Thursday, January 26, 2012

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance



I’ve fallen behind. Yes I will write about Stephen Harpers new announcement to destroy Canadian pensions based on a lie because that is a National Emergency. Before that however, I want to pause for a moment and go retro.

When I was a kid I used to have a book called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I liked it because I rode a motorcycle at the time and I was introduced to zen through my study of the martial arts. Back in the day, the martial arts was a way of life with a profound philosophy. It wasn’t about taking steroids and just ground and pound. That’s for people who never understood what the Gracie’s showed us in Brazilian Ju Jitsu.

Back in the day, riding a motorcycle was about living the dream. It was about freedom. Mobility rights – the freedom to move. The freedom to go where you want when you want. Yet it was more than that. It was about the American Dream. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not the new dream which simply covets greed.

Likewise the MC dream has become tainted. Selling crack and crystal meth has nothing to do with living the dream. Neither does pimping crack hoes or selling date rape drug. Living the dream isn’t about old men on Viagra spending all their time at the strip bar. Somewhere along the line most of those idiots forgot to grow up. Why are “good family men” so obsessed with spending all their time at the strip bar?

Sexual intimacy is a normal part of a healthy marriage. I am most certainly not saying that wives are supposed to be sexual slaves. I’m just saying that if the intimacy has been lost in your marriage, perhaps she’s just not into you any more. Perhaps she has good reason. Perhaps those old men just need to grow up or as we said back in the day, go back to living the real dream and remembering that enlightenment we all once knew when we were young.

I just bought an new copy of the book reprinted in 1999 on the 15th anniversary of the original printing. It came out in 1974 That makes the book 38 years old. Where on earth did the time go? The Book is titled Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance An Inquiry into Values. You don’t need a religion to have values.

Right before the introduction there is a quote that reads: “And what is good, Phaedrus, And what is not good – Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?” That pretty much sums it up. We don’t need a paid preacher or a corrupt politician to tell us what is good and what is evil. We can see and know that for ourselves. What we need is simply to open our eyes. Once we see the big picture, our lives will never be the same.

So while we talk about the gang war, while we talk about corruption in politics that enables the gang war, I’m going to run a several pary series on the side about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance because ultimately, that’s what I’m talking about.

2 comments:

  1. Didn't know where to post this, but...

    You've got Valerie Capone @ the top of a site-list, for a big blog like this that's a compliment. Maybe you should drop Ms. Capone a line, and tell her it's too late for her blog already; she's done one post in over a month; on a Blog called, "Gangsters Daily." What was the "daily" part supposed to mean? That's a pathetic output, that shows no desire on her part to actually do the hard work.

    Anyone who once looked in there, is now long gone, the truth of the fast-changing internet.

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  2. Whenever I post a link on the blog the last one goes to the top until I figure out how to reshuffle them. I've linked to a few others as well from my web site that have unfortunately stopped posting. I guess my point is I encourage others to safely step up to the plate and join in. As Bobby Sands once said everyone has something to contribute to the movement.

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