[MD] The dirty doors of perception?

[David Thomas]

Hi, DMB

Dave,
Sorry I was so long getting back to you I had some connectivity issues.

> dmb says:
> In the preceding paragraph Pirsig explains that "he used this example because
> his chief questioners seemed to see things in terms of stimulus-response
> behavior theory". He says this sort of explanation was "easiest intellectual
> analog of pure Quality that people in our environment can understand". Also,
> despite the fact that he's explaining this in terms a behaviorist can
> understand, the substance of his claim strikes a direct hit against the myth
> of the given. Think about it. If every last bit of reality is an invented
> analog, then everything is constructed and nothing is given.
Dave
Yeah when you take this to heart it's really powerful. I use an iPhone as a
modem now. On Friday afternoon it stopped working that way. After hours of
troubleshooting and research over the weekend I finally decided it was
beyond me (a former electronics tech and sole supporter of many Macs since
86) and it would have to be taken into AT&T for "expert" help. I invented a
solution analog. Low and behold it worked. On Monday I took it into the AT&T
store where it was bought, set up the phone and computer for the service
tech to look at, and it worked fine. Powerful magic these analogs.

> dmb cont
> ..... In other words, Pirsig and Sellars can agree that the myth of the given
> ought to be debunked and yet there is a very big difference between them.
>James and Pirsig are more radical about this rejection because they pull this
>myth out by its metaphysical roots, if you will.

It's analogs all the way up and all the way down. But isn't Quality a given?
As in " But that which causes us to invent the analogues is Quality"
Surely that is a given. Why no, here you use the Lao Tzu defense from the
bottom of the page:

"It was the 2,400-year-old Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu. He began to read through
the lines he had read many times before, but this time he studied it to see
if a certain substitution would work. He began to read and interpret it at
the same time.
He read:
The quality that can be defined is not the Absolute Quality.
That was what he had said.
The names that can be given it are not Absolute names.
It is the origin of heaven and earth.
When named it is the mother of all things -- .
Exactly."
Etc
Etc
Etc
Hallelujah,  Amen.

The dirty little secret is that ZaMM and Lila are analogs of the Old and New
Testaments. The New Good News in a saffron robe with an eagle feather on
top. Powerful mojo.

Dave