[MD] Dawkins quotes RMP on religion.

[Platt Holden]

> [Krimel]
> Thanks Craig this would indeed appear to be Pirsig's account of the origins
> of life. But it is just a description. It fails to address the how, when or
> where this happened. There is not even an account of why except through the
> personification of Dynamic force, which assumes Godlike power. It invents,
> it ascends, it preserves, it skirts around problems.

Speaking of "Godlike power," the following from "The Spectrum of 
Consciousness" by Ken Wilber puts a 'Godlike' spin on energy, the 
foundation of physics:

"One can hardly imagine that in picking up a college physic textbook one is 
actually handling a 'religious' document that has carefully been scrubbed 
clear of all dirty words such as intuition, eternity and Godhead. But the 
central concern of physical science revolves around the concept of energy 
and it transformations, whether these transformations occur in molecules, 
biological systems or computers. And how is Energy described? It can never 
be created or destroyed, put together nor taken apart, and on the whole it 
is neither increasing nor decreasing, remaining always constant. This, in 
fact, is the First Law of Thermodynamics. Further, the Energy of the 
universe, which remains forever constant, nevertheless undergoes 
'transformations' or 'manifestations,' for all types of energy and matter, 
whether kinetic, thermal, or molecular, are spoken of as 'Forms of Energy.' 
As a matter of fact, all phenomena in the universe are ultimately nothing 
but forms of Energy, so that this Energy more or less 'underlies' all 
material things. This is pure physics, but it sounds strangely familiar, 
and on begins to wonder whether we are discussing physics or Hinduism. 
Ultimately, it matter not one whit whether we say that all things are forms 
of Energy or forms of Brahman."

It would never occur to most SOM materialists to view energy this way. But, 
that's why we seek original thinkers like Wilber and Pirsig -- to break out 
of our cocoons of static assumptions. 

Platt