Zen and the art of
motorcycle maintenance Part 1 Ch 1 GOING TO MONTANA
(5) on a cycle the frame is gone. (6) Country vs.
Metropolitan life (nowhere to nowhere) => * when the truth knocks WILL YOU
BE READY? (7) the best roads (winding roads, back roads) (8) being in a hurry
most of the time leads to SHALLOWNESS a CHAUTAUQUA (9) Digging channels DEEPER
what's NEW an endless parade of TRIVIA and FASHION, shouldn't the real
question be: What is BEST? (10-14) picnic PARADE OF THE LOST (work) ~
Disharmony CONFLICT practicality/authority. Blackbird and Marshes. (16-18)
Rant about John and Sylvia and fixing things all of TECHNOLOGY THEY CAN'T
TAKE (19) the MONSTER (parts and relationships) (20) estranged, dehumanizing
(21) ANTI-TECHNOLOGIST (22) out of the marshes now into green countryside.
CHAPTER-2 (23) afternoon of 1st day (NOT IN THE DAKOTAS YET) (24) opening up
the Great Plains (now native trees) Grassland THE PRAIRE anticipating 4-days on
the praire THE MOOD (25) arriving at the Rockies a kind of promised land (a
thing that sometimes come A STORM COMING sharded experience A COLD FRONT to
avoid DISHARMONY (26) warm fronts worse a bad memory of a Canada trip
(27) A TALE OF DEFEAT Chris cryed because the trip was over. (see 59) (28) we
were OUT OF GAS (Monday morning quarterbacking) (29) missed turn Storm
gathering SEIZURE (story of 1st)(30) TOOK TO A SHOP incompetent maintenance
story (31) Nightmare (32) Found cause of SEIZURES Why? performed like chimpanzees
speed a clue (sloppy) uninvolved/spectators no interest identification
involved but didn't care (33) a mechanic had broken it in the first place THE
COMPUTER MANUALS examples of the spectator attitude SPECTATOR ATTITUDE
** PROBLEM (34) MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF ALL CARING ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE
DOING! HURRY A POISONOUS 20TH
CENTURY ATTITUDE finding the pin LAND FLATTENING We have entered the Red
River Valley [Zen(2)] (35) CHAPTER 3 out of the Red River Valley the sun is
gone HUGENESS Storm Descending Speed up THUNDER & LIGHTENING (36) Oh,
my God, HE'S BEN HERE! Phaedrus Slow
down. (37) te better motel WHEN WERE YOU HERE BEFORE? (38) You look like you
have seen a ghost [Chris wants to sing songs and tell stories like at camp.
GHOST STORIES (39) LAWS OF SCIENCE as Ghost Stories Tom White Bear
believes in Ghosts European Ghosts vs. Indian Ghosts (40) I believe in Ghosts
too! SCIENCE vs. SPIRITS Ghosts as THINGS YOU CAN'T SEE IMMATERIAL THINGS
(41) ex. Law of Gravity something
"non-existent" i.e. immaterial(42) Law of Gravity is a GHOST Such a
normal guy I'm feigning 20th century lunacy (43) ISAAC NEWTON & GRAVITY
(42-43) MIND Logic, Numbers Ghosts of Moses, Christ, Buddha, Plato,
Descartes, Rousseau, Jefferson, Lincoln
Isaac Newton COMMON SENSE as the
voice of Ghosts from the past. (44) Where do you get these ideas?
(Sylvia) Chris-"Tell me a real ghost story. * (45) A LIFE SPENT HUNTING
FOR A GHOST His name is PHAEDRUS (46) Phaedrus saw ALL OF THIS The
Frightening Ghost Story [END OF 1st DAY] (47) CHAPTER 4 CHAUTAUQUA List of
valuable things. (48) LIST 4 parts Clothing | Personal Stuff | Cook and Camp Gear
| Motorcycle Stuff (49) Chautauqua READING ** A form of reading done a century
ago (50) (52) Morning Cold in the 40's. 6:30 a.m. (53) CARING the feel of
the machine (54) Ellendale 7:15 a.m. for breakfast Personality (56) How
do they get through Minnesota Winter? [ John and Sylvia are cold discomfort
& technology things they can't stand] Condemnation of Technology
INGRATITUDE (57) CHICKENMAN Chris giggles.
53 degrees outside. (59) Are we going to go camping memory of earlier
disaster. (60) CHAPTER 5 approaching the HIGH PLAINS (26-27) Bad Camping
experience recalled Hague go south to Mobridge (61) Herreid (A WESTERN TOWN
space open. (62) Cross the Missouri
(63) John isn't so interested in what things MEAN as in what they ARE
(64) SHIMS (66) Underlying
Form vs. Immediate Appearance (deep versus surface) contrast with
practical/meaning earlier GHOST (67)Tiny vs. Huge (68) Conflict on VISIONS OF
REALITY (72) camping fiasco everyone exhausted Chris acts like a spoiled
brat. (74) Chris's stomach problem MENTAL ILLNESS stopped treatment not
KIN (76) kindness mein Kind Goethe poem loss of a child the GHOST wins (77)
SEPARATENESS Chris returns sharpness DREAMS- figure of Phaedrus calling
Chris. (80)CHAPTER 6 day 3 9:00 a.m.
a scorcher. Chautauqua Explore PHAEDRUS's WORLD Ghosts appear when someone
has not been buried right. (IS THIS TRUE OF ALL OUR OLD OR WRONG IDEAS TOO?)
