[MD] A Place for the Principled Person

[Arlo J. Bensinger]

[Poot Asked]
What is a principled person?

[Arlo replies]
Rather than fall prey to Platt's attempt to elevate certain Victorian social
morals to Supreme Dominion in the MOQ, I've proposed we instead think about a
"Quality Principled Person". In doing so, I reviewed ZMM's passages that
discuss being in touch with Quality, and have come up with this.

"A 'Quality principled person' is someone who respects the oneness of life. S/he
is patient, egoless and possesses a 'beginner's mind'. S/he holds her values
flexibly, and can be seen as filled with gumption. S/he dislikes
specialization, and is an excellent all-rounder. In her/his work, she
demonstrates no division between art and practice, and her/his work can be seen
as possessing beauty because of their unselfconscious way of looking at
things."

The rest of you post demonstrates the problems with following Platt's lead,
which is simply yet another excuse to claim the Moral Superiority of
Conservatives (witness the humorous "Gore is not a principled person, but Bush
is" discussion.. whodathunk that Platt's "principled person" would fall along
Party Lines, eh? Go figure. I'm stunned.).

Far, far better to think about someone it touch with Quality, than someone's
bloated self-righteousness as it pertains to their blind adherence to Victorian
social codes. ("Is adultery between consensual adults immoral?", the Jester
asks, hoping to harken back the days of Scarlett A's. But the wolfish
conversant would not fall prey to the trap laid forth, "As long as society is
not threatened, picking up bar ladies and writing metaphysics are a part of
life.")

To the "moral patterns" of the levels, as you've correctly surmised, sometimes
it is best to follow to biological quality, sometimes social quality, and
sometimes intellectual quality. I'd say, that by being a "Quality principled
person" you are able to know which, when and how... and how to serve all three
at the same time, now there's a QPP.