[MD] Oneness, Dualism & Intellect

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Marsha]
The "betterness" term makes me uncomfortable. It remind me of the  water
analogy, "if everything is water, and there is nothing that is not water, then
there is no meaning to water, for there is no way of distinguishing a duality
or difference between water and nonwater."  So if everything is evaluated as
"betterness", what does it mean...  Am I picking nits?

[Arlo]
I don't think so. I think we just have differing subtle nuances to how we use
these words. No harm in that. As I said, to me "Quality" and "betterness" are
fairly exchangeable terms. When that amoeba moves away from the acid, I think
saying "the amoeba moves because of Quality" and "the amoeba moves because
where it is moving is better than where it was" are synonymous. But I
appreciate that you don't use the words this way.

[Marsah]
Quality is the less confusing word.  It can be high quality or low quality.  Can
you imagine low "betterness"?

[Arlo]
"Low Quality" is (for me) another way of saying "worse". A low quality
environment is one that is "worse" than a high quality environment. Another way
of describing the amoeba situation is to say, "the amoeba was worse-off in
point A than in point B". But this "better" and "worse", for the amoeba, is
determined from its vantage on the biological level. For a scientist, it may be
"better" to force the amoeba into the acid (not sure why, but...). To use
Pirsig's virus/patient analogy, the virus is simply following what it perceives
as "better", even though this conflicts with the patient's understanding of
"better". From the patient's point of view, the presence of the virus creates a
low quality, or "worse", environment than otherwise. But from the virus' point
of view, the host-body provides a high quality, or "better", environment than
otherwise.