Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

My husband, son and one grandson ride motorcycles.  I do not.  I’m scared to death of the things.  But I did read Robert M. Persig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” which everyone knows is about so much more than motorcycle maintenance.  In fact, it is subtitled “An Inquiry into Values.”  The detail which has stuck with me most, however, is when Persig is discussing fixing a problem with the motorcycle which he has been unable to solve through objective thought.  After much philosophical discussion, he advises that to reach the solution, sometimes you just have to stare at the motorcycle, a metaphysical solution.  My discussion here is not an exact quote, because in the details of his book, I was unable the find it for the purpose of this article.  But the idea of staring at the motorcycle or a metaphysical, Zen-like approach as a means of discovering a solution to a seemingly unsurmountable problem has always stuck with me.

Last year I encountered what I considered an insurmountable problem.  I am an avid crocheter.  I have been crocheting for over 40 years. Recently I have turned from making afghans (I have mounds of them and have given them to just about everyone) to making scarves and ponchos.  Last spring I ordered a pattern and the yarn for a colorful spring poncho that I was excited to make.  I could just see myself in it at the beach on a cool, windy evening.  (I often have these fantasies.)  When I tackled the pattern, however, I was lost.  I might add that I am a left-handed crocheter and all patterns are written from a right-handed perspective.  This complicated things even further.  Crochet instructions are usually written in precise detail as to what to do when.  These seemed to be a little more imprecise.  Finally, after completing the first part of the garment, I gave up, and put the project away. 

But when spring came again this year, I thought again of the poncho.  And I thought of Robert Persig.  So I took out the partially completed garment, yarn and pattern and stared at my metaphorical motorcycle.  I read and re-read the pattern, made adjustments as I went, and finally completed the garment.  I am now working on the second poncho in this pattern, finding that I had enough left-over yarn to complete this second one.

I guess the moral of this piece is that even though a problem may seem unsolvable, if we take another look at it from a fresh perspective, if we stare at the motorcycle so to speak, we can usually find a solution.  My husband, the motorcyclist, is especially good at this.  Perhaps such an approach would be helpful to world leaders in solving the problems of hunger, poverty, war, and humanity’s inhumanity.