ROGER HOPES TO REFOCUS THE GROUP AND
END THE MONTH WITH A CONSENSUS OF
AGREEMENTS (OR AT LEAST A CLEAR RECORD
OF DISAGREEMENTS)
TO EVERYONE!
DIANA WROTE:
The question isn't "Give us your 2c about mysticism?"
The question is "Re-read the first three chapters of LILA and discuss
what Pirsig is saying and what it means"
TONY WROTE:
Q: Is it envisaged that some underlying principles in Chapters 1 - 3 will
be agreed by everyone before Chapters 4 - 6 are approached? Or will 4 - 6 be
taken on regardless of the first result ?
ROGER REPLIES:
On March 11th, I attempted a succinct, non-controversial post summarizing
what I saw as the three key conceptual strands of the initial chapters. I am
not sure if the complete lack of response I received was due to the absence
of quality in what I wrote, or due to everyone agreeing with it. Regardless,
the discussion instead has veered off onto some tangents that are way off
topic. People are extrapolating on the themes and bringing in their own
views and introducing material not only from later chapters, but from sources
that have almost nothing to due with the first three chapters.
Could we refocus? Below are what I see as the essential conceptual threads
of our reading. Please let me know if you agree or disagree with each of
these.
KEY CONCEPTS:
1) Pirsig clarifies the limitations of objectivity
2) He highlights the mystical origin of the insights that eventually lead to
the MOQ -- in this case the more perfect intellectual web of the MOQ clearly
grew out of mystic insights germinated in the Peyote ceremony.
3) He profiles the impact of American Indians on Western values with emphasis
on their value of Freedom.
With the above three issues as a starting point, could the group please let
me know if there is a consensus on these themes? What other KEY concepts need
to be added from the first three chapters? (Note I have not included random
access or time as key themes -- if someone sees these as integral, they need
to champion them)
I am hoping that even Marco, Jonathan and Glenn will agree with my wording on
mystic origins and peyote. Whether mysticism is central to the metaphysics
needs to be resolved in later chapters, but at this time I think we do need
to acknowledge that the MOQ grew directly out of Phaedrus' initial mystic
insight.
Roger
Please read my March 11th post for additional clarifications on the key
strands and how they inter-relate.
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