(82) Places that RAISE YOUR SPIRITS (double entendre) (83) PHAEDRUS purpose:
bury him forever. Immediate
appearance technology The Death Force
-> Phaedrus' world UNDERLYING FORM Platform Problem Phaedrus' Conflict:
|
external/internal
|
Human Understanding
|
|
|
|
reason, law, facts, straightforward, unadorned,
unemotional, economical, carefully proportioned, esthetically restrained
|
Classical -> Underlying Form
|
Romantic -> Immediate Appearance
|
inspirational, imaginative, creative, intuitive feelings,
intuition esthetic conscience
|
|
|
|
η=> C.P. Snow "Two
Cultures"
|
|
pullup for gas (87) 92 degrees Rough Roads/Detours Ahead
metaphor rationality-> classic escape romanticism -> escape from
rationality (88) FAMILIARITY CAN BLIND YOU TOO analytic approach ex.
Motorcycle (parts), Component Disassemblies by THE WHAT functions (normal,
operator controlled) THE HOW proper sequence WHERE illustration, WHY
engineering principles (90) PURPOSE provide a starting point. Transition from
MODE OF DISCOURSE to OBJECT OF DISCOURSE {DULL}romantic face (91) NOTICE 1) motorcycle
has disappeared you can't understand it unless you already do, 2) the observer
is missing (no real subject) 3) no value judgment "good" or
"bad" only FACTS, 4) a KNIFE
is at work the KNIFE cuts somewhat arbitrarily. PHAEDRUS WAS A MASTER WITH THIS
KNIFE (92) used Skill in a BIZARRE and yet MEANINGFUL way (93) He was after
something
his real victim was himself. (94) CHAPTER 7 heat everywhere a crow tugs on some carrion Bowman
102 degrees. talk with a stockman about the old Henderson cycle restaurant
(95) continue the High Plains break into washed out gullies and hills cycle
showing problems (96) PHAEDRUS's KNIFE (97) a HANDFUL OF SAND two aspects:
the pile and the granules and THE FIGURE (98) THE BUDDHA IS EVERYWHERE? monism?
(99) pass through Marmarth cross border into Montana (Phaedrus' country) (100)Phaedrus
WAS INSANE pursuing the ghost of rationality(incoherence,
meaninglessness) itself PURPOSE OF LIFE?-KEEPING ALIVE stop at Bake
Phaedrus IQ =170 (103) Image of himself as a Timber Wolf (105) {Phaedrus
actually means Brilliant or Radient} THE KILLING OF PHAEDRUS w/ Annihilation
ECS (108) (111) I am a pioneer looking at THE PROMISED LAND End of PART I PART II Chapter 8
(115) 10:00 a.m. Miles City Montana exhausted (116) tuning to see if it is
the tappets. REASON essential to
motorcycle maintenance. Phaedrus pursued
"the ghost of rationality" we need down to earth examples.
CLASSIC/ROMANTIC BARRIER(immediate reality) dirty plugs MYSTERY underlying
form(the wrench) (118) "I always feel like I'm in church when I
do this." He thinks I'm working on parts.
I'm working on concepts."(119)
BOXES and CAUSES as "long chain structures" A=> B=> C=> D
(121) OPERATORS (Exists, Equals, Implies) SYSTEM
(122) The system as concept is what endures.
Motorcycle SYSTEM OF CONCEPTS (123) It's all in the MIND-GHOSTS tappet
fixed. (125) Story about leaving things the girls. (126) Bozeman's 50 radical professors barred
Eleanor Roosevelt. Phaedrus had taught there. (127) CHAPTER 9 (128) Follow Yellowstone Valley across Montana. LOGIC (Induction, Deduction) way of
finding one's way through hierarchies (130) Scientific Method 6 Categories:
1) problem statement, 2) hypothesis of cause, 3) experiments to test
hypotheses, 4) predicted results, 5) observed results, 6) conclusions [Rather
boring discussion of scientific method chief SKILL being precise about one's
thoughts. near accident CHAPTER
10 (136) Phaedrus' break from the mainstream. TEMPLE OF SCIENCE(superior
intellectual power, utilitarian +
solitary) Phaedrus molecular biology
(137) HYPOTHESES (#infinite nihilistic?) temporal changes of . hypotheses
Lifespan of Theory inversely proportional to amount of work shortening timespan
of truth. Started college at 15
expelled at 17. Reach Laurel, in sight of the mountains. CHAPTER 11 (145) waking up at motel.
Route to Bozeman South through Yellowstone
park, cold above timberline. Absaroka Range looms directly ahead (147)
playing tag with a blue Porsche. Phaedrus' need for solitude. (148) Ends other
than TRUTH pursued by School,
Church, Government, and Political Organizations (TRAP-WARY) (148) TRUTH
(frontal science, lateral things that don't fit DRIFTING) (149) Korea
A Korean interlude details * (150) YES NO ? amazing YES true NO
EXISTENCE (theoretic laboratory CLASSIC, esthetic Korea (151) ROMANTIC) Returned to
the university to study philosophy (152) the HEIGHT highest paved road in the
world. The TURNS in the road. (153) Philosophy the highest eschelon of the
hierarchy of knowledge. Science a branch
- ?'s Meaning/Purpose stopping for photographs * climbing above the treeline
HIGH COUNTRY above the TIMBERLINE (154) (extended metaphor mapping the
motorcycle journey to the philosophical journey, the details of the
scenery. The high country of the MIND
(155) the HIGH QUESTIONS (156) Truth- Knowledge- Soul Reality Meaning MANY TRAILS Progress? BAD THINGS warfare,
pollution, dehumanization, (157) the FLIPSIDE the Positive. REASON - sole agent of progress (158) Journey
through philosophy mountain NOTE a Jigsaw puzzle of his mind. (159) Engaging
Kant Phaedrus' study of Kant as illustrated. David Hume (160) empiricism
"substance" - where do sensory
impressions come from? (161) where does knowledge of causality come
from? Hume apparently unanswerable (162) Kant's a priori knowledge: time, space
(164) argument with Hume's view of substance the a priori motorcycle
CHANGE (165) ~ "my money" sense data to money as substance to
buying power. SUBSTANCE (166) The Copernican Revolution (false analogy)
Phaedrus at first liked Kant (167) reacted against Kant's esthetics an ugliness
(168) see (211)** CHAPTER 12 (169) Cooke City
coming down Characters he appears
remote ~ range of human knowledge great SPECIALIZATION ISOLATES US moods
- ?about abstract painter friend.
