[MD] Re differences between MoQ and SOM

[Platt Holden]

> 
> Platt,
> 
> Is this your personal interpretation, or something approved and 
> published on the MOQ website, or what?
> 
> Marsha

Marsha, 

It appeared on MOQ discuss years ago -- don't know exactly when. Totally my 
personal opinion.

Platt




> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 10:31 AM 10/17/2008, you wrote:
> 
> >{Andre]
> > > I realise that this Discuss is one place but ehhh a small
> instruction
> > > manual? a sort of a MoQ for dummies like me?
> >
> >The following goes back 10 years or so, but you may find it of value:
> >
> >Primer on the Metaphysics of Quality
> >
> >What is Metaphysics?
> >A theory of reality.
> >
> >What is the Metaphysics of Quality?
> >The theory that reality is awareness, the ultimate good.
> >
> >Why does Pirsig say reality is awareness?
> >Because without awareness reality wouldn't exist.
> >
> >Why does Pirsig say reality is the ultimate good?
> >Because we can conceive of nothing better than awareness.
> >
> >What is the Quality Event?
> >The event that creates our level of reality from awareness.
> >
> >What is Dynamic Quality?
> >Pure awareness, uncontaminated by thought.
> >
> >Is Dynamic Quality another word for God?
> >If you mean by God the ultimate good, yes.
> >
> >Then the Bible is right when it says God created Heaven and Earth?
> >Yes, as long as you think of God not as a captive of any one religion,
> but
> >as the principle of good.
> >
> >Is the Metaphysics of Quality a religion?
> >No. Religion is a static pattern of Social Quality. (See below.)
> >
> >How does morality fit into the Metaphysics of Quality?
> >Morality is another name for Quality.
> >
> >Does that mean that reality is moral?
> >Yes.
> >
> >Isn't morality about how people behave?
> >Yes, but also about how everything in the universe behaves.
> >
> >What is Static Quality?
> >The evolution of awareness in the universe, stabilized into patterns.
> >
> >What are the levels of Static Quality?
> >Inorganic, Biological, Social and Intellectual.
> >
> >What is Inorganic Quality?
> >Patterns of physical matter.
> >
> >What is Biological Quality?
> >Patterns of life.
> >
> >What is Social Quality?
> >Patterns of culture.
> >
> >What is Intellectual Quality?
> >Patterns of thought.
> >
> >Are you saying that patterns of matter are aware?
> >Yes.
> >
> >How can anyone believe that?
> >If humans are aware, and humans are composed of particles, it follows
> that
> >particles are aware too.
> >
> >What is the evidence?
> >Quantum physics sees particles as events requiring the presence of
> >awareness.
> >
> >What exactly are values?
> >Whatever is good.
> >
> >Who determines what is good?
> >Each level determines its own good.
> >
> >What is the highest good?
> >Freedom from all static patterns.
> >
> >How do you know that?
> >Freedom is the driving force of evolution.
> >
> >How can anyone believe that?
> >Each evolutionary level contains more freedom of action and greater
> >awareness than the level below it.
> >
> >How do the different levels relate to each other?
> >They fight each other for dominance.
> >
> >Why?
> >Each level considers itself better than other levels.
> >
> >Are higher levels better than those below it?
> >Yes.
> >
> >So it's moral for a higher level to dominate a lower level?
> >Yes, but in doing so it has to be careful not to weaken or destroy the
> >lower level.
> >
> >Why?
> >Because a higher level depends on the lower for its existence.
> >
> >How come different people have different ideas about what is good?
> >Each person has a different pattern of life history.
> >
> >Why did Pirsig say Lila had Quality?
> >He didn't say she had Quality He said Quality had her. Each of us is
> >possessed by the patterns of Quality. Your collection of patterns is
> the
> >unique set that defines you.
> >
> >How is Dynamic Quality expressed in each level?
> >In the Inorganic level, it's expressed as light, in the Biological level
> as
> >birth, in the Social level as play, in the Intellectual level as art.
> >
> >What is Subject-Object Metaphysics (SOM)?
> >The theory that the world contains nothing but subjects (mind) and
> objects
> >(matter).
> >
> >What is wrong with SOM?
> >It considers its highest value, objectivity, to be valueless (amoral).
> >
> >Why is the MoQ better than SOM?
> >It explains values and solves the mind-matter problem.
> >
> >What is the mind-matter problem?
> >How can matter generate thought.
> >
> >How does the MoQ solve the mind-matter problem?
> >Quality, the creative source of all things, is neither mind nor matter
> but
> >a distinct category of its own.
> >
> >If the world is composed of moral values or goodness why is there so
> much
> >suffering in the world?
> >Suffering is caused by battles for dominance between and within value
> >levels. When someone dies, Biological patterns lose the battle to
> Inorganic
> >patterns. But Biological patterns win in the end because life goes on.
> >
> >Is Quality the same worldwide and in all cultures?
> >Yes. Every culture relies on patterns of social quality to survive. The
> >patterns themselves, however, are often different from culture to
> culture.
> >
> >Is Quality goal seeking?
> >Yes. Each level has succeeded in attaining more freedom than the
> previous
> >level.
> >
> >Is Quality purposeful?
> >Yes. It's purpose is to be free of all static patterns.
> >
> >Is Quality self-regulating?
> >Quality is not a "self" -- an object. It is distinct from subjects and
> >objects, but not separate. It pervades everything.
> >
> >Does the level of Quality rise as it raises the level of static
> quality?
> >To the degree that each subsequent level has more freedom, it has more
> >Quality.
> >
> >What does the MoQ say about religion?
> >Religion is a static social value pattern that has no right to dominate
> the
> >higher intellectual pattern.
> >
> >What does the MoQ say about art?
> >Art attempts to create aesthetic awareness which comes closer to
> Quality
> >than other kinds of awareness such as Social or Intellectual.
> >
> >What other philosophies are consistent with the MoQ?
> >Pirsig credits William James and Alfred North Whitehead as being
> consistent
> >with the MOQ.
> >
> >What do we need to do to replace SOM with the MOQ?
> >Nothing. Awareness of the MoQ will evolve because it explains reality
> >better than other philosophies.
> >
> >Note: You'll find other brief descriptions of the MOQ in "Lila's
> Child."
> >
> >Platt
> >
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> 
> .
> .
> The Universe is uncaused, like a net of jewels in which each is a 
> reflection of all the others in a fantastic, interrelated harmony without
> end.
> .
> .
> 
>