The second half of Robert M. Pirsig’s book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, is based more on the effectives of how we live, and how, in our race to achieve, we not only neglect ourselves, but the pursuit of happiness. An instant classic, the book (that has been in print since 1973) countinues to utlize imagery as a main method of develing into topics that over lap with beielfs from budddist doctrine. For example when writing about how once must take in their surroundings, he describes his surroundings. “After the rain stops, the sky lightens a little. But from the motel courtyard, I see past the cottonwoods that a second darkness, that of night, is about to come on. "(501) Then afterwards, he talks about the aflictions of nature and how, like the trees, we must be "everchanging and everlasting." (502)
My overall impression of this book was both thought provoking and entertaining. The book itself has reaffirmed in me universal truths, that I, like any other person, has lost touch with a result of my day to day schedule. With school, colloges, work, and music, I often forget to enjoy what I do instead of completing a task for the sake of completion. As in Zen, the trick to being happy is to become one with the activity, to engage in it fully, to see and appreciate all details--be it hiking in the woods, penning an essay, or tightening the chain on a motorcycle.
Overall, I leave you with this quote, “We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. ” "
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