I recently started reading Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is one of the most influential books of the 20th century, according to Indigo. This is obviously a tactic to get us to purchase old books - ha! My library card and I showed them.
So far, it's the tale of the writer and his son taking a cross-country motorcycle trip and his observations and wisdom throughout the ride. I'm only as far as the fifth chapter, but this nugget really stood out to me:
"'What's new?' is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow. I would like, instead, to be concerned with the question "What is best?", a question which cuts deeply rather than broadly, a question whose answers tend to move the silt downstream."
I really love this. As normal, functioning adults in society, we likely ask the "What's new?" question several times a week as a foray into idle chit chat or to catch up. But I love the idea of cutting through that all to get to the gist by asking "What's best?"
Isn't that a better way to make people think about what really is good that is going on in their lives and to evaluate? For me, right now on a Monday morning, this is what's best:
- My lunch - a bacon and spincach quiche I made from scratch
- Not running out of gas or suffering any car failure on the trip to and from Ottawa this past weekend
- Several friend dates scheduled for this week with dear people I haven't seen in a while
- The adrenaline high I get from dodgeball, even if we lose
What's best with you?
No comments:
Post a Comment