Sage-Tips

What is in mind is a sort of Chautauqua?

“What is in mind is a sort of Chautauqua…that’s the only name I can think of for it… There are eras of human history in which the channels of thought have been too deeply cut and no change was possible, and nothing new ever happened, and “best” was a matter of dogma, but that is not the situation now.

Who is Phaedrus in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle?

Phaedrus was a highly analytical academic prodigy who grew disenchanted with the western intellectual tradition’s limited notion of reason. While teaching English at Montana State University in Bozeman, he begins to develop a philosophy that revolves around a concept he calls Quality.

What is a gumption trap?

A gumption trap is an event or mindset that can cause a person to lose enthusiasm and become discouraged from starting or continuing a project.

What is the main point of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?

‘ Robert Pirsig’s book ‘Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance’ has a lot to say about high quality engagement, indeed the main idea he presents is that this is the secret to a fulfilled life. What lessons does this hold for schools? According to Pirsig being engaged is a necessary condition for excellence.

What does the word Chautauqua mean?

“Chautauqua” is an Iroquois word with multiple meanings, including “a bag tied in the middle” or “two moccasins tied together.” The word describes the shape of Chautauqua Lake, located in southwest New York, which was the setting for the Chautauqua Institution, the first educational assembly in what became a …

What is a Chautauqua community?

Chautauqua (/ʃəˈtɔːkwə/ shə-TAW-kwə) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, showmen, preachers, and specialists of the day.

What happened to Robert Pirsig?

Pirsig died aged 88, at his home in South Berwick, Maine, on April 24, 2017, after a period of failing health.

What happened to Robert Pirsig’s son?

Pirsig’s son Chris was later also found to be mentally ill and institutionalized. He died in 1979 after being stabbed in a mugging outside the San Francisco Zen center where he had been living.)

Where does Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance take place?

North Dakota plains
In his 1974 autobiographical novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, he describes an unhurried pace over two-lane roads and through thunderstorms that take the narrator and his companions by surprise as they ride through the North Dakota plains.

What is Pirsig’s philosophy on life?

The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality. The tree that you are aware of intellectually, because of the small time lag, is always in the past and therefore is always unreal. Any intellectually conceived object is always in the past and therefore unreal.

Is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance about Zen?

It’s not a book about Zen or how to fix a motorbike while practising Zen, it’s a wholly different thing altogether. In fact, it’s a road trip book where our narrator takes his son on a road trip on an old motorbike across the USA.

What is Chautauqua known for?

What is Zenzen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance interweaves two parallel plots: the first is the chronicling of a transcontinental motorcycle journey taken by the narrator and his eleven-year-old son, Chris. The second plot details the life and thought of a man named Phaedrus, a solitary intellectual obsessed with a philosophical concept called Quality.

What is Pirsig’s philosophy of Motorcycle Maintenance?

Philosophical content. In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig explores the meaning and concept of “quality”; a term he conceives as undefinable. His thesis is that to truly experience quality one must both embrace and apply it as best fits the requirements of the situation.

Is Motorcycle Maintenance a drudgery or pleasure?

Pirsig is capable of seeing the beauty of technology and feels good about mechanical work, where the goal is “to achieve an inner peace of mind”. The book demonstrates that motorcycle maintenance may be dull and tedious drudgery or an enjoyable and pleasurable pastime, depending on attitude.

What is the narrator’s view of Technology in Chautauqua?

The narrator’s first Chautauqua discusses John and Sylvia’s aversion to technology, which he aligns with a “romantic” approach to life—one that values surface impressions over rational analysis. The narrator’s own outlook is a more analytical one that he terms “classic.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GTzS2WuBLs