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

[Kevin Perez]

Ted,
   
  Thanks for the feedback.  Again, I'll try to communicate more clearly.
   
  You wrote,
   
       Kevin, you posted this story in response to a question about what you
     think might be missing from Pirsig's writing.  It's a nice story, but I'm
     pretty sure I'm not receiving the point you're trying to make with it.
     Without any other analysis form you, I don't know how you apply it to
     the question(s) at hand.  Do you feel this story demonstrates  some
     heart that Pirsig's stories lack?   Can you be specific?  Is it compassion,
     brotherly love that you feel Pirsig lacks?
   
  What the account of Henri Nouwen's and Bill Van Buren's experiences means
depends on one's point of view I suppose.  I'm beginning to see that this is what
  Pirsig must have meant by "man is the measure of all things."  We see what we
  have the capacity to see.  And we value what we have the ability to evaluate or
measure.  But I think there's more to it.  I think that our capacity to see and our
  ability to evaluate are themselves dependent on our relationships.  So although
man may be the measure of all things, man and what man measures are nothing
apart from man's relationships with people, things and events.  The relationships
  come first.  The measuring and the evaluating always come second.
  
What I find missing in Pirsig's writing and what I find present in Nouwen's story
is an explanation of the power of relationships to influence outcomes.  And not just outcomes, but perceptions too.
   
       ...while I was still thinking about Bill's trip with me primarily as something
     that would be nice for him, Bill was, from the beginning, convinced that he
     was going to help me. I later came to realize that he knew better than I.
   
  It was through their relathionship and their shared experiences that Henri came
  to see what Bill saw from the start.  But there was something more.  There was
something about the quality of their relationship that made their specific shared
experiences possible.
   
  Ted, I'd like to continue our discussion but with a shift to Lila.  What do you
think?
   
  Thanks again Ted.
   
  Take care.
   
  
Kevin

		
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