The Motorcycle as a Metaphor for Life - Barry Ronge

SHOOT: Excellent analogy - very true. 'If you know how it - “life” - works, and are ready to do some work when it breaks down, it will take you to extraordinary places.'

Question is do we even admit that it has broken down (let alone are we prepared to do some work to fix it). Hence we are going nowhere fast. In fact, we're going backwards.

clipped from www.thetimes.co.za The concept is that the motorcycle is “life”. If you know how it works, and are ready to do some work when it breaks down, it will take you to extraordinary places. But if you don’t really know how the motorcycle works; have paid no attention to its maintenance; and have set off without a road map, you will end up in the middle of nowhere, and instead of the bike carrying you swiftly and safely to a destination, you will have to push it along the road in the most cumbersome way, or you might actually have to abandon it. The book sold over four million copies in 27 languages, but that did not define its success. Pirsig’s description of a man and his son on a bike, examining his commitment to maintain and respect the child, the bike and, of course, himself, was so primal and so effortlessly accessible that it had the force of a souped-up moral parable — or maybe just a great T-shirt slogan.