Hi LilaQs,
Following my 2 posts on competition vs. cooperation, I've largely
stayed out of what I consider to be a petty argument. I never took any
position on which was "preferable" because I think that any situation is
perceived in a way which casts certain patterns in opposition and other
patterns in sympathy. There is nothing absolute about this, and it may
be perfectly reasonable to come up with a whole new description using
different pattern and different alignments of co-operation and
competition. You can't have a system of reason without this!
David Thomas wrote:-
> "War is Dynamic Quality; make no mistake about it. . . . If . . . war
>destroys this stuckness would not one, under MoQ, have to view it as
>ultimately moral and good."
>
Kevin didn't like this at all. War is, after all a horrible aberration.
Kevin also wrote:-
>Thirdly, John and many other members continue to use example from
nature....
> I fail to see how any biological examples
>can dictate social and intellectual morality.
Since I am a biologist, I am going to continue using nature for
examples. War is an aberration, and in nature we call aberrations
"mutations". Mutations are caused by NASTY THINGS like radioactive
materials, cosmic radiation, certain chemicals etc. Yet mutation is an
essential part of the evolutionary process. Nature would stagnate
without mutation. Humanity would stagnate without strife. History is
littered with strife and then resolution.
David Thomas even suggested that war was DYNAMIC and therefore hinted to
it being GOOD (based on Pirsig). I personally reject this Dynamic=GOOD
argument. I've consistently held that DQ is neither good nor bad. It is
like sitting on a hot stove, or diving into freezing water, first just
SHOCKING. The Good/Bad assessment comes later and is part of the
realization wave. War is most definitely shocking! But ultimately it
must be judged morally on what is destroyed compared to what springs up
to take its place.
But rather than having the last word, let me now sign off and leave it
to a writer who preceded both me and Pirsig....
Jonathan
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break and a time to build;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to cast stones and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace and a time to refrain;
a time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep and a time to cast away;
a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time of WAR and a time of PEACE.
MOQ Online - http://www.moq.org
