Part 1 Term Paper

Pirsig, in the early years of his life, described as Phaedrus, reaches insanity due to the fact that he is unable to comprehend that the word quality cannot be defined and comprehended in a rational manner. Its significance and meaning is never ending and Phaedrus would not accept that. The more he tried to answer the question "What is quality?" the more questions he came up with because he kept searching for a logical answer. Eventually, the stress on his mind became too much to handle and he was admitted into a mental institution. Being unable to answer this question, Phaedrus became immensely depressed and underwent electroshock therapy. After he was cured, Pirsig now telling the story as himself is repeating the same type of behavior. He tries to finish what he started but was not succeeding. Before reaching a critical state and being declared insane once again, his son Chris, helps him realize with rational thinking, the question has no answer. 

A "rational" mind is one that only participates in actions that are beneficial to it and yet, humans themselves seem to lack this trait. A zebra will not stand by a body of water intentionally if they knew that a hungry alligator was patiently waiting for them. They go by the water in order to drink it because they need to stay alive, but humans on the other hand consciously put a cigarette into their mouths and with the outmost intention inhale tobacco smoke and tar into their lungs. Even with more than enough concrete evidence on how smoking can cause lung cancer and deteriorate one of the most important organs needed to live, people continue to put their life on the line, risking their health. It's true that the nicotine in cigarettes is addicting and some people may argue that they have tried to stop, but a person domes not become addicted to something they have not done. In other words, why pick up that first cigarette knowing the harm it can cause? 

One of the reasons is because we can. People want to believe that they have a choice, they want to feel a sense of freedom. We have no control over outside forces and therefore compensate by having a say in what we do, in what affects us directly, even if it is threatening to our own health. Humans in general want to be able to say that they made a choice; that they decided to smoke whether they regret it later on or not because at that time they felt like they were in control. These decisions are made because people are afraid of losing the power they think they have over their own lives. While there is a psychological explanation for this, there is also an emotional one focusing on the senses. The rush obtained from tempting death, for a lack of a better expression, makes people feel alive. Smoking a cigarette can be compared to sky diving or speed racing; the adrenaline released from performing such actions although dangerous and possibly life threatening creates a type of high that temporarily clears the mind. For that amount of time, the worries of real life seem to disappear. If we behave irrationally, then how can we understand the life we live by thinking about it rationally?