[MD] A Place for the Principled Person

[Ant McWatt]

Platt asked June 30th:

>All:
>
>Although my proposal to rename the MOQ's intellectual level the
>individual level has been met with a measure of mild reproof…

Ant McWatt comments:

That's a mild understatement.

>a place to put personal moral character traits such as Pirsig used to 
>describe
>Victorians who "really built 20th century America" (codes of
>craftsmanship, labour, thrift and self-discipline) appears to be lacking
>in the Pirsig's moral hierarchy.

To be moral... in "Pirsig's moral hierarchy" is primarily to be an artist 
(of life e.g. craftsmanship).  Then comes intellectual concerns (e.g. 
working out how to land on the moon) and then social concerns (e.g. material 
acquisition, labor, thrift, celebrity, self-discipline etc).  As far as I 
know regarding the MOQ, you maintain the lower levels as long as they 
promote (or, at least, don’t undermine) the higher ones.

>It seems passing strange that in a book devoted to an Inquiry into
>Morals precious little mention is made of the patterns of individual
>moral self-regulation such as perseverance, patience, honesty, courage,
>prudence, diligence, and other  personal character traits that govern
>one's response to stimuli according to values and principles rather
>than appetites, urges, whims and impulses.

Isn't “moral self-regulation” implicitly shown by the author (with his son 
and then Lila) repeatedly and throughout ZMM and LILA?  Again and again and 
again.  In fact, I'd go as far as saying these particular personal character 
traits come over very loud and clear in both books (if implicitly).  It 
seems strange that a person contributing to this discussion group since 1997 
can't see this.

>In other words, at what level do you insert a pattern of morally
>principled person?

See above i.e. first you have the artist e.g. Charlie Chaplin, da Vinci (and 
we don't mean the charlatans who go round saying they are "artists"), then 
you have the curious, the intellectual explorers, and then you have the 
unenlightened, socially dominated people (all together in the celebrity pig 
sty with Bush, Bin-Laden, Blair, bishops etc)...

>If you answer "the social level" you are buying into the common notion
>that all morality is social and always involves other people, i.e., no
>morality required by someone marooned alone on a desert island.

Someone stranded alone on a desert island needs to be as imaginative (i.e. 
Dynamic) and as intellectual (e.g. working out to find the best shelter and 
food as quickly as possible) as they can be i.e. intellectually and 
artistically moral.  However, all the social values (like the scout's oath 
taken at age 12 and a sense of honour) are absolutely useless.

>Or perhaps you agree with the some here who maintain that the human
>individual doesn't exist at all but is merely a symbolic figment of
>mental manipulations.

Strictly speaking, all the "particular" human world is "merely a symbolic 
figment of mental manipulations" together with a dose of Northrop's concepts 
by intuition/DQ (in a very loose kind of unverbalised way).

>Or perhaps you'll argue that a principled person is simply a high
>quality person vs. a low quality persona lacking such traits as
>outlined above.

There's a number of static moral codes in the MOQ and a Dynamic artistic 
code so we're a few hundred years ahead of such (SOM) dichotomies.  5.1 MOQ 
vs. mono SOM to use an DVD audio analogy!

>As to the first answer, there's no need for an intellectual level if
>everything is social anyway.
>
>As to the second answer, I suggest those who really believe it sit on a
>hot stove.
>
>As to the third answer, a high quality person vs. low quality one, we
>have seen how Pirsig answers the question, "Does Lila have quality?" by
>comparing her attributes to the moral levels. Without an individual
>level containing the pattern of a principled person, what criteria do
>we use to say a principled person is high quality?

Look at Walpola Rahula "What the Buddha Taught".  The sense of "individual" 
or "self" is a good social idea.  However, as an intellectual or artistic 
value, it's a road to hell or, at least, an "uncool, square life" according 
to Geetz Romo of "How to Speak Hip" by Del Close and John Brent fame.

