[MD] Rhetoric

[Adrie Kintziger]

Proving the point that when reading these materials,there is
intellectual assimiation, and proving beyond any doubt that you really are
a very intelligent guy.But you'r only on the beginning of the track.
Keep moving now.
Every page, every tought.
Adrie

2016-12-26 1:23 GMT+01:00 <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
>
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