Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Integrate value and meaning into what we do and pursue.

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.”

By Henry David Thoreau

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of the past half-century’s most influential philosophical books. This novel was published in the 1960s, and was written by Robert Pirsig (1928–2017 Robert M. Pirsig), who enrolled at the University of Minnesota at the age of 15, majored in chemistry, and became interested in philosophy before traveling to India to study Eastern philosophy. In 1961, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and clinical depression and was admitted to a mental hospital several times, where he suffered and underwent 28 electroshock treatments. After his release in 1968, he took his son Chris on a long motorcycle trip. He took his reflections from the trip and wrote this book. Time magazine selected it as one of the ten most influential books of the 1970s and was doubly admired by Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, and others.

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In its form, the book is a travelogue of author Pirsig and his son’s journey through the American Northwest. The book’s central theme is to ask what is good, valuable, and quality in the journey. By thinking about the metaphysics of quality and value, it also reflects on how we live today and how to work and live better.

The material abundance and technological advances of modern society have helped us to escape from the primitive needs of earlier times. However, in the value dimension, man is trapped in the universal standard of pursuing material success. In the extent of time, human beings should not only be the bearers of material things but also the bearers of culture and values. This book offers a more positive alternative to the goal of “success”: to integrate value and meaning into what we do and pursue.

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There are two broad categories of the way people view the world. One is the “romantic” approach, which observes the world from appearances, with a wealth of inspiration, imagination, and intuition; the other is the “classical” approach, which relies on reason and law and explores the complex structural relationships behind appearances. Those who follow classical cognition believe that they can perceive the nature of the world if they follow the most rigorous logical thinking in experience. In the book, John and Svea (the author’s friends) belong to the former, who see things based on intuition and sensibility and tend to observe and feel the world from appearances, and the latter group of people, who see things from a scientific-only perspective.

The development of science in the twentieth century has allowed us to witness the power of science and rational thinking. Science and technology have helped man control nature and enabled unprecedented development of society. Reason lifted man from his primitive state and became a powerful master of everything. Then, the rationalism that has arisen since Socrates requires us to reject passion and emotion to understand the natural order objectively. However, It brought about a new crisis, especially the separation of reason and sensibility.

Man’s subjective consciousness and spirit are part of the natural order. Relying on structured, dualistic object knowledge alone is insufficient for us to understand the world and unfold creation; relying solely on rational models and technological supremacy does not lead humanity to a better world. Reason is mechanized and inhuman; reason focuses on empirical facts and does not confront questions of value and meaning. As a result, there is no real connection between the technical, rational society and the human spirit, so that man becomes increasingly emotionally empty, spiritually vacant, and aesthetically meaningless.

A more central force leading human creativity and development is the pursuit of “good quality,” which is the value evaluation of what is good. Human passion and emotion play the role of the engine in the judgment of value and quality. Appreciation of “good quality” is not only “intuition” or unexplained “skill” or “talent. “It is a direct result of contact with basic reality. In a dualistic world (black or white, rational and sensual division), this sense of “goodness” is obscured.

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The solution to the problem is not to abandon reason but to expand the nature of it. The book’s central idea is: Quality is the common ground of art and technology. The uniqueness of man, the creature with a soul, lies in the form and substance that pursue “quality.”

What is quality?

It cannot be defined, especially by a rigid thinking process. Quality does not occur about subjective or objective alone, but only when the two are related. It arises from a deep engagement with the present, where subject and object are intimately intertwined. Through this direct experience, one can perceive the qualities inherent in things. As a pre-intellectual reality, quality refers to a more immediate, holistic, and intuitive perception of the world. It is a way of experiencing and relating to reality beyond intellectual concepts. Pirsig believes that this pre-intellectual experience of quality is more fundamental and authentic than the abstractions and classifications of the intellect.

