[MD] moral judgements

[Heather Perella]

     Quoting from Lila:

     [Chapter 24]
"American writing on Zen during this period showed
this confusion. Zen was often thought to be a sort of
innocent 'anything goes.' If you did anything you
pleased, without regard for social restraint, at the
exact moment you pleased to do it, that would express
your Buddha-nature. To Japanese Zen masters coming to
this country this must have seemed really strange.
Japanese Zen is attached to social disciplines so
meticulous they make the Puritans look almost
degenerate."

---------

     The 'anything goes', 'anything you please' is to
disregard intellectual, and social discernment for
biological desires.  Biological desires are fulfilled,
but they do not override intellectual and social
levels.  To say 'anything goes' is to be stuck on the
biological level, and not-thinking (intellectual) of
anybody else (social).


     [Chapter 24]
"The Metaphysics of Quality says there are not just
two codes of morals, there are actually five:
inorganic-chaotic, biological-inorganic,
social-biological, intellectual-social, and
Dynamic-static. This last, the Dynamic-static code,
says what's good in life isn't defined by society or
intellect or biology. What's good is freedom from
domination by any static pattern, but that freedom
doesn't have to be obtained by the destruction of the
patterns themselves."

-------------

     Dynamic morality or art of code is not 'anything
goes' of the biological level.  To emphasize any one
level, even the non-level of dq, is to disregard
quality, which is sq and dq.  Thus, as said above,
"...freedom doesn't have to be obtained by the
destruction of the patterns themselves."

     [Chapter 32]
"While sustaining biological and social patterns
Kill all intellectual patterns.
Kill them completely
And then follow Dynamic Quality
And morality will be served."

---------

     "...freedom doesn't have to be obtained by the
destruction of the patterns themselves."  Is what I
see as a firming of intellectual patterns, even though
it says here, "Kill them completely".  Thus, the
bottomless aspect of quality and the firmness aspect
of quality are to be understood, as in ritual, as
Pirsig mentions Zen masters are strict with ritual,
yet, their ritualization is unconscious, therefore
static patterns abound and dq is realized
everywhere-nowhere.


     [Chapter 12]
"The Metaphysics of Quality says that if moral
judgments are essentially assertions of value and if
value is the fundamental ground-stuff of the world,
then moral judgments are the fundamental ground-stuff
of the world.  It says that even at the most
fundamental level of the universe, static patterns of
value and moral judgment are identical."

---------------

     "...moral judgments are the fundamental
groundstuff of the world."  Asserting value is
practicing value.  Valuing is awaring (awareness in
action).  Thus, I see practicing value is awaring.  In
other words, practicing awareness is valuing. 
Practicing awareness is the same as moral asserting
(judging).

     [Chapter 13]
"Finally there's a fourth Dynamic morality which isn't
a code. He supposed you could call it a 'code of Art'
or something like that, but art is usually thought of
as such a frill that that title undercuts its
importance."

----------

     From ch. 24, "...the Dynamic-static code, says
what's good in life isn't defined by society or
intellect or biology. What's good is freedom from
domination by any static pattern,"  Thus, "what's
good" (in this quote) is dynamic morality or the code
of art.  Pirsig says above ch. 12,  "...moral
judgments are the fundamental ground-stuff of the
world," thus, dynamic morality being the "what's good"
and "freedom from domination by any static pattern,"
then asserting values, practicing awareness is all the
same.  The practicing awareness is an "original basis"
during any asserting, thus, always "at first" it is
code of art happening.  Practicing awareness is the
'cutting edge', the present moment in action, where
"what's good" is being asserted.  Moral judgments is
the creativity this universe under-goes.  


The code of art is practicing quality.  

maybe...

woods,
SA  
    


 
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