BHPian Astra recently shared this with other enthusiasts:”ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE” BY ROBERT PIRSIG In my ownership review of Speed 400, I had mentioned that reading a book titled “Zen and Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig was what had prompted me to buy a motorcycle after a long gap of 14 years. Here is a short review of the book : “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig is an autobiographical tale about a long motorcycle ride that the author undertook along with his 11-year-old son from one coast of America to the other and back. They covered a distance of 9200 km over 17 days on a 1966 Honda CB77. The book begins with a simple question: “Should you know how to repair a motorcycle before you embark on such a long ride?” But the discussion on this practical question soon turns into a philosophical debate which examines the tension between the romantic and classical ways of thinking. In the romantic way of thinking, you see a thing AS IT IS. On the other hand, a classical thinker would go beyond what you see and value a thing for WHAT IT IS. And there is a huge difference between these approaches. To give you a practical, everyday example, consider the car-buying decision process. For a classicist, a car is just a transportation machine, and that is it. But for a romantic buyer, a car is more like a large multimedia player on wheels, which would extend and enhance his self-image. You get a good car when you are able to strike the right balance between these two schools of thought, while staying within your budget. In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig beautifully handles the nuances of this delicate balance, with motorcycle maintenance as a metaphor. A defining moment in the book is when his 11-year-old boy gets into a heated argument with one of the cobikers. Afterwards, the author is forced to reveal that the boy was recently diagnosed with the beginnings of an incurable mental illness, which was the real motivation behind their journey itself. Then he confesses that, ever since they started their journey, he has been haunted by an old poem written by Goethe. In the poem, titled Erlknig, there is a father and a son riding on horseback in the night. The father notices that the son is silent and asks him why he is looking so pale. The son replies – “Father, don’t you see the ghost?”. The father tries to comfort the little boy. He says that it is just the fog that he sees and the wind that he hears. But the child keeps on telling that he sees a ghost and that the ghost was inviting him to join him. Frustrated, the father rides harder and harder into the night, without success. The child does not survive the journey. The ghost finally wins. With this revelation, we suddenly realise that, behind all the philosophical musings, there was a father who was desperately trying to cling on to his son, trying to connect with him, trying to understand him, before it was too late, and before both of them lost each other. To a romantic reader, this book is all about a motorcycle adventure. To a classicist, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a deep dive into the mind, exploring the essence, values and purpose of life. No matter where you stand in the spectrum between a perfect romanticist and a perfect classicist, the book leaves you with a very powerful message : The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
