Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Romantic or classical ?

Robert M. Pirsig divides human understanding into two categories, Romantic and classical mode. According to the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance “the romantic mode is primarily inspirational, imaginative, creative, and intuitive. Feelings rather than facts predominate. Art when it is opposed to science.” On the other hand classic mode “proceeds by reason and by laws which are themselves underlying forms of thoughts and behavior.”
What category I fall under? Well that’s a tricky question. When it comes to work I tend to lean towards reason rather then my own feelings. Although I may want to socialize after school I choose to do my homework or go to work instead. I know if I don’t do my homework my grades will decline and if I take off work that means less money in my bank account. I choose facts over feelings. But some part of me thinks I fall under the romantic category too. The description of Romantic mode is “inspirational”, “imaginative”, “creative”, and “insightful” and these are all descriptions of me as a person as well. I like to be inspired and I like to inspire others, I like being imaginative and original, and I am a very understanding person; I like viewing other people’s perspectives rather just my own. When it comes to classes and occupations I prefer working with my emotional side then working with data. In math or science class everyone comes has to come up with the same conclusion but in English class everyone’s statement is different yet not technically wrong at the same time. And when it comes to writing I have a preference as well. I prefer writing short stories and poems instead of research papers. I guess I fall under both categories but a majority of me falls under romantic mode.
Robert M. Pirsige stated Romantic mode and classical mode are both “valid ways of looking at the world although irreconcilable with each other.” I agree that these are both irreconcilable ways but disagree that either way is valid. I don’t think it’s valid to live your life based on only emotion nor do I believe you can live a life base on pure facts. You are either missing out on happiness or loosing site of responsibilities. In psychology I learned that you can’t live life fixed in one perspective; you have to have a balance.

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