[MD] atheistic and content

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Marsha to Ham]
It would be more like seeing would be unique from your individual 
eyes and point-of-view... But still no self.... What would you say about this?

[Arlo interjects]
Well, I think you are pointing in the right direction, if I 
understand you. As biologically-bounded beings we are (of course) 
bound to have unique experiences as we navigate different 
perspective-bound paths "in the world". My eyes reflect patterns to 
my brain that are unique to the angle, light, distance, etc. between 
them and the patterns in my view. But, happily!, this 
biologically-bounded unique trajectory is not all we are. No, no, no. 
In the process of appropriating what Pirsig refers to as "the 
collective consciousness", we encode our experiences using social 
symbols, and as such the patterns that amass in our brain as 
combinations of the social/individual "reality" of our being. The 
"self", as such, is a social construct, one that we learn to refer to 
to organize our thoughts and memories; retaining uniqueness by virtue 
of our biologically-bound apartness, but retaining sociality by 
virtue of our culturally-bound assimilation. That is, we construct 
our "selves" and our thoughts socially, but this social construction 
builds from the unique, biologically-bound sense input our body receives.

This is why those who beat the "individual v. collective drum" are 
wasting their time chasing after, what is apparent to be, a 
politically-guided ideological strawman. The entirety of the MOQ, 
from top to bottom, is a dance of larger patterns forming from the 
collective activity of smaller, individual patterns. It is this 
dialogic activity that should be the focus of inquiry. Isolating any 
"individual" pattern is merely a matter of focus. A amoeba is an 
"individual pattern" until you focus in more and realize it is a 
collective of smaller "individual" patterns engaged in a beautiful 
collective dance.

But of course for saying this, the ideologues of The Glorious 
Individual will simply start bleating "evil collectivist!". Wait and see...