[MD] Why are things called patterns?

[Andre]

dmb to Marsha:
She is so lacking in self-awareness that she doesn't see her own 
defensive anger as a rather transparent confession, but that's exactly 
what it is.

Andre:
Excellent post dmb. I just thought I'd pick some issues out of it to 
elaborate on it by providing, perhaps a slightly different perspective 
but, in my view totally commensurate with the MOQ.

Lila is not, strictly speaking, 'lacking in self-awareness' but rather 
her awareness of herself is defined in biological terms. What does this 
mean? The biological level has 'emerged' from the inorganic level. At 
this level there is, as yet, no idea of a social let alone intellectual 
level. One's awareness, one's consciousness therefore is restricted to 
the biological level. Everything and everybody is seen in biological 
terms with biological connotations/intentions/wishes etc.

To put it in intellectual terms: the ego is still at the level of 
'body-ego', more or less differentiated from the environment. Lila's 
anger, of course, and her own 'rationalizations'(and justifications) 
about her own 'state' are indications of her (pathological) attempt to 
'transcend' to the social level(at least). Her paranoia is the 
protection/indication and result of the failure of this attempt.

Then follows the quote after which you say:

"Marsha read this and finds great wisdom in Lila's words, as if her denial of self were an indication of enlightenment."

Which, as you rightly point out it is not. Rather it is regression. Lila cannot handle social membership, and because the intellectual is never in view Lila doesn't know it and Marsha thinks she has gone beyond it but the 'wisdom' found is only body-centric, naturistic/narcissistic. It is pre-verbal, pre-personal, pre-mental. Lila is "nobody", she is "not at home". She is a (n)ever-changing set of static biological patterns of quality. Socially low, intellectual-nowhere...and in desperate need of stability.

Of course Phaedrus wants to kill her. "Not the biological Lila, but the static patterns that were really going to kill her if she didn't let go". I think what Phaedrus means is that he wants to kill her ( sole) identification of herself with the biological level. To 'escape' into Dynamic Quality i.e. die to this level, die to the sole identification of the self with biology and transcend into the social level (at least...one cannot skip levels as Aurobindo and many others point out), assuming thereby an expanded (self) consciousness. It does mean a 'birth' in the new and a death of (but including) the former.

I do hope this makes a little bit of sense. It sure has help me to understand Marsha's defenses a bit better....not that that is an excuse!