I suppose I should start by saying a few words about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and its author, Robert Pirsig. This book, as I mentioned previously, was an important catalyst in some changes that have occurred in me recently. But, whether you’ve read the book or not, I need to explain what I swallowed as meat and what I spit out as bones. Because there are some bones in the book and we should be careful not to choke on them.

First, the meat. Pirsig mentions early on that he was clocked at 170 on the Stanford-Binet measurement of intelligence, a score that puts him in the rarefied air of genius. Nowhere is his intellect more in evidence or more scathing than when he turns it on the sacred cows of our culture. His analysis of the educational system, for example, is a penetrating and refreshingly honest expose of what is wrong with undergraduate and graduate programs in America. This is not central to my own present writing, however, and I’ll let it go for now – but, since I am also in no hurry, will pick it up later: it’s just too good to be missed.

As a philosopher, Pirsig leaves much to be desired, but as a teacher of philosophy and a critic thereof, he has few peers. His treatment of Socrates, Plato, and especially Aristotle made me stop and reconsider some of the long-held presuppositions and assumptions I have had – and not really been aware of. I don’t think I’m alone in this, either.

It is often said that a fish does not see water or that a fish does not know that it is wet, either of which is meant to be an analogy for the difficulty of we have in seeing the metaphysical underpinnings or presuppositions of our own culture or subculture. Pirsig shows us both the water and that we are all wet. What he has to say about Aristotle and his effect on western culture has implications for western Christianity, too.

Pirsig is in fine form when he discusses, in addition to the educational system, such things as the nature of excellence, the limits of intelligence, insanity, conformity, and spirituality. I hope to write about each of these things in posts to come.

But there are bones to be careful of, and these are pretty much all found in his attempts to come up with his own philosophical system, something he will later call the Metaphysics of Quality. As I said before, he is at his best as a critic and teacher but at his worst as a philosopher seeking his own system. Well, no one is perfect.

I need to review ZMM to refresh my memory on some of the details of Pirsig’s writings. This means I may not post for a week or so. Or, it could mean that I’ll post a whole lot real soon. I don’t know.

Thanks for reading this, and thanks for tagging along.


2 Cor 1:13