Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Book Notes

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Book Notes by Mind Map: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Book Notes

1. Technology is a Burden

1.1. Friends see it as a burden

1.1.1. should just work

1.2. He sees it as part of what has to be dealt with

1.2.1. why not just work with it

1.2.2. get back to what you want to do quickly, cheaper

1.3. Motorcycle Maintenance != car maintenance

1.3.1. lots to a car, harder to work on

1.3.2. bike is more accessible - easier to comprehend, less parts

2. Lateral truths

2.1. When an experiment goes haywire and you can't make sense of any of the data you start to look laterally

2.2. A growth or knowledge that doesn't move forward but expands sideways

2.3. Knowledge from an unexpected direction

2.3.1. A direction you didn't even know was a direction

2.4. Drifting is what one does when looking at lateral truths

2.4.1. Couldn't follow a known method because it was the methods that were messed up in the first place

3. scientific method

3.1. can't fail, only fail if didn't conclude hypothesis true or false

3.2. 2 types of logic

3.2.1. inductive

3.2.1.1. observe something over and over and over where conclusions and correlations can be drawn

3.2.2. deductive

3.2.2.1. based on what you know now, you hypothesize an educated guess on what could be happening

3.3. hypothesis

3.3.1. were do they come from?

3.3.1.1. you come up with more and more as you try to prove one

3.3.1.2. If you always come up with more as you try to prove it then you will never be able to get through every hypothesis

3.3.1.3. Therefore the scientific method will never be able to prove anything kind of fact

3.3.2. scientific proof has a lifespan, they tend to get over turned eventually

3.4. science is making things less scientific

3.4.1. science proves that a rule isn't simple, it's dependent, but we can't figure out all scenarios, so lots of new uncertain rules

3.5. logic of inductive and deductive reasoning is drawn from our senses

3.5.1. so there is no proof anything exists, just that we sense things

3.5.2. Boy with 0 senses, kept alive at 18 would he have thought?

3.5.3. Time and space are also non provable with senses

3.5.4. called a priori

3.5.4.1. like going to bank asking to see your money

3.5.4.1.1. not real money, just senses of your money, and when needed it can be produced, but your money is entirely apriori

3.6. can't answer the unknown

3.6.1. helps answer what you think you know or what you might be able to do like you've done in the past

3.6.2. But the hypotheses themselves it can't help you with

3.6.3. Creativity, true thought etc has to come from where else

3.7. Scientific truths is limited to a time span

3.7.1. That time span is inversely related to the amount of scientific effort put into it

3.7.2. The number of hypotheses shortens the time span of a scientific truth

3.7.3. Thus the more scientific effort the less unchanging truth we have. Truth changes more with more scientific effort

3.7.4. We continue to go from single absolute truth to multiple indeterminate relative ones

4. chautauqua

4.1. summer camp intended to teach teachers

4.2. further education

5. methos

5.1. summation of entire train and box cars of experience

5.1.1. Locomotive of this train is the present.

5.1.1.1. Box cars are past

5.1.2. box cars the past

5.1.3. There is no future, just now converting to past very quickly

5.2. Not logic, logos, in perfect form, there is no such thing

5.3. but the combination of our own logic, experience, conclusions... Beliefs (church of reason)