Analogy about infiltrator ~ Phaedrus is gone (171) Entering Yellowstone
(172) How much of Phaedrus is missing? Didn't understand DeWeese (172) on
students and teachers (173) students he likes the most are failing SUPERTRUTH
LAUGH mutual feeling of hiding (174) DeWeese likes technology but does not
understand it. PATRON/ARTIST ANALOGY wire/switch story (175) Phaedrus despised
the park (176) ten years in India
a latent image "Thou art That" (177) [sense to Phaedrus was always
logical consistency] (178) Phaedrus has given up the pursuit of reason. (179)
exit Gardiner cabins at the motel (attention to detail WORK WELL DONE CHAPTER 13 (182) breakfast feels like
an archeologist about to open an old tomb. A HAUNTED PLACE (182) Critique of
a "teaching college" THE CHURCH OF REASON (183) $8000 fine for every
student that failed. The Church of
Reason lecture (184) Analogy of the Church/Bar and University/Accredition
similar to excommunication THE REAL UNIVERSITY (186) the continuing body of
reason itself material manifestions just the SETTING blindness to the
difference ?classical/romatic?How you split it NOT (files/departments,
students/faculty/administrators) returns the church example (188) BUT
Church/Location GOAL: TRUTH. THE
MANDATE: TO SPEAK THE RATIONAL TRUTH (189) fanatic intensity Why? his
lack of faith in REASON (189) (190) Militancy of the Jesuits given as an
example
a pro-Reformation Loyola making warnings about things people didn't
doubt. (191) into Bozeman
itself CHAPTER 14 (192) down out of
the pass
(194) getting to DeWeese's house ALL HERE AND NOW (195) sits in the
sunlight which makes it hard to make out the details in the shade (captures the
psychology of the moment) seeing old friends after a long separation. (198)
small talk at the DeWeese's (198) we live in entirely different time
structures [stickiness in conversation] there was someone GHOST OF
PHAEDRUS DeWeese doesn't know he is not there. A HALATION(a sign, oracle
"He saw too much" omen "a single bird cries
plaintively")(199) Chris's revelation "it was lonely here" Prisy
doesn't remember DREAMING?- the FIRE/the COLD WIND (201) I'm not the same
person. A storm tonight GHOSTS/WOLVES-Phaedrus' misunderstanding about
the meaning of his name in Greek. (203) meeting people the sculptor who WELDS
a bond (203) ONE DOES IT & TALK ABOUT DOING IT-fiction writer Jack, going
to Boise. (204) THE INSTRUCATIONS choppy vs. smooth for the BBQ rotisserie
Chris folds the instructions (206) Assembly of Japanese bicycle require GREAT
PEACE/PIECE OF MIND (workability, satisfaction it gives you, tranquility)(206)
wrong peaceful contradiction
right-worried ~ means it's not really right, not checked out
thoroughly enough. ANGERING only one way, their way. (207) (neglects, not
usually the best way) How they are produced: Instructions. The ART of Work (208) Contrast
Novice/Craftsman HARMONY. Divorce of Art from Technology completely unnatural
(209) (210) Inflicting the Chautauqua on innocent people. WHERE YOU ARE GOING
WHERE YOU ARE
LOOKING
BACK ~ PATTERNS EMERGE (210) Reason/Feeling (non-coalescence) (211)
Technology/Spirit/Heart-disconnect once secure the UGLINESS (see 168)
rationality not enough. EXPAND RATIONALITY Newton and Instantaneous Change as an example
(212) Inadequacy of Existing forms of thought, feelings alone wrong
direction. REAL LEARNING made from HANG
UPS * ROOTS not the BRANCHES REALMS
BEYOND REASON vs. flat earth. Looking
Back 3000 years see neat patterns {Renaissance/(213) Columbus flat earth?}(214) inadequacy of
reason(this or something else) source of topsy-turvy feelings, occult,
mysteries, drugs, etc. [IS PIRSIG's DIAGNOSIS CORRECT?] A RUSH OF WIND
ancient Greeks Phaedrus, a rhetorician condemned by Plato CHURCH OF REASON
erected on the GRAVES of rhetoricians (the Sophists) Chautauqua Lecture Essays
(216) DeWeese asks about QUALITY-Kids listening now WIND = SPIRIT ~ Greeks
predicted the future from the wind ~ Take Chris to search for the source of the
wind (217) CHAPTER 15 (218) John
& Sylvia leave. (220) Chris & Phaedrus walking (the peripatetic
manner) recalling how Phaedrus tried to teach RHETORIC a huge Sargasso sea of
stagnated logic. Little essays by
imitation RULES that don't work "A certain syrup that doesn't
pour"-Gertrude Stein His theory- all the writers wrote without rules
tinkering until it sounded right. (221) (223) the building where he used to
teach. They go in, Chris is frightened, its
SCARY. THE GHOST a listening place Phaedrus' Office an encounter with an
anonymous student. "You can't stop not you." (225) the PAINTING Feininger "Church of
the Minorities (226) image of THE
CHURCH OF REASON Sarah: "I hope you are teaching QUALITY to your
students." {seed crystal} crystal growth THE SEED => ROOT/BRANCH (228)
Really teaching Quality. Rhetoric as a
branch of reason. old GHOST rationality itself. Prescriptive Rhetoric
(spelling, punctuation, grammar) Looking like Gentlemen & Ladies
APPEARANCES: WHAT IS QUALITY? (in thought and statement) - Write a 350 word
essay! (231) betterness
