Decades ago I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirsig).
I was young but my mind wasn’t completely goo. I certainly wasn’t as clueless as many young woke dipshits of today. But I was definitely inexperienced. I have proof. At the time, I was tiptoeing into a career that would be a lifelong DEI minefield. I thought “I’m sure that’ll blow over“. I don’t think a man could have been more wrong than I was. I’d like to go back in time, say “bless your heart”, and smack my young self with a tire iron.
As for the book, I remember not “getting it”.
I had two theories. Theory 1: The book is deep and I’m too dumb to comprehend its lofty concepts. Theory 2: The book is bullshit and I’m too dumb to suss out that it’s crap.
I planned to “learn some shit and get smarter… then read it again.” I never did. But recently I thought about the book. Why? Because I was doing actual motorcycle maintenance, despite the certain knowledge I’m not a good mechanic. What would become of me?
It’s not the ideas, it’s the lack of hands on experience. I can usually conceptualize what needs to be done (not always). But it’s easy for the inexperienced to screw up implementation of even the simplest ideas. Experience matters. I know that of myself. That’s why I prefer to tinker with things that are cheap and/or won’t get me killed. Motorcycles? They’re my version of “the big leagues”. They can expensively beat you to death.
On the other hand, it’s incumbent on us all to avoid life too deeply bound to theory. It’s better to cautiously risk a blown real world implementation if one can “learn from it”. After all, a monkey can understand what a lug nut does, but a professor will cross thread, whip out the impact wrench, and nuke the wheel stud. (Some dudes at tire shops do the same.)
In my defense, I can at least change a car tire. This includes absurdly heavy duals on my 1 ton truck. It’s not something I was born with. Nor did anyone teach me. The good Lord saw fit to train me up with many flats. Um… thanks?
So this would be a step away from the purgatory of overconfident theorist. Every politician, CEO, commie economist, woke protester, or influencer has all sorts of theoretical knowledge but nothing practical. They’re a menace. Have you witnessed them driving the world into the ground? They try to force reality to match their theories. There should be a word for that; how about “Krugmaning”?
When the rubber meets the road you have to be right.
I began the week looking at my bike; pondering the vast gulf between “I get this in theory” and “I fixed the thing in real life”. I’m in good company. Socrates pondered the difference between knowledge and false certainty.
“I seem, then, in just this little thing to be wiser than this man at any rate, that what I do not know I do not think I know either.”
Noted fictional philosopher Dirty Harry, demonstrated a similar thought. “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
Knowing that I know nothing, I picked up a huge service manual and a wrench. I was about to learn things…
More to come.