[MD] A formalised Code of Art

[david buchanan]

Mark, Marsha and all MOQers:

dmb says;
I tried to reply to Marsha's post a few days ago, but apparently my post 
didn't make it through. If memory serves, here's how I translated it...

While sustaining biological and social patterns
(don't kill yourself, quit your job or leave your family)
Kill all intellectual patterns.
(Just stop thinking for a while)
Kill them completely
(Silence your mind completely)
And then follow Dynamic Quality
(Then you will be genuinely free)
And morality will be served.
(And life will be served)

Mark said:
I think Pirsig may have got this wrong.  ...I don't know? I may have a word 
with someone in the philosophy department - there are two Indian 
philosophers there so i could ask both of them for an opinion. Maybe i could 
write to Mr. Pirsig and explain what i think i mean and see what his 
response is? If anyone else reading this has a view i would love to hear 
from them.

dmb says:
Good idea. I'd like to know what you find out, but at this point I think I 
agree with you. As I see it, there is a tendency to read this sort of thing 
to mean that intellectual static quality is the only kind of static quality 
that we need to worry about. But I think that any kind of static quality 
gets in the way. I think the idea here is to let go of all the patterns, but 
without being destructive or degenerate. And I think you are right to 
suggest that the original trap, the one that the Buddha warned about, are 
the static patterns of one's culture be they social, intellectual or any 
combination. There is also the matter of biological drives and desires. 
These can be a trap too. And I think that's really what the code of art is 
all about. Creativity occurs in physics and philosophy and all sorts of 
intellectual activities, of course, and need not have anything to do with 
the fine arts as such, which may have no intellectual component at all and 
instead can be purely aesthetic.

It seems some people interpret this to mean that the body and the social 
values do not need to be transcended and this has the effect of turning the 
saying into an anti-intellectual statement. But actually, its about 
transcending all static patterns. It contrasts all static quality with 
Dynamic Quality, not just the intellectual kind.

It also seems to me that social quality, in some sense, liberates us from 
biology. And intellectual patterns can liberate us from the social level in 
the same sort of way. That's pretty much the definition of intellect. It 
begins when people become skeptical about the existence of the gods and the 
opinions of the public. It begins when people are willing and able to 
question the validity of their own cultural values. But, of course, this 
type of evolutionary or developmental transcendence, despite the fact that 
this growth is driven Dynamically, is not exactly the same as a personal 
meditative or enlightenment experience.

Anyway, please let me know what you find out. Maybe you'll even start a new 
thread name or otherwise make it conspicuous. School has me so busy that its 
easy to miss lots of posts these days and I'd really hate to miss that one.

later,
dmb

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