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In Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Phaedrus personifies Anti-Climacian despair to its fullest extent. His consciousness of this despair climaxes in a total mental breakdown, of which his defiance to the very simplicities of human decency becomes his reality. ...
First of all, one must understand Anti-Climacian despair before one can see how it relates to Phaedrus.
In despair the self wants to enjoy the total satisfaction of making itself into itself, of developing itself, of being itself; it wants to have the honor of this poetic, masterly construction, the way it has understood itself. ... (Hong 69-70)
Anti-Climacus separates despair into three levels, with the latter two being the most intense: unconscious despair, conscious despair in willing to not be oneself, and conscious despair in willing to be oneself (13). Phaedrus is plagued by the most intense form: conscious despair in willing to be oneself, or in other words, defiance. ... To Phaedrus, this power is Quality, or Zen, or the Tao. ...
Subsequently, shifting from focus upon Phaedrus’ despair to the Tao, which Phaedrus is rebelling against, one can begin to understand the dialectic of faith and despair as described by Anti-Climacus. Zen, as included in the title of the novel, is a fusion of Taoist and Buddhist belief. Alan Wilson Watts describes the Zen ideal as an attitude called “no-mind” (Chinese wu-hsin), a state of consciousness where thoughts move without obstruction. Unlike other forms of Buddhism, Zen holds that such freedom of mind cannot be attained by gradual practice but must come through direct and immediate insight (Chinese tun-wu) (Encarta).
Approximate Word count = 1251
Approximate Pages = 5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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