[MD] new blog

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Paco]
An indicator, if not proof, is their/our ability to experience beauty 
and create beauty throiugh art forms. The way of art leads to worlds 
beyond reason.

[Arlo]
Yes, I continue to be astounded by the art (visual, aural, kinetic, 
etc.) wo/man has created through the ages. From the earliest records 
we have of such activity (cave paintings, sculptures, as well as the 
legends that would eventually survive to reach us thousands of years 
later) to the present-day, humanity has created a wealth of metaphor 
demonstrating the human condition. I am a cynic only half the time. :-)

[Paco]
I suspect Pirsig had a mystical experience of Quality.

[Arlo]
I think he says as much very clearly. From his earlier partaking of 
the peyote ceremony to the moment he narrates in ZMM, "Then Phaedrus 
feels a tugging to read the passage again, and he does so and 
then...what's this?! -- "That which we translate 'virtue ' but is in 
Greek 'excellence. Lightning hits! Quality! Virtue! Dharma!".

[Paco]
However, these art forms, as all art forms, fail to express the whole.

[Arlo]
This is my ongoing point, and central to my criticism of "theism" 
(whose particular narratives I've likened to paintings, to get across 
the idea). Where WE fail as people is to recognize the limited view 
resulting from privileging or making exclusive one work of art. One 
can, for example, learn a great deal about the human condition from 
reading Dostoevsky, but would we ever insist one limit oneself to 
reading nothing else? And I am not even talking other "great 
literature", such as Yoskikawa or Twain, but also the, ahem, "lesser" 
forms like graphic novels (Spiegelman) or comics (Schultz or 
Watterson). This is my point. "Theism" is one response to the Mythos, 
painting, sculpting, dancing, illustrated novels, comics, symphonies, 
drum circles and rock concerts are others.