> I'd like to begin by thanking everyone for their time, because this is > gonna be a long one. This is personal, but its also about ideas. The > MOQ has helped to answer questions I've been asking for as long as I > can remember; What in the world is going on? Why do people believe in > irrational things like virgin mothers and coming back from the dead? > How could Hitler be? Why did anyone follow him? In short, I always > wanted to understand stupidity and evil. > > I was raised as a fundamentalist. My step-father was a Baptist > preacher and my mom was a preacher's wife. I was saved, sang in the > choir, spread the word, and went to church three times per week. I > began to question the faith by the time I was 12 or so and had lots of > debates with my step-dad. They sent me to an extremely conservative > private college, but at least it wasn't Bob Jones University. At > school I studied history, philosophy and literature, not because of > some plan to work in a history store or a philosophy factory, but > because I wanted to find out what "real" thinkers thought, not just > preachers. In fact, Hitler was the topic of my senior thesis... Not > that I ever imagined there was a connection between preachers and > Hitler, its just that they both seemed kind of crazy to me. I became > interested in talk-radio out of this same curiosity, wanting to > understand what made wildly irrational people tick. As an eye-witness > i can tell you, its no act, those ranting maniacs are quite sincere. > And the egos. Oh. My. God. I know what you're thinking. But its not > true. If my ego were that large I'd still be working in talk-radio. > The same old questions have even brought me to this place and to this > essay. My curiosity has actually been satisfied to a certain extent, > and the MOQ is certainly a part of that good fortune. OK, that's the > bio. My favorite passages are the one's that most succinctly answer my > questions.... > > To prevent this from being any longer than it has to be, I'll have to > ask you to read between the lines a little, to see the connections for > yourself and to keep that little bio in mind as we go. > > First, a passage or two from the end of chapter 13.... > > "The structuring of morality into evolutionary levels suddenly gives > shape to all kinds of blurred and confused moral ideas that are > floating around in our present cultural heritage. ... Like the stuff > Rigel was throwing at him this morning, the old Victorian morality. > That was entirely within one code, the social code. Phaedrus thought > that code was good as far as it went, but it didn't really go > anywhere. It didn't know its origins and it didn't know its own > destinations, and not knowing them it had to be exactly what it was: > hopelessly static, hopelessly stupid, a form of evil in itself." ... > > Blurred and confused moral ideas! Yes, that's what wrong with the > narrow-ness of fundamentalist morality. They are not wrong, so much as > limited. It doesn't see any larger context and so it doesn't even > understand itself. It's reasons are always unreasonable. "Because GOD > says so"? What? > > "Everybody thinks those Victorian moral codes are stupid and evil, or > old-fashioned at least, except maybe a few religious fundamentalists > and ultra-right-wingers and ignorant uneducated people like that. > That's why Rigel's sermon seemed so peculiar. Usually people like > Rigel do their sermonizing in favor of whatever is popular. That way > they're safe. Didn't he know all that stuff went out years ago? Where > was he during the revolution of the sixties?" > > Pirsig wrote that before Rush Limbaugh came along. These days there > are plenty of Rigels who say "mega-dittos" to those Victorian moral > codes. And its no accident that such right-wingers are reacting to the > sixties. Remember Newt Gingrich's phrase "counter-culture > McGovernicks"? When they attack Clinton they are attacking the sixties > and defending Victorian values. (THIS IS NOT A DEFENSE OF CLINTON. My > vote went elsewhere.)Some of the most famous young conservatives have > proudly declared themselves to be "neo-Victorians". Even the fashions > of the time look fascists, black clothes and short, severe hair > styles, and then there's the neo-fifties thing with suits, martinis, > big cigars and swing dancing - with the "girls" in looong dresses. > All this stupidity makes sense in light of the MOQ. The 90's made the > 50's look like the 60's. Just before he died, Barry Goldwater had a > good laugh with Bob Dole. "Now we're at the liberal end of the > Republican party!" Laughed so hard he actually slapped his knee. > > "Where has he been during this whole century? That's what this whole > century's been about, this struggle between intellectual and social > patterns. That's the theme song of the 20th century." > > And its not just about bigots and bible-thumpers, not just about > talk-radio or the 90's, its about the recent history of Western > civilization! Ultimately it's about the evolution of reality! In light > of the MOQ, those persistent questions don't just SEEM important to > me, they really go to the heart of what's going on in the world. This > theme song, based on the full emergence of intellectual values, is an > event Pirsig compares to our ancestors leaving the ocean for dry land, > a great evolutionary leap. > > And in chapter 22 Pirsig continues to explain the history of our > century as a social hurricane... "When the social climate changes from > preposterous social restraint of all intellect to a relative > abandonment of all social patterns, the result is a hurricane of > social forces. That hurricane is the history of the twentieth > century." > > Not only does he say it explicitly, the centrality of this theme is > also underscored in the whole framework of the novel. The captain is > floating toward the ocean on the remains of a hurricane. > > Pirsig writes.... "A whole population, cut loose physically by the new > technology... was also cut adrift morally and psychologically from > the static social patterns of the Victorian past." > > Just around the time of WWI, Biographical writing was radically > changed from a static portrait to a story of personal growth and > evolution, the invention of cinema gave movement to images, planes > took to the sky, cubism tried to capture time and movement with paint, > and of course there was Einstein's relativity theory. We were cut > loose and cut adrift in so many different ways. The whole world went > into motion and it sickened some. > > "Phaedrus thought that no other historical or political analysis > explains the enormity of these forces as clearly as does the MOQ. The > gigantic power of socialism and fascism, which have overwhelmed this > century, is explained by a conflict of levels of evolution. This > conflict explains the driving force behind Hitler not as an insane > search for power