PART III CHAPTER 16 (235)
Chris and Robert going up the mountainside. the MOUNTAIN The allegory of the physical
mountain for the spiritual one SOUL/GOAL(mountain) (236) some travel
with experiential GUIDES no single or fixed number of routes like the
instructions for the rotisserie 2 distinct Phases 1) Creative Phase, 2)
Systematic Phase A NEW ROUTE over the mountain (237) LOST MEANING due to
language rigidity. 2nd Phase A Disastor he lost everything. After the electroshock only fragments, debris
remains ~ part of a HUGE STRUCTURE OF THOUGHT (238) RECONSTRUCTION partridge ~ a
cathedral effect of the sun's rays (239) 1st Phase: non-metaphysical
pleasant 2nd: metaphysical, tenuous, speculative students who had nothing to
say. ex. student who wanted to write an essay about the United States (240)
You're not looking, the essay about the BRICKS (241) BLOCKAGE overcome Imitation
was a real evil (242) "Eliminate the process" TOPIC pursue
(244) shift to climbing the mountain Chris turns down work cutting the
aspen w/ a machete for walking poles (245) REACTION of students to ABOLITION OF
DEGREE/GRADING hypocrisy of the "education" motive. (246) the likely
result of NO PENALTIES students not there for a REAL EDUCATION would FLUNK
THEMSELVES OUT? how w/o grading. Student's biggest problem A SLAVE MENTALITY
If you don't whip me I won't work. Not
the CHURCH ATTITUDE society is best served by FREE MEN. Turning MULES => into FREE MEN the
alternative real status MULE (247) AWAKENING perhaps (248)
transformation from GRADE => KNOWLEDGE orients THE REAL THING the result of
the experiment (250) 54% down 37% up 9% A's 2:1 in favor B/C: equally divided
D/F opposed. (251) This Country Can Be Dangerous. Phaedrus drew no hard conclusions. Grades
Conceal Bad Teaching ??lack of
learning?? Phaedrus' Goal: Get Students to be Creative Logical Flaw:
Students don't know what is good or bad.
You can't create A GOALLESS VACUUM (253) TRAP: authoritarian,
didactic teaching. Phaedrus was
stumped - "He was right but somehow
it came out all wrong." MISSING SEED CRYSTAL (226-227) CHAPTER 17 (255) bad for Chris
(exhausted afraid) big BULL MOOSE (256) smiled and walked away (257) Going
down, an emphasis on details (258) reaction to the QUALITY assignment
"You're supposed to tell us." a GENUINE QUESTION the shock is hard
to recover from (259) Corruption and decay in the COR He really wanted to
know (reminds me of C.S. Lewis's reaction to The Great Knock in SBJ.) Phaedrus' first Non-Definition (QUALITY
CANNOT BE DEFINED) (260) but YOU KNOW WHAT QUALITY IS! intellectually
outrageous he was indoctrinating ?? {is that true?} Ranking
Experiments (262) OK we know what it IS How do we get it? textbooks come
into their own: TECHNIQUES, GIMMICKS QUALITY ASPECT unity, vividness,
each as poorly
defined as QUALITY. Techniques:
unity/outline, authority/footnotes Student TRAPPED into making Quality
judgments (263) QUALITY it worked! Chris
determined to go on! Phaedrus didn't know where he was going. Why did it work? It was irrational
beginning of the
CRYSTALLIZATION (see 254) Question of Quality WAVE CENTER (265) WAVES OF
CRYSTALLIZATION 2nd Phase Chris tired and angry (266) Chris' YMCA experience,
law class, original sin prove himself ego goals to fulfill self-glorification
ends in disaster doesn't help w/ climbing the mountain
Phaedrus' pilgrimage to Mount Kailas failed
needed to be infused w/ the holiness
of the mountain obsessed w/ the goal (268) and not THE JOURNEY CHAPTER 8 (269) QUALITY-
esthetics. What is meant by
BEAUTIFUL? Phaedrus outraged at attempts
to subordinate Quality to any point of view.
QUALITY ENSLAVED ~ image of bonbon (270) Refusing to define Quality
blocking rational analysis. CHURCH ATTITUDE(Accountable to God of REASON) He
had to make sense (272) DEFINITIONS-foundation. further Crystallization
into Domain of Philosophy [Chris is exhausted they go on.] REALISM (273)
"A thing exists if a world without it can't function normally." QUALITY
EXISTS (273) Subtract Quality 1st
casualty The Fine Arts, Poetry, Comedy (Jokes), Sports, Flavor
RATIONAL THINGS UNCHANGED (their quality is intrinsic my answer) worth is a Quality (275)
Orwell's "1984" Subtract Quality you get SQUARENESS story of artist
friends "Just dig it!" SOUL/QUALITY (hold Quality UNDEFINED)
(see 236)- mountain (277) QUALITY a CLEAVAGE TERM (clean splits) Quality can be
seen empirically its existence required by the world more from Quality
to ANALYSIS now the subject on the table (278) Chris an
"ego-climber" the real goal, putting in "good minutes"
Chris says "I hate this" stomach hurts. (280) You don't have to
prove anything. EGO "Maybe it's not having answers that's defeating
both of us." ANSWERS Lateral Drift (281) Aspen staffs coming in handy now. {Summing
up} (282) HIP | SQUARE Phaedrus after
HIS GHOST "A Real Understanding of Quality SURFACE FORM Captures the System" {Near the top we
can see back and down}
QUALITY (283) Keep on climbing
stop for today (284)
Reach for Thoreau
ROMANTIC CLASSICAL [Dad what do you think about all the time?]
