From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Dec 08 2004 - 12:23:15 GMT
Hi Chin,
We may be at odds about the existence of absolutes, but I absolutely agree
with your take on art. Many times I've written to the forum about the
importance of the subject. So it's great to have a fellow member believing
as I do that one must pursue beauty in all endeavor. As for beauty's
relationship to the MOQ, the French novelist Flaubert wrote, "That which
is beautiful is moral, that is all, nothing more."
Platt
> Hi Ham,
>
> I have an old '81 Harley and a '78 truck. The work the mechanics do on them
> cannot be described as an art form. If I allowed these so-called mechanics
> to maintain my old junkers, that is all they would be is; 'Junkers.' I
> doubt they would last another year.
>
> Quality motorcycle maintenance is indeed a form of art. This seems to be a
> dying art form. A blind man could do a better job than most of the
> mechanics I have met that do not recognize the character in my old bike
> and truck. It is just another piece of cold metal under their hands.
>
> This quality, art, is what is missing in the world IMHO. A well done
> mathematical discovery, masterful scientific discovery, even my mundane job
> performance is a form of art. Meditation and prayer is as well.
>
> When you see this art in motorcycle mechanics, you know it, and as Pirsig
> suggested, it 'Does' make you feel good just viewing it. When the mechanic
> can tear a motorcycle apart, and not scratch any of the precious
> components, set the torque on the bolts and nuts at just that perfect
> tightness, and tune it down where every note is distinctive and sounds
> like a symphony, this is art.
>
> When you pay this much attention to Quality, you change yourself. You may
> not be able to change the world, but you can at least change that one
> moment in time when someone sees the Quality of what you do, whether it is
> work on a bike, or dealing with a clerk in a store who was in a bad mood
> before you walked in, but in a better mood when you walked out. Each time
> a Quality event happens in the world, it goes one step further in
> improving the world around you.
>
> When you have your attention on Quality, this is art; no matter what it is
> you are doing. Even raking leaves or cutting grass can be brought up to a
> high Quality art form. "Anything worth doing is worth doing well."
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