“In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through the car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.” Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values.
I am a Harley riding, beer brewing, acupuncturist, who understands how the state of constant pain makes a person a passive observer of life. Pain can take away the sense of being present in the activities of life. Life becomes a remembered routine and the joy of being part of the lives of those you love fades. Too often people seek relief in prescription medications that dull the senses and deaden the passion for living. There are alternatives and acupuncture is one of the alternatives. When the “frame work” of pain is gone, you are free to experience the sense of presence. (And, you don’t need to a Harley for that.)
The Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was published in 1974 and sold five million copies. It has the distinction of having been rejected by more publishers that any other best seller. It was rejected by 121 publishers.
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