[MD] Tao and Art

[Platt Holden]

Hi Dwai,

You asked:

> What is it, that specific defining aspect that sets one piece of art  
> from another.

It's effect on you, nicely described by Pirsig in Chapter 9 of Lila as:

" . . . so fantastically good it just stops you in your tracks."

Then he explains why it stopped you in your tracks:

"The first good . . . was Dynamic Quality. Dynamic Quality comes as a sort 
of surprise. What the (art) did was weaken for a moment your existing 
static patterns in such a way that the Dynamic Quality all around you shone 
through. It was free, without static forms." 

For me, great art stuns me into a state of  wondrous luminosity and frees 
me from my separate self sense. For a moment, all other presences are 
stripped away. 

As always, it's strictly personal -- an individual response to DQ.

Regards
Platt