[MD] The Word is Not the Thing

[plattholden at gmail.com]

All:

The great debate about whether the MOQ belongs to the intellectual level 
or not may have a rather simple solution. It both belongs to the intellectual 
level and it doesn't. As a description of reality it's a static intellectual 
pattern. As the central reality it's Dynamic -- beyond words.  

I've come to this conclusion by reviewing Pirsig's comment in Lila's Child to 
an assertion I made about the MOQ many years ago, namely that "The 
MOQ is an SOM document based on SOM reasoning." (and by implication 
belonging to the intellectual level). In note 132 Pirsig wrote:

"It employs SOM reasoning the SOM reasoning employs social structures 
such as courts and journals and learned societies to make itself known. 
SOM reasoning is not subordinate to these social structures, and the MOQ 
is not subordinate to the SOM structures it employs. Remember the central 
reality of the MOQ is not an object or a subject or anything else. It is 
understood by direct experience only and not by reasoning of any kind.".

Or, as my old college textbook on semantics says, "The word is not the 
thing."  A map is not the territory, a menu is not the food, a pointing finger 
is not the moon.

Obvious? Of course. But I easily forget. I forget the independence of 
symbols from the experiences symbolized. I fail to remember that the 
differences between actual and symbolic experience are great. I am not at 
risk of being killed by watching a movie like "The Longest Day;" I don't feel 
the cold while reading about the Antarctic. 

And so it is with the MOQ. It's intellectual pattern contained in ZAMM and 
Lila  is the map at the intellectual level.  Dynamic quality experience is the 
territory. Many focus on the former and call it the MOQ. Bo focuses on the 
latter and calls it the MOQ. Like the heads and tails of a coin, both are right. 

Here we battle over interpreting the map. At the same time as we write to 
express our views, we  engage Dynamic quality.   

I'm sure others have reached this conclusion before and may have 
presented it here. For me sometimes  the dawning comes late.

As always, I could be wrong. 

Platt