[MD] Clouds

[Squonkriff at aol.com]

The buddha nature is at home in small talk just as well as the gears of a  
motorcycle.
Therefore, the most mind numbing conversation is alive with DQ.
 
 
 
 
Dan and all MOQers:

I think your essay is a beautiful portrait of  alienation. The outpouring of 
sympathetic response shows, ironically, that  feelings of loneliness and 
isolation are something we all have in common.  Maybe that goes past irony 
and makes it all the way to funny. But seriously,  I think the picture you 
paint is one that we can all relate to because  alienation is the disease of 
our time. That word is a bit vague and it has  Marxist overtones, but at 
bottom its just a feeling of not being at home in  this world. Its not just 
about being left out of the party or being insulted  by the stupidity of TV, 
but that's part of it too. Alienation expresses  itself a million different 
ways, not least of all by the desire to seek an  alternative vision of the 
world. That's what drew many of us to Pirsig's  work and to this forum, no? 
It seems to me that Pirsig thinks he's diagnosed  the source of the problem 
and his MOQ is aimed at making us feel at home in  the world instead, as Arlo 
has so eloquently and repeatedly  explained.

I think that one of the most destructive features of this  sense of 
alienation is that we generally blame ourselves, as if there were  something 
wrong with us personally. But its not a personal problem. Its a  metaphysical 
problem that we all suffer from on a personal level. Big  difference. I mean, 
if everybody feels like they're drinking life through a  straw, then why do 
we each suppose that its only our own life that sucks so  hard? Sure, some 
folks really are painfully shy or socially clumsy but I  think even the most 
confident and un-neurotic person in the world feels that  way at least 
sometimes. I mean, if you're anything like me, certain social  situations 
make me uncomfortable because it feels like I'm just pretending  to be a part 
of it. I feel that I must participate in certain events even  though they 
seem to be completely ridiculous and embarrassing. The company  Christmas 
party springs to mind. Or how about singing the national anthem at  a 
baseball game? Never felt so alone as when I was singing a song with tens  of 
thousands of people. At parties, when I meet somebody who is particularly  
suburban and full of plattitudes, I have a kind of out-of-body experience  
where my soul leaves for a while until the small talk is over. As a result,  
I've never had a conversation about the weather or my job except for the  
ones I watched from the ceiling.

Anyway, nice work. It made me feel a  little bit more at home in the world. 
It also made me put on a warm pair of  socks.

dmb