{rain} CLEAVAGE TERM
The focal point around which a lot of furniture is getting rearranged. [Not far
from the top] CHAPTER 19 (288) dream:
Chris trying to relate to me. "At the top of the mountain we'd see
everything." (287) You said you were going to met me there (290)
2nd wave of CRYSTALLIZATION Metaphysical [ Does Quality exist in things we
observe?] (291) or [Subjectively in the observer?] a dilemma
SUBJECTIVE|OBJECTIVE (292) three classic refutations also rhetorical
a) sand in the bull's eye Socratic point. b) sing the bull to sleep
"help an incompetent old man"
(294) c) refuse to enter the arena - He chose to go with the Church of Reason egoistic the deer
disappears 1st HORN detectability of QUALITY? [Locke no object is knowable
except through its qualities.] A different kind of Quality (295)
"excellence, worth, goodness" So Quality is all that is detected. 2nd HORN "just whatever you like"
QUALITY IS JUST WHAT YOU LIKE NO AMBIGUITY What is likeable? (296) The condemnation
of what you like obey authority and (scientific materialism (only
matter and energy are real naοve science reduction ad absurbum) | classical
formalism (not understood intellectually, isn't understood at all concepts
don't exist philosophical idealism) )- two sources of "just" (297)
[Berkley, Hume,
Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Bradley, Bosanquet] Quality cleaved into two
kinds.(couldn't let the KNIFE get it.) "If everyone knows what quality
is then why the disagreement? (300-301) KINDS OF QUALITY? (Hip and
Square Quality by GOD) MIND/MATTER (Subjective/Objective) Quality does not
reside in the material world (Rejections of the 1st HORN) Then he rejected the
right (2nd HORN) Quality is not subjective it doesn't merely reside in
the mind. (301) QUALITY IS INDEPENDENT OF MIND & MATTER (302) Chris
"Light through the trees at the top." Will we see a lot? FOREST w/o UNDERBRUSH MIND/MATTER & QUALITY Pirsig
TRINITY (Holy, Holy, Holy) uncomfortable usually Monism/Dualism (303)
RELATIONSHIP? Quality decreases subjectivity opposes it. (304) Quality is
relationship (Subject, Object), an event [Quality is the event at which
awareness of both subjects and objects is made possible.] Sounds like Plato's
GOOD of neo-Platonism. (304) Existence
is deduced from the EVENT Chris: Blue Sky Top of the MOUNTAIN The Summit
(306) CHAPTER 20 (307) asleep at
the top of the mountain Contradiction what are you always thinking
about? You sounded different Phaedrus (309) Wearing down of mountains
(310) Loss of 19 avalanche (310-311) descent easy now, steeper soon. (312)
Getting SPOOKED Want to go down to the Ocean. ZEN Spirit of the Valley (313)
Looking at things in the TRINITY different A NEW DIMENSION (a dimension of
meaning they never had - Phaedrus was caught in the third wave of
crystallization (314) vision/awareness a time lag. ) Unreality of both
past and future. "The present is our only reality." (315) QUALITY-
Preintellectual reality parent of subjects and objects. Squareness makes us blind to QUALITY(2 time
aspects of quality (short- Romantic, long-Classical)- 2 different hierarchies
more uneventful transitions (unimportant i.e. blind) forget all that word stuff
(316) Reality (Objective(physical), Subjective(Classic, Romantic) Quality seen
differently due to different sets of analogues (318) QUALITY (Reality)
Romantic (preintellectual), Classic (Subjective (Mind), Objective (Matter))
(319) Quality is the response of an organism to its environment. (320) Response
many marvelous analogues {earth, heavens, trees, stones, oceans, gods, etc.} Mesmerize
our Children Quality is the stimulus that makes us create these
analogues. To define QUALITY would
reduce it to another analogue Quality has become an absolute MONISM
like Hegel's Absolute Mind. Quality both
Mystical and Metaphysical (321) The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu (322) He had broken
the code. (324) QUALITY WAS THE TAO and [AVALANCHE OF THOUGHT] CHAPTER 21 (325) Not very brave but
very smart. (326) Descent slower down the mountain driven by fear of an avalanche
No more anything. Chautauque Practical day to day information pioneers as
mess makers. RELEVANCE (as description of quality is like a definition and must
fall short) Back to Sylvia's "funeral procession" May not be
helpful (327) Showed how REASON might be expanded Unabsorbed elements
causing bad quality of the 20th century.
Mucky Soil Quality(source of interconversion of (328)
RELIGION/ART/SCIENCE) is the Budda a rational basis for UNIFICATION (329)
"value free" "quality
free" science has got to go. Climbing
Down Stay at a hotel (330). CHAPTER
22 (331) Goodby to DeWeese moving West. Jules Henri Poinare'
(1854-1912- professor at the University
of Paris) (works up
to the same abstractions) many people Phaedrus was almost duplicating like
Hegel. Discussion of the revolution in geometry Lobachevski, & Riemann
geometries (334-335) 3-Forks Anaconda (337) Geometry is not TRUE it is advantageous
conventional. (338) What are FACTS? (a
hierarchy of facts more general facts better and these are SIMPLE (infinitely
great, infinitely small) Begin with the REGULAR and continue with the
DIFFERENCES most extreme first (339) grand overturnings look for
hidden likenesses under apparent divergences (340) Spontaneous mathematical
discoveries (341) felt rather than formulated by the SUBLIMINAL SELF {Phaedrus'
preintellectual awareness} HARMONY (342-343) CONVENTIONALISM preselection based
on QUALITY (344) not subjective/capricious steep mountains on either
side (Missoula head out towards Lolo Pass) forming a narrow valley
/Poincare\/Phaedrus\ -don't explore the /\/\ Talk to high rider Harley man and
wife Chris has an accident.
