Here is a Web version of the Text & Photos of Henry Gurr's Talk Given To The First Ever Meta-Physics of Quality (MOQ) Conference. University Of Liverpool, Liverpool, England, UK, Thursday 7 July 2005.

This WebPage below, is a "self-tour" Web Browser Version, adapted from my original presentation given at the2005 Meta-Physics of Quality (MOQ) Conference. In this somewhat improved version, you will have to read and do mouse clicks for yourself. (At the conference, the audience leaned back and relaxed while Ian Glendinning read aloud the words and Paul Turner clicked the computer mouse.)

Talk Introduction & Summary:
…In the Summer of 2002, I followed the route of travel described in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZMM) by Robert Pirsig (1975). I did my best to research and photograph all the places ZMM Narrator reports seeing as he traveled from Minneapolis to San Francisco. My rather modest effort just to photograph the "Sights and Scenes" of ZMM gradually morphed into a "field check-up" of the factual accuracy of the ZMM Narrative.

In actual fact, the closer I looked for the physical evidence, the more and more the "ZMM Travel Narrative" stood to factual test! Mr. Pirsig's book, detail after detail, to use his own words, held to Good old reality. I was amazed!! It is a great tribute to Mr. Pirsig as an author that this much detail is weaved into the ZMM Travel Narrative!

I did not expect to find this! Nor did many ZMM critics! They and I doubted the "total reality" of the ZMM scenery and places. Moreover, my own initial doubt resulted in my failure to find many ZMM locations. If I had taken Pirsig's words as literal fact from the "get-go," I would have found many ZMM locations much, much, faster!!

Talk Overview:
…In this MOQ talk I => 1) say "Hello" to the MOQ Conference audience, 2) Give an introduction to myself & my interests & projects, and then 3) Show some of the more outstanding examples of Mr. Pirsig's factual precision. As you will see, this "self-tour" WebPage. thus will be a good introduction to the remainder of my 832 ZMM Route Photos, accessible in the Main Menu at left.

Henry Gurr,
Professor of Physics at University of South Carolina,
Aiken, South Carolina, USA. July 20, 2012.

Hello & Letter Of Greeting to the MOQ Audience << With An Explanation Of The Origin Of The Term "Pirsig Pilgrim."

Greetings to MOQ Enthusiasts!!

And Congratulations to Dr. Anthony McWatt on receipt of his well earned PhD!!
I am disappointed not to be with you-all today, but thanks to Ian Glendinnings' reading of my words, I can be with you in spirit.

I would address you as "Pirsig Pilgrims," but that is an "advanced degree" that has to be earned in a special school. Let me explain. Mr. Pirsig, in a June 2001 letter, discussing how he no longer desired to travel the West & the ZMM Route, added the following comment: "I have heard from Bozeman that there has been a steady trickle of what they call Pirsig Pilgrims who come through every summer following that route."

The term "Pirsig Pilgrim" raised my interest. Google always found things I needed to know, but this time no leads on the term "Pirsig Pilgrim." So, when I got to Bozeman on my research trip, I started asking if people had heard of it. The four Montana State University English Professors I interviewed knew much history re Mr. Pirsig, but were completely unaware of the term "Pirsig Pilgrims." In fact, they had no awareness of hardly any visitors to their campus, inquiring about Mr. Pirsig or his book.

Of course, while I was in Bozeman, I also interviewed Gennie DeWeese. Very early in the interview, she said that I reminded her of those one or two persons per year, who call her up, and ask to come see her: I asked her if she had invented the term "Pirsig Pilgrim." I had to practically pry it out of her. Finally, she modestly and very quietly and a wisp of a smile, admitted, "Yes ..... I'm the one."

ZMM Travelers who get to Bozeman, of course, want to see Mrs. DeWeese’s famous home and share discussions of Pirsig & ZMM. Her phone number is in the Bozeman phone directory and she clearly enjoys sharing her home and what she knows .... even with complete strangers!!! Mrs. DeWeese has apparently done this for many years! Mrs. DeWeese is now quite elderly, and typically one of her two grown daughters will participate in the fun of the discussions. She says that without exception they (these "Zen visitors") are a good bunch of people! So, "y‘all" pat yourself on the back, you are among good company!!

Thus, it is ... the Advanced Degree "Pirsig Pilgrim" ... comes from Mrs. DeWeese herself: Now, your next educational challenge is to travel the entire ZMM Route yourself=/. That's when (and only when), you earn the right to call yourself a "Pirsig Pilgrim"!

Now Let’s Look At How ZMM Incorporates "The Factual" Into Its Travel Descriptions.

Instructions for Web Self-Tour:

For each of the following items A), B), C), D), & E) => Read the words and then click the associated link. After you have studied the photo and caption =>

NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT GET DETOURED: Please always come back to this page so you will finish the tour.

A) Who Is Henry Gurr?

Click on link to view his picture. After this comes up, click at right of photo to see Dr. Gurr's home webpage where you can read his bio. (Close browser when ready to return to this page.)
https://www.usca.edu/mathematical-sciences/faculty-sites/henry-gurr

B) The Aeolian Harp Is One of Henry Gurr's Pet Projects.

