Unlike Shelby, I find the philosophical parts of this book difficult to drudge through. I suppose though, it is this part that needs swishing around in my brain for a few days. Once I think it through and come to my own conclusions, I appreciate it more. It just doesn't have the immediate reward that the storyline does.
I've been thinking about which style of thinker I am. I'm either classical trying really hard to be romantic, or vice versa. I still haven't definitively sorted each out.
"...no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing the structure just because it is meaningless." (121) - This seems to be the case with a lot of things. This doesn't necessarily apply directly, but it reminds me of something I read about revisions to your own writing: people are really attached to ideas they have and don't want to throw them out even when they may not be the author's best work. I find this to be true with myself. I'll be so proud of a phrase or idea that even though they may not fit, I change everything around them to make them fit. It may have been way easier and more concise in the end if I had just trashed them or saved them for later.
"Thus the scientific truths of the twentieth century seem to have a much shorter life span than those of the last century because scientific activity is much greater." (141) - Just think of how much we think we know now. How quickly all of that is going to change. I also think of the difference between children and adults' thinking. When you are little a small revelation can take days or weeks to mull over until you find a place for it to stay in your mind. Time goes so slow as a child. Now, we absorb so much in so little time, and time flies by. I guess we have a lot more responsibility and things to think about as adults so new pieces of information get filed away quickly. Same with scientific truths. There's just so much new information that each one means a lot less. I need to clarify my thinking on this...
"...institutions...tended to direct thought for ends other than truth, for the perpetuation of their own functions, and for the control of individuals in the service of these functions." (148) - Religion anyone?
"It's so hard when contemplated in advance, and so easy when you do it." (153) - This is why my fear is so ridiculous.
I understand how Pirsig feels going to meet DeWeese and knowing that he will presume he is the same person. Having moved a few times, I know that I have different priorities and values brought on by different circumstances and people. It's kind of depressing and yet nice to talk to old friends who expect that you're the same as you were - similar to them. I hope that I continue to change in positive, not negative, ways like what Pirsig says of DeWeese on page 195: "it's also a brand-new person who's been renewing himself continually."
"You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in." (189) - I disagree. I think you can be dedicated to something that YOU have confidence in, but that other people may not see. Though if others end up not seeing what you do in [whatever you have confidence in], the thing may cease to exist because of lack of public support?
"It's not the technology that's scary. It's what is does to the relations between people..." (193) - such a mix of impersonal and very personal
"The beer and sun begin to toast my head like a marshmallow. Very nice." (196) - I just like the simile. Very nice.
"The ultimate test's always your own serenity. If you don't have this when you start and maintain it while you're working you're likely to build your personal problems right into the machine itself." (206) - I've heard how plants and water respond to the attitudes that are directed at them. Perhaps inanimate objects are the same way. I actually had this epiphany a couple of weeks ago after I tripped over a stick. Whether or not this is real, I need to think this way when creating clothes. I should have a good, kind attitude throughout the whole process and I think the end product will turn out better.
The way Phaedrus is always searching reminds me of a short story I was required to read in High School. I don't remember the name but the premise is this: A man accepts a bet that he cannot be completely solitary for a long time (twenty-five years?). He lives in his little cell and is provided anything he wants to occupy his time. He reads and masters piano, and just learns everything he can abut everything. When the time is up he destroys his prize money and kills himself. The lesson to me is that knowing too much makes everything really depressing. When you are aware of all the truths that are to be known, life loses all meaning. I was of the opinion for awhile that ignorance is bliss. I'm still deciding on that one...
On page 221, Pirsig talks about how he is teaching techniques of writing by giving examples that the authors' may not have even been aware of. I think about this a lot in literature and poetry courses. We're deriving meaning from the tiniest arrangement or choice of words, when maybe to the writer, it was the only thing that fit at the moment. We like to think that authors are amazing at applying the rules, when really, that's just how their brain was working at the moment.
I also like how Pirsig compares good grammar and mechanics to good manners. I suppose communication would be very difficult to comprehend if we weren't all going by the same rules. But there comes a time when going by the rules hinders the artistic process. Side-note: I write with too may commas because that's where my brain pauses when reading.
"except for a kind of phychic eddy current she has left behind" (225) - nice visualization
