[MD] The Greeks?

[Mary]

Hi Bo,

> Hi Mary
> 
> 5 June you wrote:
> 
> > SOL is an old term around here that to my amazement I'm finding few
> to
> > remember the original meaning of.  Basically, anything that has an
> > ego.  My dog, for instance.  So easy to hurt her feelings or delight
> > her.  But yes, the basic ability to care about the difference between
> > self and not-self.
> 
> I hate to nag, but for the umpteenth time the abbreviation SOL just
> stands for the interpretation that MOQ's 4th. level is the S/O
> distinction
> If you have some broader theory about biological and social
> subject/object call it something else, this use of the SOL makes it
> meaningless. There were no "Greek dogs" who began to search for
> eternal principles and thereby laid the foundations for the Q-
> intellectual
> level. Maybe a bone of much contation ...yet ;-)
> 
[Mary Replies] 
Sounds like you are saying that SOL and SOM can be used interchangeably.  I
have seen that but think it's a mistake.  It's confusing, like the debate
over mind vs intellect vs intelligence vs the Intellectual Level.  If not
SOL, then some other term needs to be invented to cover the concept.

SOL: The ability to mentally differentiate between self and not-self.  This
arose from the Biological Level and was a necessary facility needed to spawn
the Social and later Intellectual Levels.  As species evolved greater brain
function, this facility has become more and more subtle and complex.  

You could liken it to 'thinking itself', but that, unfortunately, is what
some choose to see as the Intellectual Level.  In my view, what actually
goes on at the Intellectual Level is much more refined.  This is why I think
it is very important to clarify the difference between 'just thinking' or
'manipulating symbols' and the framework this thinking has spawned - the
Intellectual Level.

SOM: The Intellectual Level.  The specific assumptions underlying our
thinking in post-Socratic times.  

     Subjects and Objects are the fundamental reality of the Universe.  

As you know, once this POV achieved dominance in society, the 4 inescapable
conclusions followed and its place as a Level going off on purposes of its
own was cemented.

     Quality is a property of subjects and objects and not primary reality.
     Each of us as individuals is a subject and everything not-us is an
object of our observation. 
     There is an objective 'truth' out there to be discovered.
     It is more important to seek this 'truth' than it is to support
society. 

Best,
Mary