[MD] Pantheism as Seen by the MOQ

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[John]
You are right when you point out that Platt's Pirsig quote actually supports,
nurtures and reinforces the "Worshippers of Mother Nature in the church of
environmentalism".  You are wrong though in your analysis of his reason for
doing so.

[Arlo]
I base my assessment of his "reasons" on his continued willful ignorance, a
stance reiterated every time he posts that sophomoric "oops". But yes, the
quote Platt provided is an attack on THE PREDOMINANT WESTERN CULTURAL SOM ROOTS
OF OUR SOCIETY, which includes quite heavily the Occidental tradition, NOT
"pantheism". Indeed, the isolation and disconnect Pirsig laments is laid at the
feet of the eternally "removed" subject from a distant and always separate
"objective reality. Hardly pantheism. But he is so needy to beat his drum, he
misses the obvious.

[John]
See?  What I say doesn't matter nearly as much as whether it support's Platt's
position.

[Arlo]
Context, John. Context. You chimed in to support Platt's characterization of
emergence theories as "oops". If you were responding to Charles Barkley, I
would've responded the same way. My point was that you admitted, cheerily, to
be willfully ignorant about theories of emergence. So you didn't "say" anything
so much as support Platt's willfully ignorant position by offering your own,
admittedly, willfully ignorant support. What's a person to do?

[John]
Isn't that a bit dogmatic?

[Arlo]
Perhaps "flabbergastic".

[John]
But hey, don't take it as criticism.  Knock yourself out if that's what you
enjoy.  Personally, I hate shadowboxing and losing.

[Arlo]
Then why are you?

[Platt chimes in]
Pantheism is the religion of SOM science which, as the quoted passage makes
clear, is responsible for the belief that man's "whole life is that of an
animal that lives and thinks like any other animal." 

[Arlo]
I don't know which is worse, your understanding of "pantheism" or your
understanding of "science". Either way, stop killing angels with this nonsense.
The "religion" of "SOM science" (to use that analogy) is "objectivism".
Pantheism is a view of complete interconnectedness, which by this very
definition is the opposite of S/O science.

You are so eager to attack your bugaboos, you don't even think about what you
write, do you?

[Platt continues]
The MOQ doesn't support such a warped view.

[Arlo]
You are right, the MOQ argues against objectivist thinking, the view that "man"
is forever "apart" from the cold, remote world. Thank "god" for that!

Just for fun I looked up "pantheism" on Wikipedia, and was interested in
finding this comment.

"Taoism is the only major religion existing today with an arguably pantheistic
view." (Wikipedia)

Since Pirsig has linked Quality with the Tao, this is worth considering.