[MF] Is the pinnacle of human experience...

[Muzikhed at aol.com]

Kevin, and others : 
   It took me a while to understand (at least I think) what  happened.  I am 
truly sorry that my responses have broken the flow of your  ideas.   That was 
not my intent.  And, believe it or not, it's  also not been my intent to 
dominate the discussion group.  I really was  coming from a position of enthusiasm, 
and I've written much more that I thought  I would.
I feel sad.  I think it's ironic (?) that just when I think I'm being  
challenged to be open & honest, the feedback I get is that I'm  impossible to 
respond to?  To me, this is the heart  stuff.  This pattern has happened to me 
before, but I won't give  examples.   My point was not to work on my issues, but to 
point  out that it's darn hard to really talk about inter-personal issues 
because of  the issues of symmetry and personal privacy.   I've been honest,  so 
I can't change what I said, I suppose.  But I can keep my thoughts to  myself 
more, i.e. write in private.   That is my more normal  mode.    
 

Kevin, I'm interested in what you think is the deeper hidden  truth that kept 
Pirsig from discussing  relationships.  

 
Apologies,
 
Ted
 
 
------------------------------
Kevin wrote:

Thanks  Ted.

I would have responded earlier but I didn’t  know what to say.  But I didn’t 
want to say
nothing  either.

Thinking about this during my ride home  from work today it occurred to me 
that my
struggle to find an  appropriate way to respond is really what was bugging me 
all  along.

The quality of life is mostly about  relationships and how people respond to 
one
another.  It’s  entirely dynamic.  It’s about the flow of energy between 
people.   Take
away the flow and the energy and you don’t just have static  quality.  You 
have an
illusion of quality.  You have  nothing.

Ted, during the past 23 days, your 11  messages and my 13 messages account for
more than half of all posts  to this forum.  The next highest posters are Ian 
and Marty
with  4 messages each.

So I’m riding home and I’m  thinking…would it matter if I didn’t respond to 
Ted’s last
message?  Should I respond only if I feel I have something significant to  
say?  Is there
any significance, any meaning in, what seems to  be…communication?  And where’
s
the quality?

Although Pirsig provides plenty of dialogue in ZMM he doesn’t  develop the 
story
behind the story.  He says it’s not relevant  to the Chautauqua.  And he says 
he’s
honoring Sylvia’s need to  not been treated as an object.  And again, I think 
there’s a
deeper truth.  Whether it was intentional or not I don’t know.  But  from 
what I can see
I’d say Pirsig avoided the depth of human  relationships and all the meaning 
that goes
with  them.

And so I think about my involvement here…and  the quality of life 
here...and...

Any  thoughts?  Any feelings?


Kevin Perez
Onward and downward.  Be compassionate.   Love.