[MD] Hot stoves and those who sit on them

[MarshaV]

Hi Andre,

I certainly will miss your Buddhist wisdom.  But I cannot help but wonder about 
the expression of your "having to defend Pirsig against himself" , especially 
when RMP talks in ZMM of explanations being both true and false, and in
LILA of more than one set of truths.  

 
"Any philosophic explanation of Quality is going to be both false and true precisely 
because it is a philosophic explanation. The process of philosophic explanation is 
an analytic process, a process of breaking something down into subjects and 
predicates. What I mean (and everybody else means) by the word quality cannot 
be broken down into subjects and predicates. This is not because Quality is so 
mysterious but because Quality is so simple, immediate and direct."
    (ZMM, Chapter 20)


“…if Quality or excellence is seen as the ultimate reality then it becomes possible 
for more than one set of truths to exist. Then one doesn't seek the absolute Truth.  
One seeks instead the highest quality intellectual explanation of things with the 
knowledge that if the past is any guide to the future this explanation must be taken 
provisionally; as useful until something better comes along. One can then examine 
intellectual realities the same way one examines paintings in an art gallery, not with 
an effort to find out which one is the 'real' painting, but simply to enjoy and keep those 
that are of value. There are many sets of intellectual reality in existence and we can 
perceive some to have more quality than others, but that we do so is, in part, the 
result of our history and current patterns of values.
  (LILA, Chapter 8)    

---  

Maybe I'm fortunate to have painting to totally distract me when I get feeling stuck.
For instance, I have started painting, from an old etched print, a gypsy woman seriously
playing a guitar.  It is an impossible task, I love to paint.  -  What do you love to do?

I've often wanted to ask people, how does the MoQ make their lives better?  Abstract 
thinking about metaphysical subject matter is wonderful, but has it changed your life?  


Peace be with you Andre.


Marsha 








 
 


On Mar 28, 2010, at 11:16 AM, Andre Broersen wrote:

> Dear MoQ'ers,
> 
> As some of you know, my circumstances in where I live and work are not optimal. Frustration gallore.
> The Discuss was for me a stimulating diversion, but it has become a bit tedious of late. I can identify with
> the MoQ as Pirsig has formulated it. Of course this is not everyone's experience, but let's just say that I am
> getting tired of having to defend Pirsig against himself. Rarely have I given my own reading of the MoQ.
> I have always tried to back it up with quotes from ZMM, LILA and LC.
> 
> So many objections, other interpretations etc.
> 
> That is fine. Don't get me wrong. I just do not have the intellectual garbage to say things coherently and doing
> justice to the MoQ and Mr. Pirsig at the same time.
> 
> Just very tired at present.
> 
> So I'll say goodbye for a while.
> 
> Take care,
> Yours sincerely
> Andre
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