but as an all-consuming glorification of social > authority and hatred of intellectualism." > > Pirsig says Hitler's anti-Semitism, anti-Communism, his persecution of > intellectual freedom and his exaltation of the German volk were all > fueled by this anti-intellectualism. And this seems to really give > shape to politics in the US as well. The Klan's worst enemy is a > commie-jew-fag, otherwise known as a Pinko. These were the targets of > McCarthy's inquisition and in many of today's right-wing militia > members. Those are the same targets in the racist novel that inspired > the Oaklahoma City bombing. You don't hear much about it these days, > but there was a huge fascist impulse in here in the 30's and the Klu > Klux Klan ran many cities in the 20's. And even outside of politics, > there is an anti-intellectual streak in America that is a mile wide. > Remember when Pirsig mentions the MOVIE with the Chemistry professor > who could not dance.... > > Page 196 - "The audience howled with laughter. Except one." > > The one who did not laugh wanted to be a chemistry professor. They > were laughing at him. What decent philosopher doesn't know the pain of > that isolation? That's why intellectuals seem so lonely. They don't > think intelligence is anything to mock. It feels unholy and low to > them. Or maybe just a personal insult. Being a social klutz is a > seperate issue. Social values are hostile to intellectuals, Hitler > only demonstrated the most extreme case of this same hostility. > > But it isn't about intelligence or good schools. The neo-NAZI novelist > who inspired Timothy McVeigh's mass murder used to be a top-notch > Physics professor.(My father-in-law took a few of his classes.) He's > got a very high IQ, but his values are social to the max, just like > Hitler's values. > > **************************************************************** > > But there's something distinctly different about American social > values. We're not completely European. > > Pirsig writes.... > "...the American personality has two components, European and Indian. > The moral values that were replacing the old European Victorian ones > were the moral values of American Indians: kindness to children, > maximum freedom, openness of speech, love of simplicity, affinity for > nature. Without any real awareness of where the new morals were coming > from, the whole country was moving in a direction that it felt was > right." > > This movement occured after WWI and we clearly saw a similar thing in > the 60's. And if William James Sidis was right, Indian values helped > to form the nation even earlier than the 1930's. 1630's is probably > more like it. I'm a little disappointed in Pirsig for leaving the > Africans out of this equation, but his point remains in tact even if > we add them. Social Values from non-European sources have effected the > American mind. > > "The new intellectualism looked to the common people as a source of > cultural values rather than to the old Victorian European models. > Artists and writers of the thirties...dug deep into the illiterate > roots of white American culture to find the new morality, not > understanding that it was this white illiterate American culture that > was closest to the values of the Indian." (The western movie > mythology; Butch and Sundance ARE Indians.) > > Alot of people know about the origins of American musical forms, but > they're worth repeating here because they were born out of exactly the > same conditions Pirsig describes, the illiterate roots of white > America. Jazz was born in NewOrleans out of mixture of African and > Indian, and then later whites. It traveled to Chicago, blah blah blah. > Bluegrass was born in the back woods of Kentucky in the 30's when > illiterate Scotts-Irish hillbillies encountered black railroad > workers. And then there are the Cowboy folk singers like Hank Williams > and Woody Guthrie. These forms continue to evolve and there is some > pretty powerful magic in it. These "illiterate" forms tend to express > the values that intellectuals love. Somehow this uneducated wisdom is > the opposite of the racist Physicist. Cause it ain't about smarts, its > about values. > ************************************************************* > > As the book concludes, at the end of the last chapter Pirsig > describes... > > "...what Phaedrus called a KARMA dump. You invent a devil group, Jews, > blacks or whites or capitalists or communists - it doesn't matter - > then say that group is responsible for all your suffering, and then > hate it and try to destroy it." > > "If you take all this karmic garbage and make yourself feel better by > passing it on to others that's normal. That's the way the world works. > But if you manage to absorb it and not pass it on, that's the highest > moral conduct of all. That really advances everything, not just you. > The whole world. If you look at the lives of some of the great moral > figures of history - Christ, Lincoln, Gandi and others - you'll see > that that's what they were really involved in, the cleansing of the > world through the absorption of karmic garbage. They didn't pass it > on. Their followers sometimes did, but they didn't." > > Then the idol speaks to the captain and tells him that he'd done > exactly that for Lila, he had absorbed some of her karmic garbage by > defending her and letting Rigel dislike him. He took the heat, so to > speak. > > "You're the winner, you know," the idol said. "...by default." > "How so?" > "You did one moral thing on this whole trip, which saved you." > "What was that?" > "You told Rigel that Lila had Quality" > "You mean in Kingston?" > "Yes and the only reason you did that was because he caught you by > surprize and you couldn't think of your usual intellectual answer, but > you turned him around. He wouldn't have come here if it hadn't been > for that. Before then he had no respect for her and a lot for you. > After that HE HAD NO RESPECT FOR YOU, BUT SOME FOR HER. So you gave > her something and that's what SAVED YOU. If it hadn't been for that > one moral act you'd be headed down the coast tomorrow with a lifetime > of Lila ahead of you." > > And I think the same message is in this old folk tune... > > No use crying > talkin' to a stranger > Naming the sorrows you've seen > too many bad times > too many sad times > Nobody knows what you mean > > But if somehow you could > pack up your sorrows > and give them all to me > you would loose them > I know how to use them > Give them all to me > > No use walkin' > ramblin' in the shadows > trailing a wandering star > no one beside you > no one to hide you > And nobody knows what you are > > But if somehow you could > pack up your sorrows > and give them all to me > you would loose them > I know how to use them > Give them all to me > > > ------- End of forwarded message ------- MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
