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RIP Robert Pirsig

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by tochatihu, Apr 25, 2017.

  1. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  2. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    “To the untrained eye ego-climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical. Both kinds of climbers place one foot in front of the other. Both breathe in and out at the same rate. Both stop when tired. Both go forward when rested. But what a difference! The ego-climber is like an instrument that’s out of adjustment. He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late. He’s likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees. He goes on when the sloppiness of his step shows he’s tired. He rests at odd times. He looks up the trail trying to see what’s ahead even when he knows what’s ahead because he just looked a second before. He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about somewhere else, something else. He’s here but he’s not here. He rejects the here, he’s unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then *it* will be “here”. What he’s looking for, what he wants, is all around him, but he doesn’t want that because it *is* all around him. Every step’s an effort, both physically and spiritually, because he imagines his goal to be external and distant.”

    Robert Pirsig, ZAMM
     
  3. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Missed? Not really as you can't miss what is already a part of you.

    Bob Wilson
     
  4. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    In those olden days I made a long bicycle tour (no gasoline; a step below motorcycles) and passed though Santa Cruz CA. Some will know it as a 'groovy' place. Some other bicyclist there had a bent wheel that I fixed.

    Job of 'spokes' (tension elements) is to center hub within rim in 3D. If the rim is still bent, some of those tensions are wrongly matched. While I was lecturing about that, a small groovy group assembled and murmured "Zen...Pirsig...Wow..." Stuff like that.

    But my only goal was to make a bike wheel roll right. Perhaps it is subtle, and worth teaching. But Zen is too big (and small) for me to teach.

    Oh, also I was paid with food stamps, the coin of the realm. My only contact with those.
     
  5. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    One of my all time favourite books, that Zen and motorcycling. Seems to apply to so many things, like cycling, hiking, and life in general. I read recently that the book was rejected by publishers something like 121 times before finally being accepted. How could so many people totally miss such an epic read? Crazy. Thank you, Robert Pirsig. You have left the world a treasure.
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's usually the way great art works, isn't it?
     
  7. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    +1

    Respectfully do not concur.... and I say this as the owner of two motorcycles, and somebody who is currently shopping for a break-in bike.....meaning bicycle.

    So.....I see bicycles as a mode of transportation that is a step above M/Cs. ;)

    Riding in a car down a two-lane US highway is pretty nice....but riding on a motorbike is orders of magnitude better for all of the obvious reasons that people either get or they do not.
    One imagines that on a bicycle.......it will be better still.
    It's been decades since I've attempted bi-pedal transportation aside from walking, but.....still I suspect that, rumble strips notwithstanding......(%^^%$$@ dot.gov!!!) that this will still be true.
     
    #7 ETC(SS), Apr 28, 2017
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2017
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    too many car/bicycle accidents around here these days, i wouldn't attempt it. these cow paths weren't made for 2 vehicles side by side.
     
  9. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    If you want to get somewhere conveniently and be protected from the elements, drive a car.

    If you don't mind trading some risk for some fun, ride a motorcycle.

    If you're in no big hurry and prefer travelling over arriving, ride a bicycle.

    One of my favourite travelling axioms, probably thought up around the time I first read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, is: "The slower you go, the more you see."
     
  10. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    On that bicycle tour I met several motorcyclists who held the former activity in very high esteem.

    +++

    I have not read Pirsig's sequel (and morals and sailboats) wondering if anyone here has?
     
    hyo silver likes this.
  11. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    I haven't read Pirsig's sequel either. At least, not yet. The local library hasn't got it, so I'll look further afield.

    edit: It's on its way. Ah, the wonders of mail order. ;)
     
    #11 hyo silver, Apr 30, 2017
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2017