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BarkellWH -> Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Author Robert Pirsig Dies (Apr. 26 2017 14:21:16)
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Robert Pirsig, author of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," published in 1974, passed away Monday. In June 1974 I had just been accepted into the U.S. Foreign Service and was undergoing training at the State Department in preparation for my first assignment to the American Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. Pirsig's book had just been published, and I took it to Bulgaria and read it through twice. Pirsig's book detailed a motorcycle trip throughout the Western U.S. that he took with his son. He subtitled "Zen" "An inquiry into Values."
The book presents Pirsig's take on various philosophical elements, both Eastern and Western, and he praises the ability to work with your hands and complete a job well done, as in maintaining and fine-tuning a motorcycle. I still have my copy of the book bought in 1974. One of Pirsig's observations that I remember to this day is, “When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.”
I haven't re-read it since Bulgaria, but I suspect much of it still holds up today.
Bill
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