This is a revision. In its original form, this writing opened with many awkward phrasings and tried to be very intellectual. It is never stated within the text that the message and actual thrust of this paper were both borrowed and modified from two books, most well-known by those in the philosophic community.One of these is "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," by Robert M. Pirsig, touches upon the meaning of the term Quality and what is called the "Classic-Romantic Split," in the views of the world. Written in the mid-nineteen-seventies, one would think the concepts, views, and outlooks here presented would be horrendously out of date, but this is not so. The division discussed still exists, today, though perhaps not in so blatant a form. What i have attempted to do, here, is to talk about this split, the ways i’ve found of overcoming it, and the ways Pirsig thought were best to overcome it, some of which are the same.
The other book, or series of books, is "The Sandman," by Messier Neil Gaiman. Without his influence, i would not have been able to so eloquently place many of my turnings of phrase.
This is an introduction, of sorts. It starts this paper off, in the way i intended to, originally: Clear, succinct, and genuine. The paper, itself, is left intact, with a few augmentations, but no deletions of subject matter. And to formally acknowledge this as the introduction it is, i would like to start by quoting Pirsig’s Phaedrus, who found that "The number of rational hypotheses that can explain any given phenomenon is infinite." Infinity contains everything, from a certain point, therefore every answer regarding that point is true. Your answer, my answer, his, hers, theirs. All of them. We are none of us the masters of any Reality, save our own, and for us to try and impart anything other than an understanding of our individual reality is dogmatic, rigid, and, in most cases, an all around bad idea. We each know things differently. Our opinions show us that much, as do our perceptions of tyme and the nature of the universe. The thought that some of these are "right," because they are older, more established, more accepted, or whatever, is ludicrous. They simply are. Your story is your own, as is mine. That is what i hoped to achieve in the writing of this paper, and i hope i have cleared that up, here. For your tyme, your patience, and, hopefully, your understanding, i thank you.
Wolven,
12.16 a.m., August 15, 2000.
Me Talking | Prior Incarnations