A Subversive Read...

Last night I finished my re-reading of Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." It is quite the journey. It takes a strange turn into madness. What's the gist? If you become obsessed with reimagining the fundamental underpinnings of Logic & Rationality, if you question the Scientific Method, Duality and Division, well, it is easy to lose your footing and fall into an endless quest, and an elaborate Hall of Mirrors from which you may not be able to extricate yourself.  A diligent reader is left with basic questions that raise doubts about the foundations of all Western thought. Yes, question everything. Maybe that's the ticket?! Ha. It's a pretty subversive read. Best to approach the novel with a clear mind, and a healthy skepticism.  A sense of humor helps too. Oh yeah, and don't forget Humility. It is rewarding read, to an extent. I suppose my main takeaway, Human Beings are stuck with being Human. And all of our knowledge is sketchy, subject to change & revision. It's hard to pin down what we know, and why, and how, we know what we know. "The more we look, the more we see." And as William Blake told us, we are limited, imprisoned, by our "senses five." And why is it that the most important things in our lives are invisible, hard to pin down, un-dissectible? You know those mysterious things we cling to with all our might: Energy, Intuition, Spirit, Soul, The Good, Quality, Excellence, Truth, Love, Beauty? Are they just Ghosts? Or Chimeras? Can you stake your Life on them? Yes, well, I think so. Maybe?! I mean, fuck yes, why not?! Damn the torpedos.