See:

www.howtospeakhip.com

And as a bonus, also find the solution to world peace... (two for the price 
of one, without any expenditure on arms etc... though incredible to think 44 
years after this recording was released that Western people are still being 
unhip and buying the Establishment materialist bullshit).

>There may be other answers I'm not aware of which is the reason for
>this post,

Platt was obviously a jazz musician when he was resident in New Orleans...  
(I jest, of course he wasn’t).

>unless someone can come up
>with a convincing case to include the pattern of a principled person in
>a level as Pirsig defines them, or to include the pattern somewhere  in
>his definition of a person as consisting of all four levels plus
>ability to respond to DQ, then a change in naming and describing the
>intellectual level to the individual level might further be in order so
>as to include the pattern of a principled person as well as emphasize
>the ongoing battle for the dominance between the free individual
>intellect and collective conformity pressures.

Maybe a substantial dose of Tim Leary is in order here?

"The most witty of all Oriental mystics translated by the funniest of all 
American philosophers, who could ask for anything more? Lao Tse and Tim 
Leary fit together so well I almost believe in reincarnation."

- Robert Anton Wilson

>I look forward to your comments.

Platt, look forward to the following:

Reviewer: A reader

"How does muddy water become clear? Muddy water becomes clear through 
stillness. How does one become still? One becomes still, by moving with the 
stream."....

With these words Timothy Leary set the cornerstone of Hippie philosophy in 
Eastern Mysticism. The hidden influence of "Psychedelic Prayers," will come 
to light in the passage of time. It's influence on music ("All Things Must 
Pass." Beatles), TV ("Kung Fu," series), Film ("Easy Rider"), Hollywood, 
("Star Wars"), just reflect the imprint on our collective consciousness...

The general acceptance of the Tao's "I Ching," (High Priest), "The Tibetan 
Book of the dead," (The Psychedelic Experience) and later "The Art of War," 
(Sun Tzu), all you can see, trace there acceptance by the Hippies and later 
the baby boomers to this great work...

In a search led by Harvard Scientists and students of religion they looked 
for ways to map and understand awareness, map Consciousness in ways that 
would empower people to program there own lives...

Suppressed by many forces the "Tao Te Ching," is now, in the wake of Dr. 
Leary's death being re-released. This is only the second printing. Of what 
may be looked upon as one of the earliest, if not the first prayer book of 
the unnamed, unseen, as yet unformed philosophy of the group of people who 
have grown out of a tribe called Hippies. This was the first translation 
into American...

Released as One of two guide book on how to explore higher consciousness 
before the prohibition. "Psychedelic Prayers," expanded on knowledge of set 
and setting, learned by the "Hashish Club of Paris," a century ago. They 
linked these techniques to ancient sacred texts of consciousness 
exploration...

While it appears on the surface that these manuals are guide books to 
temporary trips. They are really guides to the use and abuse of 
consciousness. The first effort the "Psychedelic Prayers," offered here, was 
based on the "Tao Te Ching." "The Psychedelic Experience," based on the 
Tibetan Book of the Dead was the second more serious text book version...

How you can be fulfilled, enlightened, more aware. How to wake up to live.  
My 30 year old copy has been my constant companion. "...In the best sessions 
one does not know there is even a guide..."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0914171844/002-9592543-2268853?v=glance&n=283155

[N.B. I wonder why this particular – artistically orientated - Amazon 
reviewer felt they had to be anonymous while – socially orientated - 
neo-cons remain happy advertising their names and shameful bullshit on the 
Internet and elsewhere at full volume?  How come we live in an immoral world 
like that?  I suppose at least all such things must pass!].


Prayers for preparation - Homage to Lao Tse

All Things Pass

All things pass
A sunrise does not last all morning
All things pass
A cloudburst does not last all day
All things pass
Nor a sunset all night

But Earth... sky... thunder...
wind... fire... lake...
mountain... water...
These always change

And if these do not last
Do man's visions last?
Do man's illusions?

Leary – 1966 (Psychedelic Prayers)

http://www.roninpub.com/PsyPra.html


.

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