[MD] Dualism

[Omar Canosa]

Hello, all. I just signed up, and this is my first post. I have often 
pondered the nature of duality, and so appreciated Kevin's post. I will just 
briefly sketch my thoughts, as they arose, while reading this thread.
Whether a real attribute of our inner and outer worlds, or just a mental 
construct that facilitates our thinking about these worlds, DUALITY EXISTS. 
Does the MoQ strive to resolve dualistic thinking? I don't think that it 
strives to do so, but yet it does, in a way...
In ZMM, P. speaks of reading the Tao Te Ching (TTC) and substituting the 
word "Quality" for "Tao", and that this fits perfectly. In The TTC, Lao Tzu 
describes the Tao as (paraphrasing and amplifying) the mother of heaven and 
earth; the original oneness out of which all things arose. Taoist philosophy 
(largely based on TTC) expands this idea in the following way: The Tao gives 
rise to the Tai Chi (the duality of yin and yang, commonly known as the 
Yin-Yang and represented by the familiar design of a circle, 1/2 black-1/2 
white, divided down its center by a curving line, and with a dot of white in 
the black and vice versa). The Tai Chi is a representation the duality of 
the universe--the two equal and opposing energies of yin and yang; it would 
be easy to get lost in the profound truth of this duality and to forget that 
there is a more profound truth: The oneness from which this duality arose. 
The Tao. Or, if you like, Quality. Pirsig wasn't kidding: they really are 
interchangable!
Kevin, as to your question about Buddhists' saying that "Life is Suffering", 
I believe that (from the little that I know about Buddhism) they are 
referring to the fact that they strive to reach enlightenment (Satori), but 
that the very fact that they are striving for Satori guarantees that they 
will never reach Satori, as to reach this state you have to abandon all 
desires. Since this is not possible, for us mortals, then all of life is a 
struggle--a suffering--to come as close to the pie without taking a bite.
I was very happy to have found this forum, and will hopefully be 
contributing more, with the kind permission of the established members.

Omar Canosa
2/14/07

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