe."
>
> Wilber:
> "THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY (the term was made famous by Huxley but coined
by
> Leibniz) - the transcentental essence of the great religions - has as its
> core the notion of 'nonduality', which means that reality is neither one
nor
> many, neither permanent nor dynamic, neither seperate nor unified, neither
> pluralistic nor holistic. It is entirely and radically above and prior to
> ANY form of conceptual elaboration. ..Sri Ramana Maharshi had a perfect
> summary of the paradox of the ultimate:"
>
> The world is illusory;
> Brahman alone is real;
> Brahman is the world.
>
> Am I right in thinking that no explanation is needed. Is it as obvious to
me
> as it is to you? Pirsig is very similar to Plotinus and Wilber, no? They
> have all adopted the perennial philosophy. If we're looking to compare
> apples with apples, these mystical types are far better suited than almost
> anything else, no?
>
> Thanks,
> dmb
>
>
>
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