Part II

This section caught my eye, and I didn’t really get it on the first read, but after re-reading I really like it: “Precision instruments are designed to achieve an idea, dimensional precision, whose perfection is impossible.” And in fact I like the whole paragraph, because you really cant understand the meaning with out the context and specifically the final two sentences, “He thinks I’m working on parts. I’m working on concepts.”(100) I can’t really tell you why I like this so much, but I do. It makes me think of life as just a bunch of parts that make up the whole. Without a certain part the bike doesn’t run correctly, and in essence life doesn’t run as smoothly either.

The other part that stands out is Pirsig’s point that “perfection is impossible.” You can try all you want but sometimes, most of the time, we don’t achieve perfection. I think it is wise to remember this going in, however it does not mean that one should not shoot for perfection.

When Pirsig’s talks about “high country” (127) I had to go back just to make sure he wasn’t still talking about Montana. The high country that he is talking about reminds me of when I lived in the wilderness for three months. There is a sense of thinness in the air and stretching in the mind that occurs from deep within our thoughts. I feel like in the late 60’s early 70’s people did not live by their technology as they do now, so it would have been easier, especially in the middle of no-where Montana to find Pirsig’s “high country.” I kind of find it contradictory that Pirsig has shut down Chris’s questions but then talks about finding high country and says, “and to the enormous magnitude of questions asked, and to the answers proposed to these questions.” I get the sense that high country is achieved by asking questions to learn about the world around you, however Pirsig does a really poor job at encouraging the same from his son. I feel like with Pirsig’s background and education he would have been open to Chris wanting to learn, how else are you supposed to learn if you don’t ask questions? I’m also picking up a bit of a sophist aspect to high country. 

-       I Googled Pirsig and found out that his father served as the law school dean at U. of Minnesota. He attended U. of Minnesota for biochemistry and later, 1958, became a creative writing professor at MSU

            The paragraph beginning with, “Academic standards were demolished,” (147) really surprised me. I had never known that that had even happened, or thought that it could happen. I understand that MSU and U of M are not private schools, however I didn’t think that educational institutes could be bullied like this. In one respect I really like the idea of everyone being admitted to college, however not having a high school diploma and getting in seems a little unreasonable. I’m a little lost for the time, but I don’t think we have moved very far from the beginning of the motorcycle trip. So, I guess I’m wondering if this was a national movement or something that was just going on in Montana because I have never heard of this.

We keep reverting to this idea that the minimum is good enough, that people will be astounded if you simply just do your job. I hate saying and I hate having it confirmed as I start to get into the work world. This quote, in part, sums up what I am beginning to learn, “most people would have forgotten about Quality at this point, or just left it hanging suspended because they were getting nowhere and had other things to do.” (183) You rarely seem people up effort in or take pride in their work, that’s why Quality is so often lost.