Hello Miles City Forum!
Gary Wegner,
http://zamm.home.att.net/index2.htm , suggested I have a look here.
I am "the retired professor" that "came into Amorette Alyson's the other day". This is mentioned above, in first post of this thread.
1) I was the one retracing the path of book "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"!! And indeed as Amorette said: I "would love to hear any and all [your] stories connected with ZMM"!!
2) Ben Hughes (above) says, RE: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, he "would like the critics to tell us what the book was really about."
3) Although I am not an expert, here is my reply:
4) As many readers have said, ZMM, is really MANY books! Thus it is hard to "peg":
It is a story of a man in search of him self. It is a father son story. It is a suspense/ mystery novel. It is an autobiography. It is a travelogue. It is a book about university education and good writing. It is a book about achieving your own values and as such is about right living & Quality living and "living in the now of Zen". It shows ushow to live a pragmatic philosophy that will establishe a foundation, presently absent, for modern science and philosophy.
The ideas in "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (ZMM) will offer any serious reader, deep revolutionary truths concerning the whole process of achieving a quality life. This book will likely be highly significant in their lives, as is attested in the Amazon.com reviews. Link below.
For any alert literate adult (especially students), the ZMM book forces the reader to think a great deal about themselves, their values, and their whole life: What are they doing in life. Why they are "at a job" or at an "institution of higher learning"? In general ZMM supports "a student" whether he or she is in a "Formal University Education" or in The School of "Hard Knocks"! This book shows "a student", how it is necessary to thoughtfully combine science and humanities and personal values in any endeavor.
Written in a manner that is accessible and maintains interest, ZMM covers science, philosophy, scientific trouble shooting, problem solving, the process of scientific discovery, building the structure of science, and more. For this reason, ZMM was used as an auxiliary text for six years in both of my physics classes.
In ZMM we are shown how best to work with (and within) our own God given psychological and material resources. For example, the role of the "flash of insight", analogy, and metaphor are shown to be fundamental to human thinking and learning. Author Pirsig points out how proper learning is often prevented in our present day culture, and most especially in our schools and universities.
Author Robert Pirsig patiently instructs us, how to learn and improve our lives despite the deficiencies of our upbringing and society around us.
"Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"has an impact much like the ancient "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu, , Pirsig's Book, like Lao Tzu's, is to practical guide life and living, .... a hand book for "Westerners" to apply Zen to their lives.Read the following paragraph meditatively, it also says what ZMM is all about.
"The philosophy of Lao Tsu is simple: Accept what is in front of you without wanting the situation to be other than it is, Study the natural order of things and work with it rather than against it, for to try to change what is only sets up resistance. Nature provides everything without requiring payment or thanks and also provides for all without discrimination-therefore let us present the same face to everyone and treat all men as equals, however they may behave. If we watch carefully, we will see that work proceeds more quickly and easily if we stop "trying," if we stop putting in so much extra effort, if we stop looking for results. In the clarity of a still and open mind, truth will be reflected. We will come to appreciate the original meaning of the word "understand, "which means to stand under" We serve whatever or whoever stands before us, without any thought for ourselves. Te-which may be translated as "virtue" or "strength"-lies always In Tao, or "natural law." In other words: Simply be."
An other way to understand what ZMM author Robert Pirsig has written, to to go to Amazon.com book reviews. Scroll down part way to "Editorial Reviews" and to near bottom for "Customer Reviews" at:
http://www.amazon.com/Zen...317#citingAt the end of the "customer reviews" you can click to See all 507 customer reviews...
Sincerely
Henry Gurr
HenryG Aiken.SC.edu
http://ww2.usca.edu/Resea...essorGurr/