Subject: commonplace

From: "J.S." Dorward <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 94 9:57:05 BST

Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance
                   By Robert M. Pirsig

Note :- words in capitals are in italics in the book.

"The romantic mode is primarily inspirational, imaginative,
creative, intuitive. Feelings rather than facts predominate.
`Art' when it is opposed to `Science' is often romantic. It does
not proceed by reason or by esthetic conscience. In the northern
European cultures the romantic mode is usually associated with
femininity, but this is certainly not a necessary association.
     The classic mode, by contrast, proceeds by reason and by
laws - which are themselves underlying forms of thought and
behaviour. In the European cultures it is primarily a
masculine mode and the fields of science, law and medicine are
unattractive to women largely for this reason. Although
motorcycle riding is romantic, motorcycle maintenance is
purely classic. The dirt, the grease, the mastery of
underlying form required all give it such a negative romantic
appeal that women never go near it."

>From p76, transcribed by [email-masked].