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Stuckness and Understanding
13 Aug 2016The second big idea (1) I got out of reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is how getting stuck is a common part of most work processes, and how to deal with it. The tidbits below are from my own notes, with some phrases lifted or paraphrased from Pirsig.
(1) First one here
Getting stuck is common. Getting stuck is trying to do too many things at once. To get unstuck, separate the things and do them one at a time. Separate thinking about what to say and saying things. Make a list of things to say in any order. If there are too many, pick the best things.
Hypotheses generation is the realm of quality. The difference between a good and a bad mathematician or mechanic is the ability to select the good facts from the bad ones on the basis of quality. The scientific method operates only after you have an hypothesis.
Stuckness isn't the worst of all possible situations: zen buddhists go to much throuble to induce it (through koans, meditation, etc). It's called "begginer's mind". This moment is not to be feared but cultivated. If your mind is truly stuck, you might be much better off than when it was loaded with ideas.
If you try to hold onto the stuckness, it is bound to disappear. Your mind will naturally and freely move toward a solution. The longer you stay stuck, the more you see quality and it gets you unstuck every time. What's getting you stuck is frantically trying to get unstuck by rummaging through your knowledge.
Stuckness is the psychic predecessor of all understanding. An egoless acceptance of it is key to understanding quality. Self-taught mechanics are often superior to instructed ones because they can handle new situations.
Harry Truman on adminstration programs:
We'll just try them - and if they don't work — why then we'll just try something else.
The skill of the inventor is to choose the convenient facts. There is an inconscient selection (subliminal self) where many possible but useless facts/conventions are rejected.
Look at things that ties up with the theory... then looks at things that are very different, to gain insight. Maybe they are the same, maybe not. Select facts with harmony and mathematical beauty in mind.
