From: Kevin Perez (juan825diego@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Aug 07 2005 - 14:40:10 BST
Thanks for the respone jc.
There's another perspective on dynamic and static
quality I'd like to share.
It goes something like this.
The journey through life for the ordinary man has
historically started out
with the objective to succeed, accomplish and change
the world in some way.
He would typically be initiated by older men into the
Mysteries of life and
death. The purpose of the initiation wasn't to
explain the Mysteries but to
bring the young man to an awareness of them. Life
would explain the
Mysteries.
What we have here is a system with both static and
dynamic elements. The
man's role in the community and his sense about the
Mysteries are very
static. The young man is initiatied into a system
with very clear rules and
boundaries. The life of the community demands it.
And he has only a faint
clue about the Mysteries.
And then life begins to do its work and the Mysteries
begin to unfold.
After several decades the man sees that his world has
changed, partly the
result of his own efforts. And the Mysteries continue
to unfold. The
direction of his life's journey begins to change. The
typically masculine
virtues that once directed his life now join forces
with the more feminine
virtues of humility, patience, openness, trust and
forgiveness. Objects
that were once seen as things to control and conquer
now become
relationships to love and cherish. And the rules and
boundaries that were
once unchangeable now seem less important. And they
too undergo change. I
suppose Pirsig would call this changing of community
rules and boundaries
Dynamic Quality.
In the west, if I may call it that, we call this
transition, the mid-life
crisis. I wish I could explain the source of this
crisis. But I can't.
But I can tell you, from personal experience, that it
is very real and very
painful and very scary. I will also tell you that if
I had to do it all
over again I would not hesitate. Coming out the other
side
is nothing less than a born again experience.
And the Mysteries continue to unfold.
Kevin Perez
----- Original Message -----
From: "jc" <jcpryor@nccn.net>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2005 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: MD MOQ: Involved or on the Sideline?
> At 3:11 AM -0700 8/2/05, Kevin Perez wrote:
>>Hello all,
>>
>>I signed on to this list about a week ago after
stumbling onto the moq.org
>>website. I just
>>finished my third or fourth read of ZMM and am now
in the middle of
>>my second read of Lila. I first read ZMM back in
1987 and Lila in the
>>Fall of 1992.
>
> Hello Kevin,
>
> I'm pretty new myself and somehow I missed your
reply for while. Thanks
> for taking up the dialogue.
>
>>[jc]
>>
>>>Ok Scott. What's the second step?
>
> [Kevin]
>
>>Choose a) to recognize that one is part of the
problem, to change and to
>>contribute to
>>dynamic quality or b) to not change and to
contribute to static quality.
>
> [jc]
>
> Abraham Lincoln said the question was not whether
God was on Abe's side
> but whether Abe was on God's. What can I do about
dynamic quality to
> improve it? It seems all I can do is be open to it
by holding my static
> patterns lightly - as easily dropped possessions of
use at the moment.
>
> [jc]
>
>>>Then when or how does one know the inward work is
done and it's time
>>>the outward work begun?
>
> [Kevin]
>
>>One ís knowledge of when and how to act
authentically is not based on
>>objective,
>>empirical evidence of any sort. The source of this
knowledge comes from
>>within.
>> The following may help. It is attributed to
Mother Teresa.
>
> Ok Kevin, sorry, but I never did quite get the
mother teresa thing. Maybe
> its childhood prejudice but I was taught from birth
that one day the
> catholics were going to round up my people and start
a big bonfire. Yeah,
> weird, I know. But anyway, Mother Teresa was a
large social icon, still
> is I guess, but there are many examples in the world
of self-sacrificing
> service to the unlovely that never had the benefit
of a big publicity
> machine. And I often wonder why the whole world
acts so agog over someone
> who did nothing more than take Christ literally.
Socially, I can see
> worshipping and promoting self-sacrifice. But that
seems to me to be
> stuck on the one level of static quality and ramping
it up a bit.
>
> I'd give more credit to the dyanmic community in the
silicon valley that
> started a new age of information that makes it
possible for the indian
> people and government to generate solutions out of
the cycles of poverty
> and disease.
>
> [jc]
>
>>>If it is also true,
>>>"A tribe can only change it's values person by
person and someone
>>>has to be first."
>>>then who will be second, third, ....?
>>
>>Change happens when people act with courage and
authenticity to ask the
>>tough
>>questions and then seek the difficult answers.
>
> [jc]
>
> sigh. There is a real conflict/dilemma in my mind
in the realm of
> personal and relational growth. It always seems a
copout to me to
> advocate more private contemplation as a univerals
panacea to all the
> world's ills. In my view, most of the people who
act in the world should
> spend more time contemplating and most of the
contemplaters should start
> acting.
>
> Now I'm an inveterate contemplater so I don't need
any advice on how to do
> more of the same. Seen my navel. All the way
through. It's interesting,
> yeah, but it doesn't bake the bread.
>
> Real change is social. The balanced individual sees
the imbalance in the
> world and ought to want to do something about it.
In a way they are doing
> nothing but acting out of their own harmonic
balance, but in another way
> they change everything.
>
> It's completely impossible to do nothing. The whole
point of Zen is to
> get you to realize that. The whole thing about
striving to do nothing is
> just a silly trick. There. I said it. I spilled
the beans. Deal with
> it.
>
> [Kevin]
>
>>Don't give up on Christ. And be careful. To seek
changes on the outside
>>without also
>>making the necessary inward changes is dangerous.
It's been my
>>experience that this often leads to failure.
>
> [jc]
>
> It's been my experience that failure leads to
success. My dad used to
> bark on the jobsite, "DO SOMEthing, Even if it's
wrong!" And it's true.
> Nothing is worse than a worker that stands around
and asks what to do
> next. Whereas at least when you do something wrong,
you are learning a
> great deal.
>
> And to my mind, seeking change on the outer without
the inner isn't
> dangerous so much as impossible. I never seek
change. Sometime something
> needs to change. I change it. No big deal.
>
> [Kevin]
>>
>>We exist and we don't. It's a matter of
perspective. Sometimes what we
>>seek is hiding
>>in plain sight.
>
> Well... "We exist and we don't" isn't very logical
. Clear thinking
> needs clear language. We exist. What hides in plain
sight is not hidden,
> it's ignored. And matters of perspective depend on
how you look at them.
> (yeah, logically tautological but I said it
ironically so at least it was
> half-assed rhetorically interesting)
>
> whimsically,
>
> jc
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