From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Wed May 05 2004 - 03:08:33 BST
Marks and all:
Heyman said:
Is there a way to approach DQ without religion? I'm enjoying this thread,
and
am very familiar with ZMM and Lila, and neither of those books in any
fashion
endorses anything approximating religion, as far as I can tell.
dmb says:
Welcome. I'm glad you've joined in. There is point in Lila where . In
chapter 30 of Lila the issue is addressed specifcially. There Pirsig writes,
"..once this integration occurs and DQ is identified with religious
mysticism it produces an avalanche of information as to what DQ is. A lot
of this religious mysticism is just low-grade "yelping about God" of course,
but if you search for the sources of it and don't take the yelps too
literally a lot of interesting things turn up." Among these interesting
things in the Dharmakaya light that El Greco painted. At the end of chapter
26 he writes,
"In other cultures, or in the religiouos literature of our past, wher the
immune system of 'objectivity' is weak or ono-existent, reference to this
light is everywhere, from the Protestant hymn, 'Lead Kindly Light', to the
halos of the saints. The central terms of Western mysticism, 'enlightenment'
and 'illumination' refer to it directly. Darsana, a fundamental Hindu form
of religiuos instruction, means 'giving of light'. Descriptions of Zen
SATORI mention it. It is referred to extensively in THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE
DEAD. Aldous Huxley referrred to it as part of the mescaline experience.
Phaedrus rememebered it from the time with Dusenberry at the peyote meeting,
althought he had assumed that it was just an optical illusion produced by
the druf and not of any great importance. Proust wrote about it in
'Rememberance of Things Past'. In El Greco's 'Nativity' the DHARMAKAYA light
emanating from the Christ child provides the only illumination there is.
...Our culture immunizes us against giving much importance to all this
because the light has no 'objective' relaity. ..In a MOQ, however, this
light is important because it often appears associated with UNDEFINED
AUSPICIOUSNESS, that is, Dynamic Quality. It signals a Dynamic intrusion
upon a static situation."
Mark H said:
Noam Chomsky has said that he thinks it's dangerous to let one's life be
motivated by non-rational belief systems, and provides plenty of historical
evidence in support. Just wondrin' what y'all think...
dmb replies:
Pay no attention to Platt's complaints. He has a severe allergic reaction
when anyone left of center is mentioned. Getting back to the actual point,
it is, I think, a slam dunk no-brainer. The only question I have about it
asks whether the danger is an inherent feature of these non-rational belief
systems or in the non-rational persons who decide to adopt them. ;-)
Good stuff, Mark. Send more asap.
dmb
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