Maintenance
I've been subjecting my friends and relatives recently to the gospel of maintenance. Here is some supplementary material from my sermons:
"Peace of mind isn't at all superficial, really... It's the whole thing. That which produces it is good maintenance; that which disturbs it is poor maintenance. What we call workability of the machine is just an objectification of this peace of mind. The ultimate test is always your own serenity. If you don't have this when you start and maintain it while you're working you're likely to build your personal problems right into the machine itself."
"If the machine produces tranquility it's right. If it disturbs you it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed. The test of the machine is always your own mind. There isn't any other test."
-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
You don't have to frame these in terms of machines - Pirsig is really talking about technology; the stuff that surrounds us as augmentation of our lives. The metaphor of the mechanical is useful and carries well with his theme of motorcycle maintenance but his intent is to shed light on much more than what we cognizantly deal with as technology. To pay a bill, for example, one has to interact with a machine, a system and successfully wield it to their advantage. When one drives a car there is yet another interaction that can be percieved along the lines of conversation between humanity and 'technology'.
When I drive my beastly Ford Taurus, my peace of mind is not good. The operative question, however, is not whether or not it is a piece of junk but whether I've maintained it. I haven't. The reason we don't maintain is because we are forward looking, with some goal of a better interaction. It's an easy way to forgo thoughts of maintenance and precisely why objects like a 97 Taurus cause so much disharmony. Pirsig believes we should do a mental shift: focus on the journey and not the destination.
Maintenance.
7:36:31 PM 
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