I am staying at a place where "everything is better." I am the Caretaker. It's not Heaven, just a really, really nice, supremely lavish home with all the amenities. It's sort of like my own place, but so much better. It reminds me that being wealthy in America really is the thing. No doubt. Great country for those who have lots of scratch to burn and good taste in the spending.
I am thinking about QUALITY this morning. I am surrounded by things of quality. Quality is a big, philosophical subject in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." That is one heady tome. I think it's about time I picked it up again and delved back in. Who knows, maybe more of it would stick this time around? I first read it when I was hitching across USA, late 70's. A backpack, $100 in my shoe, a change of clothes, tooth-brush, and Robert Pirsig's book.
From my perspective now, I think I must have been totally mad, reckless, stupid, and unknowing. Lots of angst, raging hormones, risky behavior, stoked with Kerouac and Ginsberg and Dylan and dreams of adventure and romance with the road. Amazing I didn't meet a bad end.
Robert Pirisig's "Metaphysics of Quality" - "Equating it with the Tao, Pirsig postulates that Quality is the fundamental force in the universe stimulating everything from atoms to animals to evolve and incorporate ever greater levels of Quality. According to the MOQ, everything (including ideas, and matter) is a product and a result of Quality."
Right. Being one with the Tao. I get that. There have been some moments in my life where I seemed to ride, briefly, that righteous wave. Leaning into the Light. Leaning towards Quality. Riding the Tao. I think it's an ART. There are the practical realities: reading the Classics, diving into the Fine Arts, listening the great music, playing a well-made instrument, looking for quality in everything you see, and do. Being a Creator. Being disciplined. Cultivating Quality in Heart, Spirit, Head. Looking for a magnificence in thinking, acting and being.
Now that's a worthy goal. It's easier to glimpse it here where everything is better. A hyper-reality of better-ness.
The a.m. soundtrack - The Grateful Dead's "Workingman's Dead" (1970) - an outlier, a black-sheep in the Dead's long, beautiful catalog. Probably their finest in-studio recording, most of their greatest moments were in live concert, but here, on this recording, they are truly magnificent. Great American band. Elements of Bluegrass, Country, R&R. Listen to those fabulous harmonies, listen to those wonderful guitars, acoustic and electric. QUALITY!
