I mention this every so often and had a good chat about someone with it the other day. It’s the main Philosophy in the book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig. If you haven’t read it I’d recommend giving it a go sometime it’s quite a classic.

Pirsig is a school teacher who goes mad in his attempt to rationalise the world. He calls this ‘the ghost of rationality’. He realises in his breakdown and ultimately breakthrough how quality is the guiding force for life. When we care about life and our surroundings it is that feeling of quality (enthusiasm) which guides who we are to who we are becoming and is not rational as humans and life is not rational. We are driven by emotion.

It’s this quality which is rooted in Buddhism and other religions as an essence and guiding force for life. I have heard people say how reading this book really altered their lives for the better. It’s fair to say a lot of the ideas have been repeated over the years as this book was written in 1974.

It’s a great one though to be able to feel into the sense of where your quality is and it is with this connection that guides who you are to who you are becoming, the heroes journey.