Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Conviction (Pirsig Quote)

You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it is going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.

Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Pirsig is only partially correct.

Suppose you are wrongly accuses of a crime. Suppose that the court system is fully reliable in that good arguments are fully recognized. You will be fully dedicated to proving your innocence even though you have no doubts of either yourself or the court system.

If you were magically transported to the pre newton world you will fanatically claim allegiance to the laws of classical mechanics even though the laws are not in doubt (I ignore relativity) Your fanaticism will come from a different source: wanting to convince others about the validity of your claims. This has nothing to do with how sure you are about the validity of your claims.

Arvind