[MD] Anti-reductionism in the MOQ

[Ham Priday]

Hi Akshay --

You are a Hindu who has "rebelled".  I've been reading Hirsi Ali's "Infidel" 
which is about a Muslim who has renounced Islam.  She now considers herself 
an atheist.  As a Hindu, do you consider yourself an atheist?

I raise this question because a person's philosophy is often influenced by 
his religion, and since most of the people here have rejected religion, they 
are atheists.  I grew up in a Protestant household but was never religious 
in the biblical sense, although I believe man's nature is innately spiritual 
in that it seeks the supernatural source of its existence.  You seem to 
imply that this supernatural source is DQ (Prakrti?), and that we can be 
aware of it by becoming one with DQ.

> Then there is no individuality, and you realize that you are DQ,
> not in the sense of you vs the others but in the sense that you
> are the all-pervading seer.

This is what I can't fathom.  Such realization cannot be experience (because 
everything experienced is differentiated and relative).. So I assume that 
one can only be aware of it conceptually--as an idea or theory.
For me, this sort of conceptual worldview is a philosophy.  In my philosophy 
(Essentialism) the primary source is Essence, and plurality is the 
appearance of the source to a sensible subject which has been separated from 
it.  (Of course, this is not acknowledged by the MoQ whose followers 
consider it a "theistic" concept.)

As a "reconfirmed" Hindu, Akshay, to what extent can (do) you incorporate 
the MoQ ideology into your philosophy?  In other words, how has Pirsig's 
theory influenced your worldview?  Since we all experience the universe in 
the same way, I find it strange that we all seem determined to explain it 
differently.

I've read a lot about this mystery from a Western viewpoint.  As a Hindu, 
perhaps you can enlighten me on it from the Eastern perspective.

Thanks for your interest, Akshay.

Regards,
Ham