[MD] Awareness and consciousness in the MOQ

[X Acto]

Ant McWatt commented April 8th 2012:

Andre,

You're thinking of a paragraph in Pirsig's letter dated August 17th 1997 in the
McWatt-Pirsig Letters PDF:

"People with scientific training often think of the term , 'mystic' as a
synonym for 'demented,' but by mystic I only mean that which is known but is
inherently without any kind of intellectual definition.  If Dynamic
Quality were merely called 'God' or 'oneness' [such people] would have it shoved
out of philosophic bounds without question.  But they cannot shove Quality
out of bounds.  Mystic or not, they can't deny it exists.  They
cannot eliminate it as a meaningful term.  In fact 'meaningful' means
'having social or intellectual quality'." 

 
Mark Smith stated April 8th:

With all respect to Pirsig, the quote above indicates that he has no concept of
what "God" means.  God is not definable.  He falls into the modern trap
of treating God like an object.  It is no more an object than his Quality. 
Understanding this brings one respect for those with a dynamic
relationship with "what is".  

Ron comments:
Interesting enough, If we look back at the original quote, we can see that RMP
is really going for a term that has the most meaning and that has the most rhetorical power
in terms of explanation. And as we see, the term "God" is a loaded term. Your whole explanation
gets high jacked into a defense about what you really mean, face it, it's a discussion killer.

Everyone can relate to Quality and it's something easily understood atheist,Druid or Catholic.
It reaches a mass audience in terms of understanding and meaning. The beauty of that term
is that it is so immediately understandable, it's simple and innocent. In the end the aim is to
be able to explain ourselves with more clarity and understanding.

In conclusion then, RMP knows exactly what the concept of what "God" means and also
what it means in regard to what he is trying to say.

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