Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

An inquiry into values and qualities

Post 41. 06/18/2018

   Zen & the Art of Soul Maintenance   

   The Metaphysics of Quality

In Robert Pirsig's 1974 new-age icon, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, An Inquiry Into Values, he used a motorcycle journey with his son and another couple as a metaphor for a philosophy of life. While he carefully keep his cycle clean and tuned, his partners on the trip showed little in-terest in the mechanics of motorcycles or the art of prevent-ative maintenance. “Zen” in the title refers to a non-theistic philosophy that takes a self-help approach to human flourishing, instead of depending on gods to provide for human needs. But it is also a non-rational way of problem-solving1.

The author was a writer of technical computer manuals, and worked in an environment based on Western science. Yet, like many others at the time, his personal worldview was also influenced by the neo-Buddhist beliefs & practices of Zen, which was the Japanese translation for Chinese “chi'an”. In those cultures Chi was an essential spirit-like force that animated all living things, and even caused all world changes and cycles. So in effect, “chi” was a primitive concept for the cause & effect force we now call “energy”. Some science-oriented modernists would emphasize the “primitive” in that description, and dismiss the ancient sages as un-enlightened dummies. But many New Agers take just the opposite attitude, attributing a lost wisdom & genius to those pre-scientific thinkers.

The "wisdom" of the ancients may be in their Holistic inter-pretation of how the world works, as opposed to the Analytic approach of modern science. Pirsig didn’t reject Science & Reason, so his reference to the Chi theory may be merely a metaphor for spirituality in a material world.  In the philosophical dialogues that go along with his travelogue, he also explores the concept of "quality", which he equates with the oriental notion of Tao, and with Plato's concept of "the Good", a perfect Form, eternal & changeless, existing outside of space-time. All of these fall into the philosophical class of holistic Qualia, as contrasted with particularistic Quanta2. But true wisdom must accomodate all classes and categories.

Continuing that Whole/Part theme, he discusses contrasting thinking & problem-solving styles of intuitive holistic Romanti-cism as compared to analytical Rationalism. In retrospect, this may have been an early example of the Postmodern critique3 of Modernism. New Agers were adopting some aspects of Oriental religion & philosophy, which tended to focus on being-in-the-moment instead of rational analysis. PM was a reaction mostly to modern social norms, and NA to Western religious doctrines. But Zen also teaches close attention to details. So, it’s more compatible with a research & reason scientific worldview.

Pirsig seems to counsel a BothAnd  synthesis of old & new, intuition & reason, qualitative values & quantitative numbers. We should respect ancient philosophies for their careful obser-vations, and insightful conclusions. Yet, in the early days of isolated human cultures, people lacked modern communication and technology. So deep thinkers made their best guesses about the invisible forces at work in the world. With only a narrow scope of direct experience, they relied partly on intuition and partly on Pure Reason4  for their conjectures. Now, with our fancy new tools, we can add empirical evidence to imagination & logic for a more complete understanding of the world. Thus we can have our Quantity and Quality too. 

End of Post 41

2. Qualia vs Quanta :
That distinction is similar to Spiritualism versus Material-ism, and to Holism versus Reductionism, or to Soul & Body. Knowledge needs only a list of parts and how they work, but Wisdom requires understanding of whole systems, and why they behave as they do. Soul maintenance keeps a sound mind in a fit body. Wisdom is BothAnd.

3. Postmodern Critique :
Pirsig’s split personality displayed features of both rational analytic thinking of Science, and intuitive holistic knowing of Zen. Post-modernism was discussed in blog post 26.
http://bothandblog2.enformationism.info/page13.html

4. Pure Reason :
According to Kant, Pure Reason is defined by con-trast with Intuitive Reason. It is the basis of axiomatic math & science, while Intuition is associated with literature & art. Modern Science requires empirical facts to support rational speculations.

Zen, Chi, Prana, Elan Vital, Pneuma, Spirit :
   Various names for the concept of Life Force. Most of these terms are meta-phorical references to invisible breath or wind. Unlike physical energy, Chi was more than just cause & effect, it was the animating force that breathed life into inert matter.
   Today, the notion of all-pervasive Information is a more literal & technical update to the figurative breath metaphors. To Enform is to cause a change of state in something. That change may be observed as a new shape, or a phase of matter, or an even more radical novelty, such as animation of matter, and the emergence of subjective experience in a brain.
   The neologism, EnForm-Action, is intended to cover the figurative and technical meanings of both Chi and Energy. It explains both matter & mind, physics & metaphysics, stuff & life.

1. Zen Meditation :
It’s a sophisticated form of introspection. As a way to “know thyself”, any kind of meditation is useful for gaining wisdom. Similar to scientific experiments that examine the outside world, meditation probes the inner world in a non-judgmental objective manner. But the data gained must be analyzed critically in order to be useful for making positive changes in the person. You might say that Zen is a science of the Self.