"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" Part 2

“A motorcycle functions entirely in accordance with the laws of reason, and a study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself.” (98)

I found this quote particularly interesting as I can relate to what is being said here. Throughout life I have encountered multiple instances where studying something or learning something has helped me gain a deeper connection to what I conceive as reality. I think this quote shows what “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” is really pushing i.e., without this forged connection between the world and us humans we really wouldn’t amount to much.

As a kid, I can remember different camping trips with my parents where I “forged” new connections with the world. I experienced building and starting a fire, cooking food over said fire, fighting off mosquitos, hiding food from bears and staying warm on cool summer nights. All these experiences helped me better understand the world around us. I realize this is not nearly the same as motorcycle maintenance in terms of a logical system, but the same connections seemed to be built in my experiences as in the book.

On the other side of the spectrum, I worked for a “high-end” landscaping company where I learned different. In terms of the actual landscaping I learned the “philosophy” of landscaping is not so cheerful as it sounds after the first month or so of working. The concept of spending all day to make one house look nice to only come back next week to do the exact same thing slowly beat my enthusiasm for the job into the pavement. This deep connection to the earth that I had been forging for the past month made me hate my life. On top of that, I had a horrible boss who had the good intentions of making us all work like grunts. I watched his entire workforce grind to a halt as his inability to run a smooth operation became embarrassingly apparent. This, while being a “system of rational”, shows how although a system may “function entirely in accordance with the laws of reason” it does not have to be entirely productive or “rational”.  

There are multiple cases in everyone’s life where they interact or observe a system, such as mentioned in the novel “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” working within their reality. These systems combine into our universal realty; I think this is a fascinating notion brought up in this novel.  

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

I had first heard about Robert M. Pirsig’s novel “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” when my dad brought it up in a conversation back in High School. I never really thought much of it, never really knew what it was about. I find it ironic that I’m reading this novel my senior year for my writing capstone class. As I began to read the book this week I soon found immense imagery and deep counterintuitive meaning peppered throughout:  

“You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.”

This kind of flipped alternate perspective on life really interested me. This made me think back to all the road trips I had taken in my life, especially when I was younger. Sitting in the back of the car, trying not to die of boredom, time seemed to stretch on forever and ever. I agree with Pirsig that sitting inside a box that is a car completely shuts off the inside people from the outside. I have always noticed how much more thrilling riding a go-cart or even just riding a bike was when compared to driving or riding in a car. This novel does a good job of capturing that basic difference. Somehow when the wind is unblocked from pelting the face, a euphoric sense seems to arise in many humans.

As I continue reading Pirsig’s novel I keep coming across instances where I can look back on life and in ways parallel my life with my father. This will be a fascinating read as I know I will be able to gain a lot from the novel in terms of different past personal experiences.