[MD] Quality and the Higgs Field: An Analogy

[Ham Priday]

Hi Mark--


On Sat., 2/05/11 at 11:23 PM, Mark ununoctiums at gmail.com wrote to Andre:

[Abridged]:
> Your statements add nothing to the progress of MoQ and
> perhaps are somewhat a left over from a dream you had
> on the subject many years ago.  I would have to ask you,
> if you know it all, then what are you doing here?
> Please, if you are part of some old guard of MoQ, then
> you have yet to step into what is happening.  You are past-tense.
>
> Ham has provided input which has enabled greater progress
> in MoQ than any that has been posted in the last three years.
> Perhaps you should continue to debate the connections of
> Pirsig to other twentieth century philosophers who have
> succumbed to the notion of absolute truth.  If you really know
> what Quality is, then say so.  Don't fall to the level of ignorant
> criticism of something that you know nothing about.  Your
> fundamental MoQ stuff is either outdated, or some religion
> of yours.

Thanks for the kind words on my behalf, Mark.  I would like to believe you 
and I have moved the discussion toward a more plausible epistemology, but 
that would be overly optimistic.  Unfortunately the MoQ is tied to a set of 
euphemisms that defy metaphysical analysis but must be accepted in toto as 
the "official" belief system of its author.

Andre is by no means representative of "the old guard."  His first posting 
on my mail list was in June, 2009, and his discussion was mainly with Bodvar 
and Platt (who have since departed) as well as John.  Having participated in 
this forum since 2003, I'm no longer surprised by insults from MDers who are 
frustrated by my assertions.  In fact, I wear them as a 'badge of honor'.

I find it ironic, however, that Andre's dictum: "Quality does not 'act', it 
simply is," which you chose to criticize is the only ontological conclusion 
we can draw from Pirsig's thesis as presented.  If our dialog has shed any 
light on reality, it's that there is nothing simple about what "is", 
including the value we sense in it.  To accept the universe for what it 
appears to be, a differentiated environment that simply "hangs around" --  
and call it "natural", is perhaps the greatest deception we can fall prey 
to.
The mystery of creation is not so easily swept away.

"It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating 
us from our creator-our very self-consciousness-is also the one thing that 
divides us from our fellow creatures.  It was a bitter birthday present from 
evolution."    --Annie Dillard

Kindest regards,
Ham