CHAPTER 23 (349)the
glass door the door of a coffin the dead are not permitted to
speak. I'll see you at the bottom of the
ocean endless ruins all around me. (a dream)
CHAPTER 24 (351)
sun's up! jog up the logging road good, good GOOD back up problem with the
Chautauqua CARING/QUALITY linked Quality=>Metaphysics=>Formal Reason
QUALITY(Buddha, scientific reality, goal of Art) Science => Technology
Breakfast (354) Chris writes a letter but gets STUCK * list all the things
you want to say and then figure out the right order Pick the BEST THINGS
(356) STUCKNESS example of screw on coverplate THE GREAT UNKNOWN
(358) a break in continuity. Continue
down the canyon river grown with entering streams. STUCK what to observe
NOW (360) selecting Good Facts rather than Bad Ones. Insistence on OBJECTIVITY is a problem (361)
[Subject/Object dichotomy is artificial / imposed on reality] When you are
STUCK it is QUALITY that tells you what to do! RAILROAD TRAIN:Knowledge:Classic/Romantic
two whole ways of looking at the train. QUALITY- the track. Romantic Quality the leading edge. Traditional Knowledge the Collective Memory.
(363) VALUE- The Leading Edge Reality isn't static. A SENSE of What's Good carries you forward DYNAMIC Truman's TRY IT!
(364) (365) "better" QUALITY even government should change in
response to Quality. CHANGING QUALITY as
REALITY wild theory as folklore! koans induced STUCKNESS your mind
naturally moves towards a solution. (366) running from stuckness keeps you
STUCK. Psychic predessor to all
UNDERSTANDING this particular screw is unique the QUALITY track gets you
unstuck. Highway 13 Grangeville,
Idaho little moments in other's
lives. Descent to the desert (370) CHAPTER 25 (371) parallel the ugliness
of the technological tradition twisty roads town of White Bird, the
Salmon river [ugliness not inherent in technology] [At the moment of true/pure
Quality Subject & Object are identical] (373) modern dualistically
conceived technology lacks craftsmanship, hence QUALITY BREAK DOWN THE
BARRIERS OF DUALISTIC THOUGHT [Technology is a FUSION of Nature and the
Human Spirit] a personal experience (374) at the individual level. Canyon walls vertical. A beautiful and an ugly way
An overall dullness
(375) overlaid w/ STYLE PHONEY QUALITY
IS REAL NOT STYLE the cone from which the tree must start
Something different from a stepwise PRODCEDURE {turning in the canyon} tired
AN OLD IRON PUMP (376) turning the world into a STYLIZED GARBAGE DUMP
Need ANSWERS (377) not CLASSICAL with a ROMANTIC ICING overlaid (STYLE) [ need
unity at the basic level ] Restore the PASSIONS THE CENTRAL POINT (378)
SCIENTISTS | ARTISTS opposite sides of the Knowledge WALL no Spiritual
Sense of Gravity PEACE OF MIND (The Whole Thing) BE AT ONE (Inner Peace)
/achievement\\trenches// - peaks and valleys (self-awareness) 3 Levels of
Understanding(Physical, Mental, Value) QUIETNESS~like CALM I'm going fishing!
(379) Peace of mind made central to the act of technical work produces QUALITY
(380) Patience, Care, Attentiveness A Kind of Inner Peace Doing Something
You Really Want To Do Absence of Subject/Object Duality. (381) What Caring
Really Is! CARING/QUALITY Right Values => Right Thoughts => Right
Action WORK/SERENITY. QUALITY a Spiritual Reality
Improve
the world starting in one's own
HEART & MIND i.e.
SERENITY
Riggins Canyon to smaller
streams
heading into the forest. New
Meadows,
Tamarack from green meadows
to dry
sandy country. QUALITY
TRAPS &
PROBLEMS isolation and
lonliness.
Unexplained sadness
increasing darkness
ahead. Cambridge
upper. Campground, a
Cambridge
upper. Campground, a small stream
Closeness to Chris (384)
inaccessibility of minds to one another. CHAPTER
26 (385) cold, grey sky the cycle as silent guardian. Waking up Chris and
on the road again (387) cross a dam the Rubaeyat alone on the road. (388)
fatality of Omar compared to the Chautauque GUMPTION homely and forlorn. Connecting with QUALITY fills one with
GUMPTION (old Scottish word) Greek enthusiasm filled with Theos GOD
occurs in QUIET (389) preserve Gumption (390) discouraging Gumption
Traps (391) Baker agricultural land Guptionology Catalog of
Traps traditionally Gumption an innate, fixed commodity Non dualistic: A
RESERVOIR OF GOOD SPIRITS also cf. Christopher Alexander
(Patterns/Anti-Patterns) QWON (the Quality Without a Name)
TYPE of Gumption: SETBACKS
thrown off the track (392) due to external circumstances. HANGUPS thrown off
the track by internal characteristics. 1) Setbacks making a fundamental
mistake have to do it all over (to avoid good feelings from learning things
the hard way (393) NOTEBOOK (don't rush- Gumption desparation) order of
disassembly lay parts out in order (394) [MISASSEMBLY] {Baker th
rough forests} 2) Setbacks
INTERMITTENTS, 3) Setbacks PARTS might not fit (396) all the things that
can go wrong. You can machine your own.
