[MD] Intellectual Level

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Mark]
No I do not believe [the Intellectual level] is SOM, SOM comes out of 
the intellect but does not represent it.

[Arlo]
I'd say SOM is a subset of intellectual patterns, ones that derive 
from the very specific metaphysical premise that the primary division 
of "reality" is subject/objects.

[Mark]
SOM is used for communication, but not for awareness.

[Arlo]
No. I'd say that "subjects" and "objects" as parts of grammatical 
structures are used in many forms of communication, but "SOM" is, 
again, a very specific metaphysical premise.

I think you are confusing the "subjects" and "objects" of language 
with "SOM", as if the use of a grammatical "subject" necessitates one 
holding that "subjects/objects" are the primary division of reality. 
This is (I would hope) obviously untrue. Grammatical structures also 
include, for example, tense, action (verbs), descriptors, 
flow-markers (punctuation), etc.

[Mark]
Intellect is also involved in awareness.  That is, what happens 
before thoughts are constructed.

[Arlo]
I'm not sure, but you appear to be conflating two things here. To get 
to your second point "[awareness] is what happens before thoughts are 
constructed", I think Pirsig's comment in ZMM supports this.

"All the time we are aware of millions of things around us...these 
changing shapes, these burning hills, the sound of the engine, the 
feel of the throttle, each rock and weed and fence post and piece of 
debris beside the road...aware of these things but not really 
conscious of them unless there is something unusual or unless they 
reflect something we are predisposed to see. We could not possibly be 
conscious of these things and remember all of them because our mind 
would be so full of useless details we would be unable to think. From 
all this awareness we must select, and what we select and call 
consciousness is never the same as the awareness because the process 
of selection mutates it. We take a handful of sand from the endless 
landscape of awareness around us and call that handful of sand the 
world." (ZMM)

Here Pirisig uses the term "awareness" to precede the discriminatory 
process that results in "consciousness", something he calls later the 
"endless landscape of awareness around us". I know you hate quotes, 
but here is another from ZMM supporting this. "He simply meant that 
at the cutting edge of time, before an object can be distinguished, 
there must be a kind of nonintellectual awareness, which he called 
awareness of Quality." (ZMM)

And this leads into the first part of your comment (which I think you 
incorrectly conflated into the latter). Here, intellect is not 
"involved in awareness" as much as it derives FROM awareness.