We arrived a day early in simul-grimy-gorgeous Chi-town on Monday 23 March 1998 at about 2 p.m. local time. The Loyola Campus is just north of downtown near Evanston on Sheridan Rd. The campus is aretê on the lake shore with pristine views of Lake Michigan. It is a real treat to visit and walk the campus. Beth and Doug went to the Crown Center Auditorium at 4 p.m. to check out the equipment and make sure that all was in order prior to the presentation. Seldom does one experience Dynamic Quality in a situation like this, but the Loyola team performed beyond our expectations. The equipment in the CCA is new and integrated. All we had to do was insert a disk containing the presentation into the system at the podium and we were ready to go. More to our delight we discovered that we could connect via one of Loyola’s servers to the Quantonics web site. That enabled us to show visitors and the audience related MoQ graphics and animations. James Shea, president of the Loyola Honors Student Association and Dan Neafsey, HSA VP, met us in the CCA and helped us with the pleasantly simple task of setting up. Then they took us on a brief tour of the campus. It is a tidy, cozy campus with about 6000 students tucked neatly into the Lake Michigan shore line. The architecture is superb, creating much Dynamic Quality on first exposure. If you want to learn more, see the Loyola University web site (http://www.luc.edu) and visit the campus. Dan and James took us to dinner at a nearby restaurant called Leona’s. Leona’s offers excellent food, presentation, wine (Ruffino Chianti), ambiance, location, and service. Leona’s — a significantly better complement of both Static and Dynamic Quality. The next evening on 24 March 1998 we arrived at CCA to re-check our set-up and prepare for the presentation. The 7 p.m. presentation start offered us ample time for dinner and staging. To our surprise and delight, Matt Workman (a lurker at The Lila Squad) and Erik Widdeheim showed up for the presentation. Matt and Erik are from the southern half of Indiana. They have more than a passing interest in MoQ. They develop advanced systems which depend upon (MoQ) quality interrelationships instead of the classical approach (SOM) which encapsulates features. For about 45 minutes prior to the presentation, we showed animations from the Quantonics web site. The CCA auditorium filled to between 1/3 and ½ capacity during this time. There were a few middle-aged folk, but most appeared college age. Pirsig would like that: Young people carrying the New Philosophy forward. At 7 p.m. James Shea introduced Doug for the presentation. Here is a brief outline of the material covered: Acknowledgments
MoQ a New Philosophy for Millennium III
The full presentation material will appear on the Quantonics web site on or after 31 March 1998. You may view the actual transparencies here: You may note in the outline above the absence of personal Pirsig information. Doug asked him for this, but Pirsig declined saying that the MoQ is the important thing. He said that past experience shows that often people are more interested in his celebrity than his work. He sees that as lower Quality. Read his comments in Lila on ‘celebrity.’ See chapters 7 and 20. Probably the CCA would have filled if Pirsig had been there instead of Doug, but we know for sure that the people who did show are interested in Pirsig’s New Philosophy and not the presenter. Certainly, that is better. For those of you unaware, James and Dan invited Pirsig originally, in December of 1997, to do this presentation. Pirsig already planned to winter in Mexico, so he recommended Doug to them. When the presentation was completed, we had a brief question and answer session where between 5-10 questions were answered. Some questions regarded the spiritual interpretation of MoQ. Some questions were about the technical details of MoQ. The questions were all superb. One was so detailed that Doug deferred and asked the questioner to send email to the Quantonics site for a full, detailed response from Doug. One of the best questions came from a student who felt that MoQ was socialist or cultural relativism. Many Lila Squad posts among Doug, Hugo Fjelsted Alroe, and Platt Holden on related subjects, prepared Doug and he answered thus: "A House of MoQ has many truths all ruled by Good. A House of SOM has one Truth which rules and demotes good. A House of Cultural Relativism has no truth and therein chaos reigns." Loyola University made a video tape of the presentation. Expect to see a transcript of that tape on the Quantonics web site at some point in the future (probably by the end of April, 1998). There was a reception after, during which Doug encountered many curious, well-educated folk who pursued MoQ details and their own interpretations of Reality. Robert M. Pirsig, Sir and Mentor — The Quantonics Society and Paul Douglas Renselle thank you for recommending them to the Loyola Honors Student Association! Our thanks go to Loyola University, Mr. James Shea, Mr. Dan Neafsey, Mr. Daniel Hoying and in particular his fine article in the Loyola Phoenix student newspaper http://www.luc.edu/orgs/phoenix/, The Student Activity Fund, and Sal and his team from LUCID (Your system architecture and operations management are superb!). Finally, I want to thank Diana McPartlin the webmaster and founder of The Lila Squad, and all of TLS’ members, participants, and lurkers. TLS prepares MoQites for the rigors of our mostly SOM Western culture in a way unachievable elsewhere. Thank you Diana and Lila Squad mates!! (We understand that Pirsig lurks there often, but does not participate, for the quenching effect his active presence might have.) We will announce future engagements on the Quantonics web site. Watch for them. Many Truths to You, The Quantonics Society ©Quantonics, Inc., 1998-2006 — Rev. 1Jun99 PDR — Created 26Mar98 PDR |