WORK IS GUMPTION BUILDING (398) INTERNAL TRAPS (3 Main Types) 1) Value Traps:
block effective understanding, 2) Truth Traps: block cognitive understanding,
3) Muscle Traps block psycho motor behavior (398) VALUE TRAPS largest
category
. Value Rigidity blocks learning new facts(discovery)
(399)SLOW DOWN {Road into pines waving kids} FISHING don't know what you're
fishing for. ex. South Indian Monkey
Trap (depends on value rigidity) {Pairie
City} Chris' letter to
mother (402) not knowing what the trouble is ~ relationship with Chris.
EGO-Gumption Trap (404) related to value rigidity. Mechanics: attentive and
skeptical, not egoistic, your REAL PERSONALITY.
ANXIETY (405) work out anxieties on paper. BOREDOM (406) lost your
"beginner's mind" cure SLEEP or COFFEE. IMPATIENCE (408) allow an
indefinite time for the job. {Dayville (409) shade trees helped by competitor *
slow paced conversation (410) Dry country driest yet! }TRUTH TRAPS &
MUSCLETRAPS TRUTH TRAP of YES/NO LOGIC
3rd possibility (Something Else)[MU- nothing, nonsense, illformed question
indeterminant] {Mitchell a long chocolate malted (413) PSYCHOMOTOR TRAPS (414)
Inadequate Tools / Bad Surroundings discomfort, out of position
work, muscular insensitivity, fingertight, snug, tight
levels of elastic take
up Mechanic's feel (416) SHORT CUTS TO LIVING RIGHT (FATIGUE, a Gumption
Trap) What I'm trying to come up with. {Prineville Junction, car going by
Sylvia's FUNERAL PROCESSION the biggest Gumption Trap of all. (417) (418) The
WEST COAST all strangers again. PART
IV CHAPTER 27 (423) THE GLASS DOOR again a nightmare. {Oregon somewhere "kill someone" in
the dream. The dream is PHAEDRUS trying
tocome back. CHAPTER 28 (426) a
movie dissolve not in the real world.
driving through grey streets (bunk-bedders?) When it started
disorientation. Back to the motorcycle
(428) Tuning the cycle in the morning cold. (429) LORE OF CYCLE REPAIR
Completing PHAEDRUS' STORY (429) Little path leading off ot the side (430)
Sarah and QUALITY every part of Greek thought. θ SYSTEMATIC PHILOSOPHY
the REALITY of QUALITY (431) Bozeman => PhD to continue pursuit of Quality (432)
University of Chicago ["Analysis of Ideas and Study of Methods"] wake
Chris {La Pine oil change, ham and eggs for breakfast. Chris: "Why are we doing this?" I
LIE TO HIM. THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG (433) We're doing the highest Quality thing
I can think of right now. PHAEDRUS @ University of Chicago
[ What is your substantive field?
English composition that is a methodological field. (434)]
SUBSTANCE/METHOD (permanence) no academic discipline is without both
SUBSTANCE and METHOD. QUALITY outside
of both. [ GOAL towards which method aims ] (435) A PROCRUSTEAN BED ~ the
committee's purpose (436) gobbledygook Hypothesis: 1) in over his head,
2) Chairman is a technician (too specialized) (437) Chairman's statements:
GUARDED inscrutability. omitted ARISTOTLE (438) {Crater
Lake turned into a museum} Pointing to Quality makes it go away
(439) Locus of a famous academic controversy: REVOLT AGAINST EMPIRICAL
EDUCATION * Robert Maynard Hutchins, Mortimer Adler, Scott Buchanan. Adler (440) Opponents insisted that no
values can be fixed (441) Phaedrus sympathetic w/ opponents but felt
"this tradition should not be left unreckoned with" Phaedrus cast
down the gauntlet. (442). Phaedrus was not admitted. (445) a legalistic
maneuver. {Klamath Lake had taken a wrong turn. went to Chicago (447) and taught rhetoric at University of Illinois. Classical Greek studies. Phaedrus thought acceptance of classical
thought had damaged this world. (448) More on Klamath Lake
"mythos over logos" Logos
shaped by mythos. (449) the sacred character of words in the West not
found in the East. (450) To go outside the mythos is to become insane. A
REVELATION (451) the relation of mythos to insanity QUALITY is the generator
of the mythos. Religion isn't invested
by man. Men are invented by
religion. Responses to Quality. Mythos
built of analogues upon analogues upon analogues. BOXCARS OF THE TRAIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Outside the TRAIN {terra incognita of INSANITY} Chris w/ a souvenier (452)
THE MYTHOS IS INSANE ~ the forms [ARISTOTLE and the Ancient Greeks are the
Villains (453)] ~ the forms which it says are real can't be. {Medford
freeway to Grants Pass almost evening, chain
failure 1st Motel since Bozeman
(453) bouncing on the bed a great depression reliever. (454) CHAPTER 29 (455) gear a mess from long
trip Laundramat chain but no chainguard found a welder not in. Go to
eat perceptions of waitress back to welder he's in relaxed remarkable
weld $1 also lonely like the waitress LONELY PEOPLE (458) Paradoxical people
most lonely where they are most crowded. (459) PSYCHIC DISTANCE primary America lives
without much consciousness. Secondary America what was real, what was
around us. Technology blamed for isolation it's not the technology though
dull jobs. (460) IMPROVEMENT OF THE WORLD individuals making Quality
Decisions (461) Had QUALITY in the past and depleted it. OUT OF GUMPTION individual integrity. PHAEDRUS A NEW PHILOSOPHY a spiritual
rationality, self-reliance. Reason
subordinated to QUALITY reasonable even when it isn't any good (GOOD over
REASON? The Problem {Raining} (462) ARISTOTLE ~ doesnt think there is much
justification for either the raves or Phaedrus' rages. Critique of Rhetoric like the motorcycle
parts (463) NAMING and RELATING Aristotle's STUNT Phaedrus thinks it kills
the creative spirit { of course earlier Phaedrus prided himself at his deft use
of the "knife" to do the same thing. } Questions about Aristotle's
Rhetoric? ~ the classroom engagement ~ studying what Aristotle thinks not
what you think. Phaedrus still at large
(467) Phaedrus knows the Professor of Philosophy now ! {Crescent City, CA
the Ocean} Professor of Philosophy TALKS. (468) ARISTOTLE put Rhetoric inot a
minor category, a branch of Practical Science.
