Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Book Summary & Review

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Robert Pirsig

“Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life.”

Amazon Book Description

Notable Ideas of the Book

There two kinds of mind-sets. If you are “classically” minded, you like science more, having a rational approach in life and working to create order in a chaos. If you are more of a “romantic,” you like the chaos, and understand the world through emotion and like to explore the whole, not the details. Zen represents the romantic or intuitive mind whereas motorcycle maintenance need classical mind. To achieve harmony in life and work, it is important to balance our classical and romantic mind.

Yet only few people can balance these two mind-sets. Many of the world’s problems and conflicts exist because of the gap between the classical and the romantic modes of thought. So how do we overcome this gap, and live a balanced, harmonious life? As per Robert Pirsig, we take a road trip.

The narrator began a motorcycle road trip with his son, Chris, and a married couple, John and Sylvia Sutherland. On a philosophical level, the narrator represents the classical mode of thinking, while the Sutherlands represent the romantic.

Narrator used the metaphor of motorcycle maintenance, the classical mode of thought thrives on the rational knowledge and expertise of a mechanic.

A classical thinker like a mechanic understands the all the technical details about how a machine works, what can get wrong in it and how it can be fixed.

Other examples of classical thinking can include scientific method, logic and mathematics. Any field which is underpinned by highly systematic, reliable and rational systems. They follow an established set of tried and tested rules. The classical mode of thought is predictable, straightforward and unemotional.

Ultimately, the classical mode aims to bring control and order to the chaos of the world.

Contradictory to a classical mind is the romantic mind - thoughts driven by emotional and creative urges.

The Sutherland couple refused to learn how to fix their motorcycle on their own, even though it would have been much cheaper and would make them self-reliant.

As a classical thinker, the narrator couldn’t understand why but he soon realized the reason why the Sutherlands refused; they resent the power of technology in their lives. They refused to engage with the technology because it was their way of fighting it.

According to Robert, romantics are driven by the emotions, inspirations, creativity, imagination and intuition. The strengths of the classical mode are weaknesses in mind of romantic-minded people. They don’t see life as predictable or controllable; instead, perceive it as full of chaos and emotion.

During the road trip, narrator begins to remember and reveal parts of his past identity, which he calls Phaedrus, “madness”.

Phaedrus was a philosophy student and English professor who struggled with understanding the difference between the classical and romantic modes of thought. He realized there can be various difference and explanations. He began searching ways of understanding the world.

When he started challenging and questioning existing systems of thought, he also became increasingly antisocial and showed signs of mental illness.

Phaedrus was then placed in a mental health institution and underwent electroshock therapy to “cure” his illness.

While some people might judge Phaedrus’s experience, other cultures might see it as a profound moment or period of enlightenment.

“Quality” is a theoretical solution to bridge the gap between the classical and romantic minds.

Phaedrus believed that if we are to live in a way that promotes well-being and knowledge, we must find a way to appease the antagonism between the classic and the romantic with the concept of quality.

Phaedrus describes the ways in which people consciously and unconsciously select from millions of possible stimuli the specific things upon which we focus attention.

The classical mind tends to concede perceptions of the world and then divide them based on individual characteristics – thus creating order out of chaos.

Romantics in contrast tend to admire the chaos of life’s experiences.

Quality rejects both approaches outright. It instead incorporates both by reflecting upon the enormity of the original pool of stimuli, from which we assemble our versions of “reality” and “truth.”

Living according to the principle of quality results in both grief and happiness.

The attempt to reconcile classical and romantic thought – or pursuing “quality” and balance in one’s life – led to conflict within oneself and finally “madness”.

Even though Phaedrus was the cause of both misery and happiness, at the end of the story, Robert was able to embrace his old identity, and father and son ride away on their motorcycle, happy.

Ruchika Verma

Reviews

"Profoundly important...full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas" (New York Times)

"Mr Pirsig has written a work of great, perhaps urgent, importance... Read this book" (Observer)

"The book is inspired, original...the narrative tact, the perfect economy of effect defy criticism. The analogies with Moby Dick are patent" (New Yorker)

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an unforgettable trip" (Time)

"Disturbing, deeply moving, full of insights...this is a wonderful book" (Times Literary Supplement)

'A brilliant and original book... Everybody should read it' (Guardian)

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