[MD] Rhetoric

[mail at tuukkavirtaperko.net]

The problem with Robert Pirsig is that even though he was capable of  
apprehending that the American Indian culture is different from that  
which is familiar to him, he was incapable of participating. In fact,  
he couldn't even hang around with the Indians without Dusenberry. All  
that erudition didn't teach him how to do that. The only thing he  
could do about his experiences with Indians was to put them into a box  
labeled "Dynamic Quality" and leave it at that. And to walk away.

Werewolf is not stating there is no Dynamic Quality. But he is stating  
that Pirsig called some things Dynamic because he didn't understand  
them. Things someone else would understand. It's nothing personal.  
Everyone has a limited amount of energy. Newton said that if he's seen  
further, it's because he stood on the shoulders of giants. Pirsig  
talks about a giant - the giant - but what if he's the giant for  
someone else?

Once upon a time Werewolf became the solo guitarist of a band that  
only played improvised music. That in itself is kind of funny. That a  
band with eleven members can play improvised music. But what is more  
curious about that is that Werewolf had never even touched a guitar  
before.

The first time Werewolf touched a guitar was at the Farmhouse. He was  
sitting in the living room where band members liked to smoke  
cigarettes and get wasted. Or intoxicated. Or sacred.

Captain gave him a guitar. He just gave it. Werewolf can't remember  
much about the event. He recalls Captain gave him the guitar in the  
living room and that he didn't think much of it. It didn't occur to  
him that the guitar might be his guitar. That he might keep the guitar  
even if they were to part ways. And what a guitar it was.

The ingenuity of this Captain was in not doing unnecessary things that  
are customary in contemporary culture. He did not talk about the wood.  
He didn't talk about how much the guitar cost. Only after Captain  
thought Werewolf might throw the guitar away, or sell it, or not care  
about it, did he mention that it was somewhat expensive.

A band member once asked the Werewolf how long had he played the  
guitar. The Werewolf replied truthfully: "About two weeks." The band  
member smiled.

Nobody ever gave the Werewolf advice on how to play the guitar. There  
were two exceptions. Someone said once that the defining moment of  
guitar playing is when it stops. And Captain once said that Werewolf  
should take guitar classes. He took one once. The instructor found out  
that the guitar was slightly damaged so Werewolf took it to a shop for  
repairs.

None of this matters to a Pirsigian. What matters to a Pirsigian is  
the things that were not done. The things that nobody in the band did.

If a Pirsigian tries to found a band, it might go like this:

"Since intellectuality is the most valuable static construct, we  
should form the band according to intellectually selected criteria.  
For example, we should choose a genre. After all, how could the band  
members tell appropriate improvisation from inappropriate if they  
don't know the genre? Also, it goes without saying that every band  
member must be familiar with his instrument. Otherwise we would just  
embarrass ourselves."

But the music was good. Nobody had selected a genre. Werewolf had  
never touched a guitar before. But he thought all band members are  
respectable people who wouldn't just waste their time. He felt  
everyone was into what they're doing. Even he was into it.

Surely such music isn't to everyone's liking. Nobody ever complained  
about it, though. That doesn't mean the musicians were unable to tell  
good from bad. Once Werewolf played his guitar badly. Soon enough he  
knew he sucked. When the song was over there was an awkward silence.  
Anticipating criticism, Werewolf retreated to the other side of the  
room and sat down with his head bowed.

A band member looked at him as if he was about to say something. But  
then he turned away. He realized he didn't need to tell Werewolf. That  
Werewolf already knew. So he said something vaguely soothing, and they  
resumed rehearsing after a while.

But what if the band members were playing simply because of social  
conventions? Because it's cool to be in a band? Or something like that?

Okay, but why is the band cool? Because creativity is cool?

What is creativity, then?

Dynamic Quality. Got to be. If it was there before, it wasn't created.  
If it wasn't there before, how could someone know what it was? Nobody  
could have known that beforehand.

