Re: MD Pirsig's conception of ritual

From: Elizaphanian (elizaphanian@tiscali.co.uk)
Date: Sun Feb 16 2003 - 18:42:47 GMT

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    Hi Johnny Moral,

    You wrote:

    > I think it comes down to if you want to respect ritual or reject it that
    > makes you free. Approaching the topic of morality and ritual with the
    > prejudice that it ought to be shed or rejected will not make you free
    > either. Shedding of rituals does not precipitate a DQ experience.
    Rituals
    > become invisible when they are respected and believed and just DONE,
    > ritualistically, and it is through them, on top of them, that one sees DQ,
    > whether one is a Zen monk or a Catholic monk or a Monkee. If they aren't
    > done ritualistically in full faith, if they are questioned and
    disrespected,
    > they suddenly become visible, obvious in their silliness, and that takes
    up
    > psychic space and gets in the way of seeing through them to DQ. At that
    > point, it doesn't matter if they are followed or rejected, the DQ that
    they
    > illuminated is hidden from view by the cloud of doubt.

    I liked this - and agreed with it - a lot. When I was being trained, we were
    told that we should seek to learn things off by heart, in order to 'just do
    them' and 'pray through them'. Very much what you've described.

    Sam

    "When we speak of God we do not know what we are talking about. We are
    simply using language from the familiar context in which we understand it
    and using it to point, beyond what we understand, into the mystery that
    surrounds and sustains the world we do partially understand" (Herbert
    McCabe)

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