The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
Sorry for the cross-posting, guys, but I thought that it would be of interest to more than one of the communities of which I'm a member.
The Moviegoer
It's enjoyable. A good thing to read if you're feeling cyncial. Also, if you're looking for an easy, philisophical read it's a quick byte. It's got a lot of Kierkegaard in it.
Memorable Quotation:
"What do you seek-God? you ask with a smile.
"I hesitate to answer, since all other Americans have settled the matter for themselves and to give such and answer would amount to setting myself a goal which everyone else had reached- and therefore raising a question in which no one has the slightest interest. Who wants to be dead last among one hundred and eighty million Americans? For, as everyone knows, the polls report that 98% of Americans believe in God and the remaining 2% are atheists and agnostics-which leaves not a single percentage point for a seeker. For myself, I enjoy answering polls as much as anyone and take pleasure in giving intelligent replies to all questions.
"Truthfully, it is the fear of exposing my own ignorance which constrains me from mentioning the object of my search. For, to begin with, I cannot even answer this, the simplest and most basic of all questions: Am I, in my search, a hundred miles ahead of my fellow Americans or a hundred miles behind them? That is to say: Have 98% of Americans already found what I seek or are they so sunk in everydayness that not even the posibility of a search has occurred to them?
"On my honor, I do not know the answer."
ha, how's that for existiential angst?
What are your thoughts on this book?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
I'm almost finsihed with this book.. and so far I LOVE it. I thought I'd find it rather cliche, but it's very levelheaded for its time. The subject matter, which is based on the author's life, is fascinating. He's a recovering "lunatic".. it's got all sorts of philisophical musings, and there's something about it that makes it soothing to read.
Memorable Quotations:
1. "Then his mind's eye looked up and caught his own image and realized where he was and what he was seeing and . . . I don't know what really happened . . . but now the slippage that Phaedrus had felt earlier, the internal parting of his mind, suddenly gathered momentum, as do the rocks at the top of a mountain. Before he could stop it, the sudden accumulated mass of awareness began to grow and grow into an avalanche of thought and awareness out of control; with each additional growth of that downard tearing mass loosening hundreds of times its volume, and then that mass uprooting hundreds of times its volume more, and then hundreds of times that; on and on, wider and broader; until there was nothing left to stand.
"No more anything.
"It gave way under him."
I just thought that was such an accurate depiction of a nervous breakdown.
2. "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."
interesting, especially in the wake of the 60's.
What did you all think of this book?
Has anyone read Lila also by Pirsig? What did you think of it?
The Moviegoer
It's enjoyable. A good thing to read if you're feeling cyncial. Also, if you're looking for an easy, philisophical read it's a quick byte. It's got a lot of Kierkegaard in it.
Memorable Quotation:
"What do you seek-God? you ask with a smile.
"I hesitate to answer, since all other Americans have settled the matter for themselves and to give such and answer would amount to setting myself a goal which everyone else had reached- and therefore raising a question in which no one has the slightest interest. Who wants to be dead last among one hundred and eighty million Americans? For, as everyone knows, the polls report that 98% of Americans believe in God and the remaining 2% are atheists and agnostics-which leaves not a single percentage point for a seeker. For myself, I enjoy answering polls as much as anyone and take pleasure in giving intelligent replies to all questions.
"Truthfully, it is the fear of exposing my own ignorance which constrains me from mentioning the object of my search. For, to begin with, I cannot even answer this, the simplest and most basic of all questions: Am I, in my search, a hundred miles ahead of my fellow Americans or a hundred miles behind them? That is to say: Have 98% of Americans already found what I seek or are they so sunk in everydayness that not even the posibility of a search has occurred to them?
"On my honor, I do not know the answer."
ha, how's that for existiential angst?
What are your thoughts on this book?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
I'm almost finsihed with this book.. and so far I LOVE it. I thought I'd find it rather cliche, but it's very levelheaded for its time. The subject matter, which is based on the author's life, is fascinating. He's a recovering "lunatic".. it's got all sorts of philisophical musings, and there's something about it that makes it soothing to read.
Memorable Quotations:
1. "Then his mind's eye looked up and caught his own image and realized where he was and what he was seeing and . . . I don't know what really happened . . . but now the slippage that Phaedrus had felt earlier, the internal parting of his mind, suddenly gathered momentum, as do the rocks at the top of a mountain. Before he could stop it, the sudden accumulated mass of awareness began to grow and grow into an avalanche of thought and awareness out of control; with each additional growth of that downard tearing mass loosening hundreds of times its volume, and then that mass uprooting hundreds of times its volume more, and then hundreds of times that; on and on, wider and broader; until there was nothing left to stand.
"No more anything.
"It gave way under him."
I just thought that was such an accurate depiction of a nervous breakdown.
2. "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."
interesting, especially in the wake of the 60's.
What did you all think of this book?
Has anyone read Lila also by Pirsig? What did you think of it?