Re: MD MOQ: Involved or on the Sideline?

From: Scott Roberts (jse885@cox.net)
Date: Sun Aug 07 2005 - 21:04:11 BST

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    Platt,

    Platt said:
    Maybe so, but I don't think Pirsig is endorsing the drug culture nor do I
    think the knowledge of non-European cultures that expanded during the 60's
    was necessarily a good thing. As Pirsig wrote:

    "American writing on Zen during this period showed this confusion. Zen was
    often thought to be a sort of innocent "anything goes." If you did
    anything you pleased, without regard for social restraint, at the exact
    moment you pleased to do it, that would express your Buddha-nature. To
    Japanese Zen masters coming to this country this must have seemed really
    strange. Japanese Zen is attached to social disciplines so meticulous they
    make the Puritans look almost degenerate." (Lila, 24)

    Scott:
    If by "drug culture" you mean taking mind-befuddling drugs like heroin or
    alcohol, no, he wouldn't endorse it. But he seems to be approving of taking
    psychedelic drugs in controlled settings. That the government conflates the
    two into one category is a social crime against intellect.

    Information about outside cultures is often mistaken or misleadingly
    stereotyped when it first arrives -- look at the number of Americans who
    stereotype Islam by the actions of terrorists. Your quote shows that the
    mistaken view can be corrected as cross-cultural contact improves.

    - Scott

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