[MD] dharma, the way, zazen, path, the morning fog, etc...

[kgt83dr at yahoo.com]

Hello SA,
  
<snip>
  > I find to much quality in this kind
> of experience to include SQ alone.  DQ is definitely
> together with these kinds of relationships, because
> these kinds of deep relationships are more than mere
> thought or identifying something.  These relationships
> are the actions themselves.
  
I find it helpful to consider my part in these relationships as either helping or
hindering the interactions, what I think of as the flow of life.  It seems to me that
the quality of relationships is a function (there's the engineer in me) of this flow.
And so it becomes a choice.  We can facilitate the flow and the quality or we can
choose to do something else.  It sounds trivial but I believe this is a key choice.
The flip side is that we're choosing to either feed or starve our ego.  We can focus
on the relationship or we can focus on ourselves.
  
>     Kevin said:  "Which is to say it takes faith and
> love and prayer.  And this is a challenge because
> anything that takes effort has to deal with the ego."
> 
>     Ok, I see we are moving beyond just SQ (the
> identities of quality) into DQ [because of the actions
> themselves (beyond just identifying)].  And I note the
> challenge of such efforts.  
  
Maybe.  I'm not sure.  We may want to explore how DQ and SQ affect each
other.
  
<snip>
  
>     What is ego?  That is a difficult question.  I
> don't know if we could merely point at it, like I
> could point at my finger and say there's my finger. 
> Ego seems to be what Pirsig called static latching. 
> This is when we hold onto certain static qualities
> that no longer are valuable, and might be hurting more
> than helping.  I looked for this term in Lila and
> couldn't find it, but I know he talked about it.  Yet,
> from what I remember static latching has to do with
> not allowing the DQ in ones life.  Life becomes
> stagnant and paralyzed.
  
The following is from pages 43 and 44 in Lila.
  
     If you take a list of all the things European observers have stated to be the
     characteristics of white Americans, you'll find that there is a correlation with
     the characteristics white American observers have customarily assigned to
     the Indians. And if, furthermore, you take another list of all the characteristics
     that Americans use to describe Europeans you'll get a pretty good correlation
     with Indian opinions of white Americans.
  
     To prove this point Phaedrus intended to reverse the situation: instead of
     showing how a cowboy resembles an Indian, he would show how an Indian
     resembles a cowboy. For this he'd found a description by the anthropologist,
     E. A. Hoebel, of a Cheyenne Indian male:
  
          Reserved and dignified, . . . [the Cheyenne male] . . . moves with a quiet
          sense of self-assurance. He speaks fluently, but never carelessly. He is
          careful of the sensibilities of others and is kindly and generous. He is slow
          to anger and strives to suppress his feelings, if aggravated. Vigorous on
          the hunt, in war he prizes the active life.
  
          Towards enemies he feels no merciful compunctions, and the more
          aggressive he is the better. He is well versed in ritual knowledge. He is
          neither flighty nor dour. Usually quiet, he has a lightly displayed sense of
          humor. He is sexually repressed and masochistic but that masochism is
          expressed in culturally approved rites. He does not show much creative
          imagination in artistic expression but he has a firm grip on reality. He
          deals with the problems of life in set ways while at the same time showing
          a notable capacity to readjust to new circumstances. His thinking is
          rationalistic to a high degree and yet colored with mysticism. His ego is
          strong and not easily threatened.
  
          His superego, as manifest in the strong social conscience and mastery of
          his basic impulses, is powerful and dominating. He is "mature," serene
          and composed, secure in his social position, capable of warm social
          relations. He has powerful anxieties but these are channelized into
          institutionalized modes of collective expression with satisfactory results.
          He exhibits few neurotic tendencies.
  
<snip>
  
>     Yes, people and life, not what we think about
> people and life.  This is why I think trying to think
> and talk about something.  To try to put life into
> words and have a theory about life put into some neat
> little package of thoughts.  To be able to do such a
> task is impossible.
  
And so we interact.
  
Thanks.
   
  
Kevin

		
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