[MD] is-ness

[Ron Kulp]

SA:

     Good post.  That's exactly why I brought this up.  For people to be
able to talk about this.  It's getting at the heart of philosophical
inquiry.  If people can't dig deep and reflect on themselves then
they'll never honestly be able to understand their own motivations and
premises.  I remember asking Ham a long time ago what his motivations
are, why he thinks he needs to come up with a new philosophy.  He
couldn't answer.  I mean he could have said something simple, like, all
the current philosophies don't achieve what he finds reality to be or
something to that nature.  I don't know, maybe he's trying to introduce
an aethists god.  I'm not joking.  If we don't even know what we're
doing, then as I've mentioned many times before then we would just be
swinging a broad sword blindly hoping to hit the acorn in a room full of
water balloons without getting wet - useless.


Ron:
I think what Ham is trying to do is address the human beings need for
metaphysics without all the complications that theology brings.
That's a pretty big undertaking.
Arlo posted a quote from Manly Hall:
"The role of the priest(ess)/shaman/druid is to guide one from an
exoteric to an esoteric understanding, and THIS is (again for Hall) the
moment of Enlightenment, the moment when the human mind sees, suddenly,
the esoteric metaphor hidden beneath the Word."

I see Ham as attempting to bridge that gap in a prescriptive way. 

Which is rough row to hoe, my suggestions were all about streamlining
the meaning which only aids in understanding this. Supplying meaning is
always
a tricky business, so to be sure, you had better make sense.

The difficulty with supplying meaning prescriptively lies in the 
individuality of each persons experience.

I think now, as Ham and I last left things, his thesis is very
close to what Pirsig proposes, in fact it is almost a bridge
from SOM to MoQ, it is more a SOLAQI than any of Bo's proposals.

Through my discussions with Ham I have come to respect the fact
that this really matters to him. I sense that he really is trying
to make a difference, not just some pompous intellectual
selfishness. 

I can dig that, I may not agree but I respect his intent.