Why that old brick is important
Skimmed through Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance the other day
and found this quote:
"When one isn't dominated by feelings of separateness from what
he's working on, then one can be said to "care" about what he's
doing. That is what caring really is, a feeling of identification with
what one's doing. When one has this feeling then he also sees the inverse
side of caring, Quality itself.
I think that if you are going to reform the world, and make it a better
place to live in, the way to do it is not to talk about relationships
of a political nature, which are inevitably dualistic, full of subjects
and objects and their relationship to one another; or with programs full
of things for other people to do. I think that kind of approach starts
it at the end and presumes the end is the beginning. Programs of a political
nature are important end products of social quality that can be effective
only if the underlying structure of social values is right. The social
values are right only if the individual values are right. The place to
improve the world is in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work
outward from there. Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny
of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think
that what I have to say has a more lasting value."
- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, page 290-291,
Bantam Books, 1974.
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