[MD] The Quest for Quality

[Ham Priday]

Joseph --


> IMO putting existence before awareness is an acknowledgement
> of evolution.  Awareness evolves.

The problem with "before" and "after" is that it presumes evolution, forcing 
the idea that physical reality is primary, which is the existentialist;s 
position.  The continuum of time is the mode of human experience, which we 
intellectualize as the coming and going of events.  Thus, to say that the 
universe evolves is fine, provided you are talking about relational 
existence.  The acquisition of knowledge is an evolving process, of course, 
as is one's understanding of the physical world and its relational 
components.  This process represents the temporal unfolding of being-aware.

However, I maintain that awareness itself is the value-sensibilty of the 
Knower.  I base this on the fact that neither value nor awareness is an 
existent (i.e., capable of being localized, quantified, or objectively 
observed).  We cannot logically attribute self-awareness or the space/time 
mode of its experience to reality, except as the individual's finite 
perspective.  So we can't assume that ultimate reality (the primary essence) 
is subject to the space/time conditions of experiential existence.

In general, I think it can be said that those who believe in a primary 
source also believe in the primacy of subjective awareness.  Those who deny 
the primary source look to evolution as the source of awareness and tend to 
be existentialists.  I'm not sure where this places Pirsig and the Quality 
hierarchy.  Perhaps he straddles the fence between spiritualism (valuism?) 
and existentialism.

Thanks for your viewpoint, Joe.

Best regards,
Ham