Phaedrus doesn't think much of Aristotle. (469) bootstrapping
DIALECTIC a fulcrum word for Aristotle, a counterpoint to rhetoric. For Plato the sole method for obtaining truth
(470) Coleridge(Platonist one (472), Aristotelian many) Plato's GOOD and
Phaedrus' QUALITY very similar. (473) Plato's Gorgias (474) Phaedrus
unhappy with Socrates using the dialectic to destroy rhetoric not real
questions Professor of Philosophy decides to play with Phaedrus (2nd mistake)
ask what he thinks of COOKERY asks for his personal opinion (earlier he had
told a student he didn't care for his personal opinion) (476) Phaedrus goes
into a mind racing reflection the next day he studies the Sophists (476) Why
did Plato dislike the Sophists?
Rhetoricians => Good, Dialectic => TRUE "Truth won, the Good
lost" Why we have trouble with the reality of QUALITY. Civilization existed a long time before the
Greek Philosophers. It just wasn't written
down. (478) THE IMMORTAL PRINCIPLES Thales WATER, Anaximenes AIR
Pythagorians NUMBER, Heraclitus FIRE, change (one & many) Anaxagoras
nous, MIND Parmenides ONE/TRUTH/GOD => Socrates before they were talked
about THEY WEREN'T THERE GHOSTS
Cosmologists (480) Zeno proved
reality had to be motionless (changeless) Man the Measure of all things the
Sophists "wisdom" teachers. { WAR BETWEEN THOSE WHO THINK TRUTH
ABSOLUTE & THOSE WHO THINK TRUTH IS RELATIVE (481) decadence of the
Sophists they threaten the Idea of Truth.
But how could they teach VIRTUE (482) isn't that an absolute? THE HOMERIC HERO quote Hector from the Iliad
[Virtue is ARETE EXCELLENCE] DUTY TOWARDS SELF dharma (QUALITY, VIRTUE/ARETE,
DHARMA what the Sophists were teaching before everything else. (485) ARETE
quote from Odyssey TO BE PART OF THE WORLD AND NOT AN ENEMY OF IT (486)
Phaedrus claims αρετε became Plato's GOOD a fixed idea
~ but a form where as for Phaedrus it is reality itself {? a distinction w/o a
difference ? } ARISTOTLE ~ raised the appearances by saying they inhered in
something permanent SUBSTANCE Phaedrus bemoans Aristotle (489) "empty
rhetoric" emotional appeal devoid of truth. THE BONES OF THE SOPHISTS (490) {the road has
become DARK} CHAPTER 30 (492)
{Arcata => San Francisco Professor of Philosophy SICK class, Phaedrus says
he teaches Rhetoric @ Navy Pier (493) Phaedrus dialogue assigned. (alledged to
mean wolf in Greek (misunderstanding) passions destroyers of understanding the innocent student (495) the CHAIRMAN
takes over the class. Phaedrus is paranoid the SOUL (498) attentive to
the Chairman EVERYTHING IS AN ANALOGY (501) wolf/dog Chairman.
Myths/Rhetoric/Dialectic/Logic (504) Shepherd and Sheep (506) days as a
shepherd coming to an end SILENCE no sleep form and substance w/o QUALITY *
(507) definitions around Quality the undefinable defeats the purpose PHAEDRUS LAPSES INTO INSANITY 3 days and 3
nights he dissolves (510) cross the lonesome valley a Christmas Song.
{freeway, closest motel ~ Chris "We're not really going
anyplace." WHERE SHOULD WE GO? Chris recalls earlier. He had fun then. You don't do anything now. (513) CHAPTER 31 (515) Green Slugs {West to
Leggett duck pond.} WHY WE CAN'T GO BACK (516-517) His father isn't really
here. HYPOCRISY A heretic who's recanted WHO'S THE GHOST? {Mendocino County Chris
isn't feeling good Troubles in the mind. THE GLASS DOOR the last time I
will see them as Phaedrus [ Were you really insane NO. I KNEW IT! ] CHAPTER 32 (527) deep relationships I never could see over your
shoulders before! (529) Can I have a motorcycle? Will I have the right attitude? (531)
BAY AFTERWARD (532) TIME the future
that comes on you from behind. No ALL to
tell. Culture bearing book, ex. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Chris was murdered in 1979, Nov 17 (535)
Chris not an object but a pattern (537)
Nel (539) her first published work (540) 1984 (hitting the
keyboard)
Note: This is a typed transcript of the handwritten notes
that I took preparing for the PDP-150 class that was to use Zen. The handwritten notes used boxes around
phrases and underlining and little thumbnail illustrations in places that have
not been duplicated. I've tried to use
other forms of emphasis to give the flavor of the notes. The attempt here is not to transcribe ZAOMM
but to capture a certain flavor and jog the mind to more easily recall the flow
of ideas. I am also interested in the
art of taking notes and this is an experiment in taking notes on a whole book.