#dynamic quality

[evokit-notes]

The Metaphysics of Quality identifies religious mysticism with Dynamic Quality. It says the subject-object people are almost right when they identify religious mysticism with insanity. The two are almost the same. Both lunatics and mystics have freed themselves from the conventional static intellectual patterns of their culture. The only difference is that the lunatic has shifted over to a private static pattern of his own, whereas the mystic has abandoned all static patterns in favour of pure Dynamic Quality.

Lila | Robert M. Pirsig | p427

[evokit-notes]

But sometimes [the contrarian's anti-static drive] is Dynamic, where your whole being senses that the static situation is an enemy of life itself. That's what drives the really creative people—the artists, composers, revolutionaries and the like—the feeling that if they don't break out of this jail-house somebody has build around them, they're going to die. But they're not being contrary in a way that is just decadent. They're way too energetic and aggressive to be decadent. They're fighting for some kind of Dynamic freedom from the static patterns. But the Dynamic freedom they're fighting for is a kind of morality too. And it's a highly important part of the overall moral process. It's often confused with degeneracy but it's actually a form of moral regeneration. Without it continual refreshment static patterns would simply die of old age.

Lila | Robert M. Pirsig | p411

[evokit-notes]

'What is the purpose of all this intellectual knowledge?' the Metaphysics of Quality answers, 'The fundamental purpose of knowledge is to Dynamically improve and preserve society.' Knowledge has grown away from this historic purpose and become an end in itself just as society has grown away from its original purpose of preserving physical human beings

Lila | Robert M. Pirsig | p344

[evokit-notes]

The pencil is mightier than the pen.

Lila | Robert M. Pirsig | p255