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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
By James | September 2, 2007
About half way through the book, I nearly put it down. I understood what the narrator was saying, but I wasn’t very satisfied with the descriptions. Each idea presented I had heard before, only more eloquently. I continued to read on primarily because I identified with the sense of confusion and frustration portrayed. Then, the book took a turn I did not expect: The narrator stated flatly that his expressions of ideas so far were inadequate!
From that point, the book had me thinking more than any book I had read for a very long time. The chautauquas after this turning point made brilliant use of the inadequacy of the previous ones, which was a relief to say the least. At times I would stop reading, set the book down, and sink deeply into the thoughts it triggered.
The philosophy presented has to do with defining, or rather not defining, Quality (with a capital Q). The concept of Quality is similar to that of Tao. In fact, the Tao Te Ching is heavily quoted in the turning point.
While reading the Wikipedia Article on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I found that there was no link for the term Gumption Trap, so I created one. Though it’s been over a year, the article still needs to be updated with further discussion. I was feeling rather lazy when I wrote it and it lacks Quality.
Topics: Books, Reviews, Philosophy |