Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“You see 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.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. 

On the road now and talking about traps. 

The internal gumption trap of ego. Ego isn’t entirely separate from value rigidity but one of the many causes of it. If you have a high evaluation of yourself then your ability to recognize new facts is weakened. Your Ego isolates you from the Quality reality. 

If modesty doesn’t come easily or naturally to you, one way out of the trap is to fake the attitude of modesty anyway. 

The machine responds to your real personality, the one that genuinely feels and reasons and acts, rather than any false, blown up personality images your ego may conjure up. 

Anxiety, the next gumption trap, is sort of the opposite of ego. You’re so sure you will do everything wrong you’re afraid to do anything at all. Often this, rather than ” Laziness” is the real reason you find it hard to get started. 

Boredom is the next gumption trap that comes to mind. Boredom means you’re off the Quality track, you’re not seeing things freshly, you’ve lost your ” Beginner’s mind” and your motorcycle is in great danger. 

Zen has something to say about boredom. It’s main practice of ” just sitting” has got to be the world’s most boring activity – unless it’s that Hindu practice of being buried alive. 

Impatience is close to boredom but always results from one cause: an underestimation of the amount of time the job will take. It is the first reaction against a setback and can soon turn to anger if you’re not careful.”

ZEN and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) – Robert M. Pirsig

This is another book which will remain with me till my last breath. I never really liked a Harley Davidson but I always wanted to drive a bike.

“121 publishers had turned this book down. One lone editor offered a standard 3000 dollars advance. Money wasn’t a point with a book like this.”-Afterword-Robert M. Pirsig, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1984