5.4. This is all anyone is

6. Classic vs Romantic view of reality

6.1. Classic

6.1.1. Everything is seen as underlying form

6.1.2. Facts

6.1.2.1. Reason and laws

6.1.2.1.1. These are underlying forms of thought and behavior

6.1.3. Not to inspire, but to bring order out of chaos

6.1.3.1. Make the unknown, known

6.1.4. Surface ugliness

6.1.4.1. Has a classical asthetic that romantics often miss

6.1.4.2. Romantic sees dull awkward and ugly

6.1.5. Value is measured under the skill in which control is maintained

6.2. Romantic

6.2.1. Everything is seen as its immediate appearance

6.2.2. Intuition, feelings

6.2.2.1. Inspirational, imaginative

6.2.3. Art

6.2.3.1. When it is opposed to science

6.2.4. Classic sees

6.2.4.1. Frivolous, eradic, irrational, untrustworthy, pleasure seeking, shallow, of no substance

6.2.4.2. Parasite who cannot or will not carry their own weight

6.2.4.2.1. A real drag on society

6.3. Analytical knife

6.3.1. Cutting through different perspectives

6.3.1.1. Classic verse romantic is an example of a perspective

6.3.2. Only certain things exist in certain perspectives

6.3.3. Like a handful of sand of what's around us represents the entire world to us

6.3.3.1. Then we start taking the knife to it

6.3.3.2. Categorizing, ordering, sorting

6.3.3.3. The pile during and after is classical view

6.3.3.4. The pile in the hand is the romantic view

6.3.4. By using this knife, something is always lost

6.3.4.1. Mark Twain, after mastering analytical knowledge to pilot Mississippi River, the beauty of the river was lost

6.3.5. But something is also always created

6.3.5.1. Death birth continuity process

6.4. Required to find a way to have both classic and romantic without judgement, and to start to see the landscape further beyond our handful

6.4.1. We can't avoid the fact there is the person in the landscape, sorting through sand

6.4.1.1. If we miss this then we don't see the landscape at all

7. Logic

7.1. Finding ways through the systems of underlying form

7.2. Inductive

7.2.1. Observations arriving at general conclusions

7.2.2. Reasoning from specific examples to General truths

7.3. Deductive

7.3.1. Start with general knowledge and predict a specific observation

7.4. Both use together to solve a complex problem is the scientific method

8. In the moment

8.1. Sides of the mountain that has life, not the top

8.1.1. But the top is what gives it sides, the top defines the sides

8.1.2. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restfulness and exhaustion

8.1.2.1. Then when no longer thinking ahead, each foot step is no longer a means to an end, but a unique event of itself

8.1.3. Here is where things grow

9. "Ghost"

9.1. is in our head, it's made up, it's not a thing until we thought of it as a thing

9.1.1. All knowledge comes from sensory inputs, therefore we have no real idea what reality is, what substance is, only what are perceptions give us

9.1.2. There could be nothing there at all

9.1.3. Apriori knowledge is knowledge we do not sense

9.1.3.1. Like time

9.1.3.2. It's an intuition

9.1.3.2.1. Use as a filter for sensory information

9.1.3.3. When we blink sensory data tells us the world has disappeared but are intuition tells us not to accept that sensory information

9.2. Science is also a ghost

9.2.1. theory of gravity example

9.2.1.1. it's wasn't a theory, didn't have rules or laws, until we thought of them. Otherwise it's just however life was, without a noun or a thing

9.2.1.2. we invented the rules and laws of physics, they weren't things before

9.2.2. theses are also ghosts, not real until we made them real. Real because we believe them to be real

9.3. Logic is by no more rational than a ghost. It's to the degree in which we are inclined to believe them that matters.

9.3.1. But it does release the idea of anything is potentially possible. It's all in our head anyways

10. Philosophical Outcast

10.1. Has deep thoughts, that others just won't comprehend on the surface

10.1.1. not a superiority, just knows he's dfiferent

10.1.2. knows it's a problem, but he wants to have these thoughts... so?

11. Church of Reason

11.1. Body of knowledge and logic

11.1.1. often professors are a major part of the real but if being shutdown, non creative, just a teaching school professor, then they are not part of the real University

11.2. second University is

11.2.1. buildings, books, professors

11.3. accreditation

11.3.1. Church of reason

11.3.1.1. mandate to speak rational truth

11.4. passion and x about something is not because it's confidently known

11.4.1. no one is screaming about how the son will come up tomorrow

11.4.2. It is doubted and thus fuels the relentless arguing and passion about it

11.5. Creativity and rhetoric hard in school because we value imitation, not creative thought

11.5.1. Seems like a problem caused by schools

11.5.1.1. we give fs for copying but As for imitating what we read

11.5.1.2. creativity may get an A may get an F, it's a risk

11.5.2. writing homework, paper, coming up blank

11.5.2.1. wite about brick of church building, back of thumb, coin. Things without a right answer

11.5.2.1.1. you get true, real and ALot of writing

11.5.3. What if we removed traditional grading approaches

11.5.3.1. Experimented for a quarter

11.5.3.1.1. creativity emerged and participation sky rocketed

11.5.3.1.2. troubling conclusion though

12. What is Quality

12.1. we think we know, but we can't describe it

12.2. we can describe it in specific instances, but generically, nothing

12.2.1. synonyms, but no definition

12.3. Quality of a paper can start to be described

12.3.1. But it's a perspective, not true quality

12.4. allow the student to identify their own definition of Quality, and use that as the basis for their own writing