Rationality and intellect were the only prerequisites for great inventions. Still, the judgment of the direction of science and the appreciation of what is “good” was the driving force of great discoveries. Most geniuses or great achievers are invariably people with this sense of this pre-intellectual reality of quality. This is why Einstein said, “Scientific thought is a development of prescientific thought.” People who overthink rationally and logically tend to lose even their intuition and appreciation of the good and lose the explosive power of creativity (that is why the author says that it is easiest to see the “good quality” in children, who are not confined to the framework of “square” thinking).

To restore the sense of “quality,” we need to cultivate an awareness of this pre-intellectual reality of quality; We need to integrate the sensual and the rational, allowing the irrational to guide the direction and creativity. It is not the facts but the relationships between things that lead to universal harmony. Only by valuing the connection between subject and object, can harmonious relations and better creation be achieved.

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I view the book as a bible of design philosophy. The mission of design is to connect technology and humanity, to integrate sensibility and rationality, and to bring meaningful and valuable creation to people. The designer’s creative engine is the appreciation and pursuit of “good.” This appreciation lies in the designer’s rational understanding of technology, the spirit of the times, and the grasp of human inner emotions.

Imagine the classic creation in history: the incredible creation of each era is the product of the organic combination of the most exquisite technology (rational) and humanistic style (sensual, spiritual, cultural) of that era. For example, the classic creation of the Spring and Autumn Period in China, Ritual bronzes, was the product of a mature understanding of the bronze material of the time, a matching superb casting technique, and the human emotion of the time. No matter how high the technical level is, it is challenging to create a classic if it lacks the combination with the humanistic spirit of the time. This classical beauty is not only the beauty of form, as Panglais said, but also the harmonious order of the parts, giving structure and order to the appearances.

In a given era, fabulous creations are possible if the creator can integrate the mature and excellent technology of the time and the most distinctive human spirituality of the period. The human emotion and spirit part is more difficult to grasp and requires transcending the murmur of the times to capture the hidden spirit.

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Pursuing quality can be extended to all aspects of life, including intellectual pursuits, practical endeavors, and daily life. He emphasizes the importance of approaching each moment with a quality-oriented mindset that seeks to fully and truly engage in the task at hand. The integration of subject and object (concentration) and a calm mental state determine the quality of work. The sense of harmony brought by work also comes from the long-lasting accumulation and the systematization building of a specific field because it is possible to synthesize and apply the knowledge cohesively, so you can relax and focus when dealing with problems.

Finding the Buddha (inner peace) in every moment is a precondition for making quality things. Inner peace means harmony between the person and the present environment. Good things will naturally arise in a harmonious relationship infused with deep concentration. Of course, many creations may not always depend on a pleasant state of mind, especially works of art, which are expressions of passion, anger, and melancholy (such creations do not last, and passion is often fleeting). But when it comes to work that combines technology and art, having a Zen state of mind is at least one crucial condition. Japanese traditional crafts allow us to appreciate this very well. Only a deep inner acceptance and peace of mind can allow us to focus on carving and creating something in the prolonged consumption of time.

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In essence, Pirsig argues that the source of quality lies in the deep connection and involvement between subject and object. It results from a holistic perception that transcends the binary thinking that separates the observer from the observed. By cultivating an awareness of this interconnectedness, individuals can acquire and appreciate the intrinsic quality that permeates their experience. As a result, individuals can gain a deeper, richer perception and understanding of the world.

The claim to value “quality” is a solitary pursuit. The time and space of modern people are invariably disturbed by all kinds of noisy information. The creed of realism may resist the pursuit of good quality, which makes it difficult for us to deeply immerse in the present and deeply explore the problems; if we cannot block out the noise of the outside world and return to the inside, it is hard to resonance with the author’s proposition. A solitary Buddha seeker like Plato, pursuing lofty ideals and moving toward pure “quality,” does not apply to most people.

What ordinary people can do is search for the Buddha in their reality on the ground and try to find more shining, deeply focused moments in the little moments of our work and life.