From: Kevin Perez (juan825diego@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Aug 08 2005 - 11:15:47 BST
Thanks for the kind response Platt.
You ask,
> Is it kosher to compare DQ with spirit? Can a
response to DQ be considered
> a religious/mystic-like experience? Or vice-versa?
I think so.
I do too.
Spirituality is a word near and dear to my heart. The
following words are
from the late Henri Nouwen. "To live a spiritual life
we must first find
the courage to enter into the desert of loneliness and
to change it by
gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of
solitude."
And the following words are attributed to the Dalai
Lama by Richard Rohr.
"If you can possibly avoid a spiritual path, by all
means do so! It will
take your whole life away."
<http://www.cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/Papacy_printfriendly.html>.
Spirituality's defining characteristic is
transformation. Pirsig seems to
be saying the same thing about Dynamic Quality.
Kevin Perez
----- Original Message -----
From: "Platt Holden" <pholden@sc.rr.com>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>;
<owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk>
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 6:13 PM
Subject: Re: MD Enlightenment or Revelation
> Hello Kevin,
>
> An excellent response to my query about the
difference between mystic
> enlightenment and born again revelation. Thanks very
much for your
> comments as well as your links to revealing web
sites. I found this
> passage from your post especially significant:
>
>> Sometime in the late 80s I had the pleasure of
>> attending a conference at the
>> Yale Divinity School in which Fr. Thomas Keating
(RC)
>> and Sri Sri Ravi
>> Shankar (Hindu) shared there thoughts and feelings
on
>> prayer and mysticism.
>> I remember feeling that I had witnessed (no pun
>> intended) something
>> remarkable. Here were these two giants from
radically
>> different mystical
>> traditions agreeing on so much. Except for the
>> language, there appeard to
>> be no difference in what they were saying.
>
> I've always felt that if you strip away all the
verbiage, claptrap and
> churchy stuff that surrounds both Eastern and
Western religions that in
> essence what are called religious experiences and
mystic experiences would
> be so similar as to be nearly
indistinguishable.That's why I felt a sudden
> embrace of disparate ideas when Pirsig quoted
Northrop near the end of the
> SODV paper:
>
> "Northrop's name for Dynamic Quality is 'the
undifferentiated aesthetic
> continuum.' By 'continuum' he means that it goes on
and on forever. By
> 'undifferentiated' he means that it is without
conceptual distinctions.
> And by 'aesthetic' he means that it has quality."
>
> I think an understanding of the "undifferentiated
aesthetic continuum" is
> what Thomas Keating and Sri Sri Ravi were sharing at
the conference you
> described. It is the same understanding, as Pirsig
says, that is shared
> between science and art.
>
> Contacting this higher spiritual-like realm where DQ
resides happens to me
> (if it happens at all ) from sudden exposure to
exquisite beauty, whether
> a landscape, a work of art, or an elegant woman. But
I can see where
> others make contact by fixing a motorcycle, sweeping
a floor, or kneeling
> in prayer. In fact, I know of no limits to joining
with spirit except
> those imposed by either outside strictures (that you
described so well in
> your post) or an ultra rational-materialist mindset.
>
> Is it kosher to compare DQ with spirit? Can a
response to DQ be considered
> a religious/mystic-like experience? Or vice-versa?
I think so.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Best,
> Platt
>
>
>
> Thanks again, Kevin. I hope others will share their
views on this subject.
>
> Best,
> Platt
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archives:
Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Aug 08 2005 - 11:37:49 BST