If Werewolf played in a band again he wouldn't mention this. Unless  
spoken to, he wouldn't speak about this. That is against the rules of  
aesthetic.

That is not how science is done. In science you observe things. Then  
you make statements about your observations. Then you speculate about  
explanations for the statements. Then you devise an experiment that  
verifies or falsifies your speculations. Then you perform the  
experiment and observe the result. And nobody minds if you talk all  
the freaking time while doing this. Nobody minds if you explain  
everything. Strip it all down to the skin and the bare naked bones if  
you must. Nobody minds.

In art you don't do that.

Pirsig isn't dumb enough not to know that sometimes a bit of mystery  
is better. But he couldn't create the mystery with the Indians. He  
couldn't even participate in their mystery. He could only call the  
mystery Dynamic Quality and walk away, convinced that there was  
something he didn't understand. But even though he didn't understand  
it, it was there.

The band had certain rules that were usually adhered to:

- No leadership
- No genre
- No form
- All rules should be broken unless it's bad to do so

The last rule was never stated, but it kind of logically follows from  
the rule of no form. Perhaps this "logicality" is merely rhetorical.  
Perhaps not. It depends on what kind of form do we mean when we say:  
"No form". But all this could be dissected into oblivion without  
anybody getting any wiser. So let's just say those were the rules of  
the band and not take that too logically.

These are prescriptions. Forms. They formed a culture: a band. A band  
that played music and had gigs. At least some in the audience were  
impressed. If that's so important to mention. But Werewolf would  
rather not mention even that. Werewolf wouldn't want to tell you any  
of this if it weren't for tearing you apart. Metaphorically, in case  
that needs to be said out loud. Metaphorically into a mess of blood  
and guts that is very delicious.

You think the telos of static quality is intellectual quality. Yes,  
you think the telos of everything is Dynamic Quality, but the telos of  
static quality is intellectual according to LILA.

Was the band static? Yes. It was once. It might have ceased to be. But  
it's something that happened and that we can dissect into parts we can  
label. If we want to do so. Normally Werewolf wouldn't want to do so.  
But now he does, because he wants to show you you just don't have  
enough boxes.

It's up to you whether you want to put every static thing into a box  
or not. But you came here on this MeaDow because you did want to do  
that. Well, if you're going to do that anyway, you might as well do a  
good job.

The band is static because it is something that happened before but  
that has ceased to happen. However, even when the band was happening,  
its telos was not social and was not intellectual. It wasn't even  
biological. The telos of the band was aesthetical.

If Bo was here he'd think the band members have brainwashed Werewolf  
into thinking there is such a thing as aesthetic quality. He'd say the  
band members merely take delight in how Werewolf unknowingly attempts  
to please them. But Bo couldn't have played in that band. The band  
members wouldn't have invited him. Bo doesn't know how to play, and  
that doesn't mean the same thing as Werewolf not knowing to play. Just  
because Werewolf had never touched a guitar before doesn't mean  
Werewolf doesn't know how to play the guitar in the same sense as Bo  
doesn't know how to play the guitar. Werewolf knew how to play the  
guitar, but nobody knew he knew before he actually played. Even he  
didn't know he knew. Perhaps the Captain of the band knew but that he  
kept to himself.

And why?

Why would Captain keep something like that to himself? That's absurd!  
A scientist would rush to publish such a discovery. Hey, everyone!  
Come look! Werewolf can play the guitar! And now I'm going to give him  
his guitar and, to the amazement of everyone, he can play it! Even he  
will be stunned and in disbelief of his latent talent that now becomes  
apparent and obvious to everyone!

If Captain had done that Werewolf wouldn't have known how to play the  
guitar. Werewolf would just have fumbled a bit with something that was  
supposed to be a chord. Then he would have retreated into the shadows  
wondering whether he had failed Captain or whether Captain had set a  
trap for him. He would've become confused and disappointed and there  
would've been no band.

