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Robert M. Pirsig, dead at 88 (1 Viewer)

Henry Ford

Henry Ford

Footballguy
I didn't see a thread, waited, and still didn't.  So here it is.  Robert M. Pirsig has died.

Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance changed the course of my life.  As a young man, I read it and it really resonated with me - definitely set my course for decades.  

The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality. The tree that you are aware of intellectually, because of that small time lag, is always in the past and therefore is always unreal. Any intellectually conceived object is always in the past and therefore unreal. Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualization takes place. There is no other reality.
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I've always been fascinated by the thin line between genius and madness. Pirsig walked that line his whole life.

 
Was a big fan of this book, but it was tainted by a philosophy professor who assigned it and had an annoying way of positioning himself to the girls in this Freshan college class as a sensitive erudite genius. He slept with at least one. 

He was none of that. Intellectually he was no different than someone who wears a uniform and pretends they were in combat.

I am due to reread the book.

 
"You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt."

 
Upon reading the book, my dad bought a Honda 750, loaded up with some camping gear and me on the back, and we took a summer trip from Wisconsin to visit friends in California. I was probably 12 or so. Coincidentally, my first name is also Chris. It was a great summer for me and my dad.

 
CletiusMaximus said:
Upon reading the book, my dad bought a Honda 750, loaded up with some camping gear and me on the back, and we took a summer trip from Wisconsin to visit friends in California. I was probably 12 or so. Coincidentally, my first name is also Chris. It was a great summer for me and my dad.
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That's beautiful.

 
@Ren Ho3k
I don't know whether you've read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but I think if you have not you should. I think it may have the same effect on you that it had on me.

But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is upon effects only, no change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government. There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.
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I've never understood the fascination people have with motorcycles, but to each their own. Working in the medical field we all call them donor cycles and I would never ride one, nor want any close family member to do so. 

 
For Christmas this year, my wife got me motorcycle riding lessons.  She said she knew I'd always wanted to get back on a bike and at our age it's time.  But she wouldn't be able to live with it unless I took a professional riding course.  I haven't taken them yet.

I think I may do that this summer.

 
Never heard of him but I like his last name. Rolls off your tongue....mr....purrrrr sig.

Glad you guys got positive experiences from his work.

 
Henry Ford said:
@Ren Ho3k
I don't know whether you've read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but I think if you have not you should. I think it may have the same effect on you that it had on me.
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Nope, sure haven't.  I'm more of a drive-by reader than a sit down and actually read something type.  I've been sitting on chapter twelve of How to Win Friends for a couple months now.  I did a lot of reading when I was a security guard several years back and didn't have the internet capacity to stay constantly engaged like I do now.  It's hard to disengage and reflect once in a while.  

Thank you though.  I'll make it a point to check it out.  

 
Pirsig is an interesting fellow. For practically everyone, he falls into one of two buckets:

   a) One of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, or

   b) Who?

Z&tAMM is kind of a cultural artifact all unto itself. A lot of people have heard of it. Fewer have read it, and even fewer have understood it deeply.

 
I was introduced to ZAMM in high school through an Independent studies course. Read it in the fall for class, and reread in the summer to find more. Loved it and may read again soon, now that I think about it.

Had a great freshman English II teacher that used ZAMM as the accompanying novel for the semester.

 
Never heard of him before this thread. Seems more interesting than having to read the Yellow Wallpaper for 3 English classes in a row.

 
Henry Ford said:
Yeah, boss didn't know the book either.  Just insanity.
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wtf. feel like any guy over the age of 40 who's ever... well... realized there are these things called books... knows about that one. I think I bought it twice and handed it off to friends both times without reading more than a snippet. didn't need to- you could just absorb that #### by osmosis by hanging with other guys.

 
I remember reading Lila (the lesser known title from him) for one of my anthropology classes as an undergrad and was impressed by his clarity.  An amazing writer.  RIP.

 
Mr. Ham said:
Was a big fan of this book, but it was tainted by a philosophy professor who assigned it and had an annoying way of positioning himself to the girls in this Freshan college class as a sensitive erudite genius. He slept with at least one. 
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So, he was a genius.

 
Doug B said:
Z&tAMM is kind of a cultural artifact all unto itself. A lot of people have heard of it. Fewer have read it, and even fewer have understood it deeply.
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Growing up, I was the youngest of 7 and there was a copy of this floating around the house for roughly a decade. Several of my older siblings read it.

A huge reader at the time, I tried reading it on my own when I was about 14. I didn't get it and gave up.

Perhaps it's time to revisit it

 
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