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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't even know where to start with this one. This isn't a book you read twice, this is a book you read again and again and again on our journeys. One of the most impactful lessons is about attitude: the way you approach a situation, your setting of mind. This attitude allows you to pick up on particularities that you otherwise wouldn't have a chance at noticing. But it is about more than just attitude and mindset. It's about what it means to live a life with purpose, aimed at values, and guided by quality: asking ourselves what is best?, what is good? not always what is logical? This Quality, this feeling of what is best we can feel, it is something we develop within us, we just have to learn to listen, to observe it. The modern world with the whole gamut of distractions has occluded our ability to observe unadulterated experience, what is best and what is good is overshadowed by what is demanded and required of us.
Some lessons I learned while reading:
-Pay attention to experiences for their own sake not for the sake of an end. Paying attention to things for the sole sake of ends limits what we can get from experiences, strips us of the beauty of living.
-Intellectualization has led us to an empire but not without casualties, passion, perspectives of Quality, humanness, kindness, might have gotten lost if not killed
-There are attitudes we come into experiences with that shape what we see. Romantic and classic reasoning are two examples of possible attitudes
-Equanimity is not an object found at the summit of a mountain, it is the spirit of the journey you bring with you to the top, at the bottom, and throughout the journey
This book for me marks a critical change in the way I'm choosing to show up in my life. I'm open to experiencing moments as they are, without judgements. I'm opening myself up to think about what is best and what is good. I'm thinking about my behavior and how it aligns and misaligns with my values. I'm thinking about what my values are and how they need to be adjusted. I'm thinking about my everyday actions and where they are taking me. And l think a lot about the present moment, about the right here. Right now. And learn to experience things as they occur in the present moment realizing that the past cannot remember the past, the future cannot think about the future, only the present, the here, is real, is the sum total of my being as expressed to me right now.
I greatly enjoyed this book and will come back to it as I travel. When you're on the way the way appears.
Edward Pashkov
Wednesday, July 10th, 2024 | 1:26pm PST
Bonny Doon, CA.
Some lessons I learned while reading:
-Pay attention to experiences for their own sake not for the sake of an end. Paying attention to things for the sole sake of ends limits what we can get from experiences, strips us of the beauty of living.
-Intellectualization has led us to an empire but not without casualties, passion, perspectives of Quality, humanness, kindness, might have gotten lost if not killed
-There are attitudes we come into experiences with that shape what we see. Romantic and classic reasoning are two examples of possible attitudes
-Equanimity is not an object found at the summit of a mountain, it is the spirit of the journey you bring with you to the top, at the bottom, and throughout the journey
This book for me marks a critical change in the way I'm choosing to show up in my life. I'm open to experiencing moments as they are, without judgements. I'm opening myself up to think about what is best and what is good. I'm thinking about my behavior and how it aligns and misaligns with my values. I'm thinking about what my values are and how they need to be adjusted. I'm thinking about my everyday actions and where they are taking me. And l think a lot about the present moment, about the right here. Right now. And learn to experience things as they occur in the present moment realizing that the past cannot remember the past, the future cannot think about the future, only the present, the here, is real, is the sum total of my being as expressed to me right now.
I greatly enjoyed this book and will come back to it as I travel. When you're on the way the way appears.
Edward Pashkov
Wednesday, July 10th, 2024 | 1:26pm PST
Bonny Doon, CA.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Dead boring. I don’t care about anything or anyone involved in this story. Not a whit of the profound enlightenment I commonly see associated with this book. The dry audiobook reader didn’t help. He was thoroughly uninterested in the story himself.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pirsig explains that the point is peace of mind, not a fixed machine. Peace of mind will in fact help you fix the machine, but trying to fix the machine won't necessarily bring you peace of mind.
He insists on stopping and staring at the problem instead of restlessly trying to fix it. Being stuck and accepting that stuckness opens you to new ways of fixing something.
As Pirsig demonstrates in the case of mental health, the machine is not a motorcycle but the mind. If you're unhappy and you feel stuck sit with it, with yourself. Soon enough, new perspectives will reveal themselves. But it's that moment of peaceful stillness that allows you to get unstuck, just like getting out of quicksand. Attempting to fix a problem without first sitting with it will only blind you to the solutions that are right there in front of you.
Being stuck is not a challenge, it's an opportunity!
He insists on stopping and staring at the problem instead of restlessly trying to fix it. Being stuck and accepting that stuckness opens you to new ways of fixing something.
As Pirsig demonstrates in the case of mental health, the machine is not a motorcycle but the mind. If you're unhappy and you feel stuck sit with it, with yourself. Soon enough, new perspectives will reveal themselves. But it's that moment of peaceful stillness that allows you to get unstuck, just like getting out of quicksand. Attempting to fix a problem without first sitting with it will only blind you to the solutions that are right there in front of you.
Being stuck is not a challenge, it's an opportunity!
It should be known that while I did give this book 4 stars for expanding my perspective of philosophical thought, I also hated reading it.