[MD] relative

[Ham Priday]

Hi Joe --

> Hi Ham and All,
>
> Your enthusiasm is catching!  Your emphasis on the "anthropocentric 
> universe
> in which man is the decision-maker" can only leave me humbled.  How can I 
> as
> an individual possibly have a connection to the stars?  They are 
> beautiful!
> For some reason I am in tears! I think it is your eloquence.  I realize we
> are older and our time is growing shorter but Ham you sure know how to 
> light
> a fire.  I am just sorry it has taken me so long to respond.

Thanks for the compliment, Joe.  I doubt my "eloquence" but am glad the 
enthusiasm comes through because I need it to convince the Pirsigians that 
"interrelated patterns" doesn't do justice to Value or man's sensibility of 
it.  And, although you accept the concept of anthropocentricity, they are 
persuaded that man is only a patterned reflection of undefinable DQ.

Admittedly, I have a not-so-secret agenda here, which is to advance the 
theory that man's sensibility actually _creates_ Value, as opposed to being 
a socio-intellectual pattern of it.  This, of course, will greatly disturb 
Pirsig's acolytes for whom Quality is the Primary Reality.  My justification 
for this epistemology is that there is no Value without a sensible agent to 
realize it.  To use your example, where is the beauty of the stars when 
there is no one to observe it?  If that beauty has any value, it can only 
lie in the realization of a sensible subject who stands apart from what he 
is observing.

Our connection to beauty, and any other value, is relational; and there you 
see why Reality must be divided into subjects and objects if Value is to be 
realized and defined.  It should be obvious that by experiencing things we 
define (measure) their relative values all the time.  This, in fact, is our 
primary role as human beings.  It makes no sense to say that the universe is 
"inherently valuable".  Rather, it is we ourselves who give it value and 
define it as objective reality, along with whatever order, beauty, truth or 
virtue it represents relative to our experience.

Didn't Pirsig once say that "experience is the leading edge of reality"?  I 
see no other way to conceptualize the Value phenomenon whereby we experience 
the joys and desires of life.

You also credit me for knowing how to "light a fire".  I hope you're right, 
and that it sparks this community to a higher understanding of Essential 
Value than can be gained by the present interpretation of Qualityism.  But, 
as you suggest, we all live on borrowed time, and we octogenerians may not 
be around long enough to see the fruit of our efforts.

Your kind words are much appeciated, Joe.  I'm still waiting for our friend 
Mark to provide a précis of his personal philosophy.  When I've had an 
opportunity to review it, let's chat some more about your theory of 
evolution and the merits of this value concept.

Essentially yours,
Ham