I don't usually reply to most of the threads on this forum, because my upbringing imprinted on me the underlying belief that no-one would possibly care about my opinion. In this case I'll make an exception. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is probably the most important book I ever read. I have read it several times now, having recently re-read the entire thing. It is not an easy read, and there's plenty of it that I don't understand, but here is what I get out of it:
- Quality cannot be defined, but we know it when we see it.
- Aristotle did humanity a huge disservice when he decided that reality consisted of two aspects, the Objective aspect (things) and the Subjective aspect (our perception), and ignored Quality (goodness). Western civilization is based on Aristotle's philosophy and the result is terrible, where the focus of most is on making more money and accumulating more stuff, regardless of the cost to the planet and the other people and lifeforms that have to co-exist on it with us.
- If you want satisfaction in life, then in everything you do, do it as well as you can. I have followed this most of my adult life since I read the book the first time, and I know from experience in my professional life and my personal life that the cheapest and quickest way to get something done is to do it right the first time. Quality! If you do take the "quick and dirty" approach, take shortcuts, in the end it will cost more and take longer.
As far as the "story" in the book, I believe (with little or no evidence) that it is auto-biographical. While at the University of Chicago, he came to a philosophical realization (regarding quality) that was so mind boggling and profound that he appeared to those around him to have gone insane. He was institutionalized (insane asylum) and the treatment (electro-shock therapy) permanently erased the details of the realization from his brain, possibly a tragic loss for humanity. The book is his subsequent attempt to piece together as much of it as he could.
As far as motorcycle maintenance is concerned, in the book it is just an analogy for self-maintenance, and a means to illustrate quality. However, with regard to mechanical devices, Pirsig makes the point that if you spend enough time examining a mechanism you will eventually be able to understand how it is made and how it works, and you will then be able to (carefully) take it apart and correctly put it back together.
- Quality cannot be defined, but we know it when we see it.
- Aristotle did humanity a huge disservice when he decided that reality consisted of two aspects, the Objective aspect (things) and the Subjective aspect (our perception), and ignored Quality (goodness). Western civilization is based on Aristotle's philosophy and the result is terrible, where the focus of most is on making more money and accumulating more stuff, regardless of the cost to the planet and the other people and lifeforms that have to co-exist on it with us.
- If you want satisfaction in life, then in everything you do, do it as well as you can. I have followed this most of my adult life since I read the book the first time, and I know from experience in my professional life and my personal life that the cheapest and quickest way to get something done is to do it right the first time. Quality! If you do take the "quick and dirty" approach, take shortcuts, in the end it will cost more and take longer.
As far as the "story" in the book, I believe (with little or no evidence) that it is auto-biographical. While at the University of Chicago, he came to a philosophical realization (regarding quality) that was so mind boggling and profound that he appeared to those around him to have gone insane. He was institutionalized (insane asylum) and the treatment (electro-shock therapy) permanently erased the details of the realization from his brain, possibly a tragic loss for humanity. The book is his subsequent attempt to piece together as much of it as he could.
As far as motorcycle maintenance is concerned, in the book it is just an analogy for self-maintenance, and a means to illustrate quality. However, with regard to mechanical devices, Pirsig makes the point that if you spend enough time examining a mechanism you will eventually be able to understand how it is made and how it works, and you will then be able to (carefully) take it apart and correctly put it back together.