[MD] The Quality of Freedom

[markhsmit]

On Dec 11, 2009, at 11:08:22 AM, "Ham Priday" <hampday1 at verizon.net> wrote:
Mark, I think you will discover, as I did, that this is a step in the wrong 
direction. The individual self (value-sensibility) comes about by its 
estrangement from Essence. As a negated being-aware, the self intrinsically 
senses its lack of "being" and draws its value from the experience of 
otherness. But this otherness is negated, too, in that it is Essential 
Value objectivized as finite being (finitude).

My 'Value' approximates Pirsig's "undefined DQ", from which we derive all we 
can know of Absolute Essence. Existence is our construct of Value, not 
Essence. Had Pirsig taken existence to the next step and posited a Primary 
Source (beyond man's esthetic level), I might find myself agreeing with him. 
As it stands, the MoQ has led us down an existential path that excludes the 
essential Source. By not acknowledging Quality (Value) as a human 
sensibility, while at the same time proclaiming it the ground of Reality, 
Pirsig has left us with an incomplete metaphysics. (IMO

Hi Ham,
I guess I am trying to continue where you leave off.  You described the mechanics of
awareness, as that which is aware.  Since nothingness is not aware, we negate it.
This really doesn't fly when trying to understand the metaphysics of reality.  It simply
says that what exists exists.  You can try to confound it with mathematical principles
such as negation, or double negation, but it still explains very little.  Once it is
accepted that such negation is present, then yes, you can describe a world in
which our sensibility is the source of our appreciation of existence.  But such 
acceptance has no foundation.  Sure, darkness is negated by light, but that is 
simply a definition of light.  What is the principle by which light negates
darkness?  What is the principle behind awareness negating nothingness?
You can say that it just does, and such negation cannot be described
mechanistically.  But I expect a little more than such shallowness.

You seem to have little appreciation for the personal sense of awareness and
like to describe things in an objective individual v otherness.  This is missing
a great part of the philosophy of self awareness.  Perhaps if you were to delve
a bit deeper into the ramifications of your belief, beyond the descriptive, you
may gain an appreciation for those philosophies that try to describe the
source, and its transitional personal behavior.  It seems a shame that you do not
try to build a better foundation than simply saying that it is what it is.

Where there was nothing there is now something.  How does this happen?

Cheers and Happy Holidays to you and yours,
Mark