The band had a fifth rule. This was never proclaimed as a rule of the  
band. But someone who appeared to be a founding member of the band  
said he believes in the fifth rule. The fifth rule was that aesthetics  
is important.

Is aesthetics different from Dynamic Quality?

When Werewolf played the guitar badly in a rehearsal, he knew he  
sucked. In fact, he had played the guitar badly before. Not often, but  
sometimes, at least slightly badly. In fact, all he ever thought about  
while playing the guitar was: am I playing well?

That was an exaggeration.

There were moments when he played and he saw visions. Or was thrilled  
by his own blood dripping from his fingers. There was a meditative  
aspect to the playing. And that was the best thing about it. That was  
what made him feel like a musician instead of merely acting like one.  
But it wasn't like that all the time. Sometimes he did actually think:  
is this tune I'm playing beautiful?

And that's all there is to it. He didn't think much about what  
"beauty" means. If he did, he might have recited the rules in his  
mind: "No leadership. No genre. No form. Break rules." And he might  
even think about the Golden Ratio or symmetry. Sometimes. He was  
embarrassed that he did that but he thought all the band members do  
something like that sometimes. It's just not something that was  
supposed to be talked about. Just like going to the toilet and doing  
what you do there.

Werewolf isn't the kind of a person who complains about how people in  
movies never go to the toilet. Werewolf thinks those things aren't  
usually shown in the movies because they aren't aesthetically  
pleasing. And even if they are that sometimes it's anyhow difficult to  
portray them in such light.

But that's again a wrong wording. Difficult. It's not difficult.  
Beauty is never difficult. Beauty is unusual. If going to the toilet  
is beautiful, it is not beautiful in a difficult manner. It is  
beautiful in an unusual manner. But difficult things are those that  
scientists do.

When you're dealing with difficult things you need a seat belt, a  
helmet, maybe a gun, traffic signs. You need to read the instructions  
carefully. You need to be serious. You need to pay attention.

But if something is beautiful yet people don't expect it to be  
beautiful, that doesn't make it difficult. It only makes it unusual.

Some people have ample experience of unusual and beautiful things.  
Looks like Pirsig only had one: the Indians. The beacon of light in  
his perhaps even ugly life. The beacon that just shone brightly and  
blinded him and he had to walk away not knowing what to do about it.

Yeah. He wrote a book about it. LILA. But he didn't go back. He  
couldn't. He wasn't invited. He wasn't one of them. He was just a  
guest. And he kept scolding some anthropologists for incompetence.  
They didn't even notice what he noticed. But even he couldn't  
participate in the American Indian aesthetic. He was only capable of  
noticing it.

That's actually quite a feat. The people who butchered the American  
Indians probably didn't even notice that these people have some kind  
of a culture. They just noticed these people live in tents because  
they're backwards. These people shoot arrows with a bow because they  
don't have guns. These people turn into alcoholics because they can't  
tell the fake pleasure of alcohol from the real pleasure of life. Or  
maybe they can.

Maybe many of them just don't care how alcohol always leaves the  
drinker in debt. Maybe they, in their aesthetic lifestyle, were used  
to thinking that pleasure is free. So, if something gives them  
pleasure, it's just quite alien for them to think that they will be  
indebted by the pleasure. They don't know what debt is. They know that  
if they respect nature they'll never get in debt. At least the  
creditor won't be nature. The creditor may be progress. Dynamic Quality.

Soldier blue on a barren wasteland. Run to the hills. Run for your  
life. Dynamic Quality is coming.

Was that Dynamic Quality aesthetical? The Dynamic Quality that told  
soldiers that if you take an Indian's wife and use her as a shield, he  
will be more reluctant to shoot an arrow at you?

Is that beautiful?

No.

That's quite intelligent. That's definitely Pirsigian. But it is not  
beautiful.

Tuk