[MD] Duality and where it leads us

[Ham Priday]

Welcome back, Paul --

I hope you've come to stay awhile, as you've had closer contact with Pirsig 
than most of us and your past comments were insightful.  Checking the 
archives, I note that you unsubscribed in December 2005, which was about the 
time I came aboard.  (Perhaps you can brief us on what you've been up to 
during the past three years.)

Your treatment of duality is unlike anything I have seen on the MD, and I'm 
sure I am not alone in wondering what inspired it.

> First of all, there is one fundamental insight which, though at
> first glance may seem very simple, can actually prove decisive
> in our quest for life's meaning.
>
> This insight, if understood and worked with on a daily basis,
> can help enormously in purifying our urge to seek, so that it
> becomes much more dynamic and capable of reaching its goal.
> This insight is the knowledge that our urge to seek -- our
> yearning for absolute truth, perfection, healing, love -- does
> *not*originate in the part of ourselves we are accustomed to
> calling 'I,' although it may *appear* to do so. Our thirst for
> the Absolute actually originates from an eternal principle latent
> within us. This *eternal* principle is quite distinct from the ego,
> and remains in a more or less dormant state in most people.
> We call this principle of eternity the 'Rose,' but it is also known
> by many other names, such as 'divine spark,' 'spirit-spark atom,'
> the Christos, the Pearl of Great Price, the Precious Jewel in the
> Lotus, and so on.

Your "eternal principle' reminds me of Meister Eckhart's mystic "little 
castle in the soul" which "...is at once pure and free, as God himself is, 
and like him in perfect unity and uniformity."  Are you at all familiar with 
Eckhart, Paul?  (I have Raymond Blakney's translation from the German.)

> Apart from the Rose, our whole being is a product of nature,
> entirely subject to the laws of time and space. That is why,
> of ourselves, we can never achieve anything absolute and lasting,
> for our creations will always be subject to finiteness and
> temporality.
>
> The Rose, on the other hand, as the principle of eternity latent
> within us, is subject to the laws of eternity. That is why, if we
> want to transcend space and time, if we want to reach the
> Absolute, the eternal, we will never be able to do so with any
> part of our self as it is at this moment. If we want our thirst for
> the Absolute to be satisfied, we will need to begin by
> 'standing aside,' as regards our ordinary, I-central
> consciousness, and allowing the eternal principle latent
> within us to develop so that it gradually becomes predominant
> in our system.
>
> The goal the is to shift the I-central consciousness from its
> position as 'king' in their inner household, and to restore it
> to its proper role: that of 'servant' to the growing True Self
> within, the Christ-Self, the Rose. Simultaneously, this Rose
> within them is given all the sustenance it needs to be able to
> grow. If the person cooperates and perseveres in this
> process, the Rose increasingly unfolds and blooms; it becomes
> an inner source of light and love that sheds its perfume
> and radiance over all, for the benefit of all.

This religious mysticism is all very intriguing, although certainly not 
rooted in the evolutionary hierarchy of Pirsig's thesis.  Is it the product 
of your personal intuition or does it reflect your thoughts on some 
published source?  You have us all mystified.  I hope we don't have to wait 
too long for an explanation of this teaser which appears to be the result of 
an epiphany of some kind.

Anyway, it's great to have you back, Paul.

Best regards,
Ham