[MD] Chance v. Dynamic Quality

[Platt Holden]

Hey Andre,

Andre:
> I did not want to create the impression that DQ is something 'out there'
> Arlo, quite the opposite. We are 'patterned'/'stabilised' DQ.

Yes, we are static patterns of Quality. But we are not DQ. DQ is something 
we perceive and, under some circumstances, respond to. Otherwise, how to  
explain:

"This, Phaedrus thought, was why little children are usually quicker to 
PERCEIVE Dynamic Quality than old people, why beginners are usually quicker 
than experts, why primitive people are sometimes quicker than those of  
'advanced' cultures." (Lila, 9)

and 

"The patterns of life are constantly evolving in RESPONSE to something 
'better' than that which these laws have to offer." (Lila, 11)

and

"These patterns can't by themselves PERCEIVE or ADJUST to Dynamic Quality. 
Only a living being can do that.' (Lila, 9) 

As for DQ being a force, like energy, one need only refer to such 
statements as: 

"Biological evolution can be seen as a process by which weak DYNAMIC FORCES 
at the subatomic level DISCOVER strategems for overcoming huge static 
inorganic forces at a superatomic level." (Lila, 11)

and

"Natural selection is Dynamic Quality AT WORK." (Lila, 11)

plus many more statements in Chapter 11. 

And let's not forget the seminal premise of the MOQ:

"Although Dynamic Quality, the Quality of freedom, CREATES THIS WORLD in 
which we live, these patterns of static quality, the quality of order, 
preserve our world." (Lila, 9)

Pirsig makes it clear through the story of the brujo and in other places 
that it is the individual responding to the creative force of DQ that is 
currently driving social and intellectual evolution.

If someone has a contrary view, they ought to be able to support it with 
the evidence of quotations from Pirsig's writings after ZMM when he 
discovered the existence of Dynamic and static quality within the broader 
category of Quality. Remember that he said of experience: "Dynamic Quality 
comes as a sort of surprise . . . Static quality is what you normally 
expect."(Lila,9) 

As you say, Andre, DQ is not something "out there." It is part of the 
Quality experience. But it not part of everyday experience. It's rare and 
wonderful: 

"It was applied to manifestations of skill, fortune, blessing, luck, to any 
wondrous occurrence. It connoted any phenomenon that transcended the run of 
everyday experience. In other words, 'Dynamic Quality.' " (Lila, 9)

Platt