12.4.1. people will know it, but it's not a perfect, rational science

12.5. absence of Quality

12.5.1. no paintings or art, because blank wall is equal to art

12.5.2. No sports, no arts, food would be tasteless

12.5.3. The only things unaffected by lack of quality would be pure science, mathematics, philosophy and LOGIC

12.5.3.1. Rationality would be the only one thing unchanged

12.6. substance vs method

12.6.1. it's neither individually, it's both

12.6.2. substance is end goal of method

12.6.2.1. not quality definition though, because then there is no method to how it got there, it's just an object, objective, which quality is not (proven earlier)

12.6.3. method is not quality, it's the means to reach the end goal, though not quality in itself

12.7. Phederus definition

12.7.1. Quality is a characteristic of thought and statement that is recognized by a non thinking process. Because definitions are a product of rigid, formal thinking, quality can not be defined.

12.8. Objective or subjective?

12.8.1. Or both or neither?

12.8.2. Choosing one of these is an attempt to define it, and we've already discussed how it's indefinable

12.8.3. Quality is an event

12.8.3.1. The point at which subject and object meet

12.8.3.1.1. In which the subject becomes aware of the object

12.8.3.2. The awareness of which both subjects and objects is made possible

12.8.3.3. Quality isn't an attribute of subject and object

12.8.3.4. Quality is what created the subject object event in the first place

12.8.4. It's in the past

12.8.4.1. Everything we perceive is the past, even the present

12.8.4.2. Reality is the moment before intellectualization takes place

12.8.4.2.1. Right between objective reality and the subjective perception of it

12.9. Classic vs Romantic

12.9.1. Romantic quality is the present

12.9.1.1. The here and now of things

12.9.2. Classical quality is to perceive the present as a passing moment between past and future

12.9.2.1. Takes into account the future

12.9.3. Not two types of quality, just two time aspects of quality, short and long

12.10. Why do people see quality differently?

12.10.1. Analogy

12.10.1.1. Like language subtleties

12.10.1.2. Certain language speakers can't hear difference between da and the

12.10.1.3. Their backgrounds, upbringing, teachings etc are different, they can't hear it (yet)

12.10.2. Not everyone has the exact same experience

12.10.2.1. If two people had identical apriori analogs they would see quality identical everything) every time

12.11. Quality is the response of an organism to its environment

12.11.1. It is in which how we interpret the world and thus understand it

12.11.2. Which is to say, it's how our world is made up, to ourselves

12.11.3. Thus to try to define a thing within our world in which that thing was used to create our world, is impossible

13. Gumption

13.1. relationship between person and quality

13.1.1. Which is definition of caring

13.2. Gumption Traps

13.2.1. Events / problems that drain gumption

13.2.1.1. reduce quality

13.2.2. Parts problems

13.2.3. out of sequence reassembly

13.2.4. Intermittent failure

13.2.5. Value traps

13.2.5.1. value rigidity

13.2.5.1.1. must rediscover what you do as you go

13.2.5.1.2. must be able to discover new facts and ways forward

13.2.5.1.3. solution

13.2.5.1.4. monkey coconut problem

13.2.6. truth traps

13.2.6.1. assumption some questions have just yes no answers

13.2.6.1.1. Often more complicated

13.2.6.1.2. mu answers, meaning unask the question

13.2.6.1.3. these are still important to answer, but broaden your question

13.2.7. muscle traps

13.2.7.1. mechanics feel

13.2.7.1.1. screw tightness example

13.2.8. ego trap

13.2.8.1. similar to value trap, but it's the perception that you are holding onto instead of values

13.2.8.2. solution

13.2.8.2.1. fake modesty, fake it till you make it

13.2.9. Anxiety trap

13.2.9.1. fix things that don't need to be fixed

13.2.9.2. make silly mistakes because you're over thinking it

13.2.9.3. solution

13.2.9.3.1. get all your anxieties on paper

13.2.9.3.2. read every book and paper you can on the subject

13.2.9.4. so sure you will do everything in wrong, you don't do anything at all

13.2.10. boredom trap

13.2.10.1. take a break

13.2.10.2. Turning boring tasks into a ritual

13.2.10.3. Meditation is boring. But we do it for value. Awareness.