The Aeolian Harp was inspired by British author, poet, philosopher, and linguist Owen Barfield, who wrote an article called The Harp and the Camera. You may click on either of the photos that come up when you click on the link. (Close browser when ready to return to this page.)
http://www.usca.edu/math/~mathdept/hsg/aeolian.html

(A note concerning previous Aeolian Harp Photos: Mr. Barfield's article The Harp and the Camera inspired the creation on my campus of a Camera Obscura in addition to the Aeolian Harp you just saw. As Mr Barfield points out, the Aeolian Harp and the Camera Obscura were major stages of historical/literary development of our modern consciousness. Mr. Barfield's books will considerably extend MOQ'ers understanding of ZMM and Lila. I highly recommend them. Dr. McWatt and Ian Glendinning can vouch for the MOQ usefulness of Barfield's books.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Barfield
https://www.owenbarfield.org/

How Mr. Pirsig Incorporates "The Factual" Into the ZMM Travel Descriptions:

Practically every ZMM page has an example, but I will narrow it down to three examples:
C) Arrival at a town. D) Events at a Hotel and E) Experiences in the High Country. I will use the photos from my website to illustrate these examples. (I must narrow it down just like Phaedrus told his writing student to vastly simplify: "Narrow it down to the front of one building on the Main Street of Bozeman. The Opera House. Start with the upper left-hand brick." )

C) The Town Of Three Forks, Montana Actually Exists, Just Where the Narrator Says It Is! We Also Note Pirsig's Metaphorical Use of This Town's Name.

The most obvious example of accuracy is that the series of towns mentioned in ZMM are all there, as is the case for Three Forks! And often the name of the town is used to metaphorically support the current lecture Chautauqua. Here I have also chosen to show you the town of Three Forks, because it is a rather nice "Metaphoric-Bridge-Connection" between the Narrator's Chautauqua (lecture) and the Travel Description. This is Mr. Pirsig's stock-in-trade in both ZMM and Lila. (In many of my photo explanations, I mention these connections.)

At first, I was slow to catch on to these ”Metaphoric Bridge-Connections." It took me about 4 readings of ZMM, before I finally said "Hey, what is Pirsig doing here?" I started to watch for these "Connections" and was amazed to note, that at every abrupt switch between Chautauqua and the Travel Description, the "Metaphoric-Bridge-Connections" were always there!
… To see this (in this example), please read the whole caption carefully, especially the ZMM passage shown in italic font. (Close browser when you are finished with this photo.)
http://venturearete.org/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery/album08/109_0921c

D) The Narrator Tells Us Very Accurately About Their Hotel In The Town Of Laurel, Montana. (Six Photos.)

… Study the photo and the captions for this and the next 5 photos. (As you read each caption please especially note how the ZMM passage in italic, fits the photo above!)
… Just as the Narrator tells us you will see the communal wash room at the back end of a long hallway, with creaky wood floor, window by the wash room, and second level porch. (Close browser when you are finished with all six photos.)
http://venturearete.org/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery/album07/res57319

E) ZMM Narrator's Factual Experiences in the Montana Mountainous High Country are the My Final Examples. (Six Photos.)

As you read the ZMM passages in italics that go with these photos, study how the Narrator gives us a full, realistic, and enthusiastic description of what he calls the "High Country." You should especially note how these descriptions closely track the scenery as follows:

Stunted trees; details of a roadside rest area and look out point, then no trees, just grass; then grass and flowers and lichens; they go into the first snow field, then between banks of snow, back to grass, flowers, mud, melt-water. Then a second heavy snowfield, and finally the highest twin walled tunnel of snow.

As described, the ZMM Traveler is here at the factual "summit", where they encounter a second rest area and then they are on their way back down to lower elevations. (You may go 18 photos to photo labeled Summer2006 0092 at bottom left. Or alternatively close browser tab when you are finished with 9 photos.)
http://venturearete.org/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery/album07/106_0624_IMG

Additional Notes to Help Appreciate the Degree of Accuracy of Author Pirsig.

On photos you have just finished viewing => You should have seem on several of these photos => I had placed clickable links on the waypoint number (lower right). One of these links to a Topo Map of the landscape of the photo. This map shows what is not evident from either the ZMM Narrative or my photos =>
…The highway, between the two snow fields, runs along a south facing slope which has sun warmth for the flowers. And then goes through a low area (10736 feet) which of course would have melt water channels. This accounts for the flowers and small streams immediately prior to the "tunnel of snow" mentioned on ZMM.
…This topo map also confirms that the Narrator's "Summit" is indeed the factual highest of his travel over what is called Beartooth Pass. Here the highway maxes-out at a “bench mark”(BM = 10947 feet), 'just nine feet higher than the previous highway maximum encountered just after the first snowfield. Link to photo that has the clickable waypoint number mentioned above:
http://venturearete.org/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery/album07/106_0626cz1_9

Summary:

You have seen just a few of the more interesting examples of the factual accuracy of ZMM. Practically, every one of my 833 ZMM Route Sights and Scenes Photos on my website will reveal more of this Factual Narrative Accuracy. I hope you will the near future study my photos and further explore this topic of Mr. Pirsig's landscape accuracy. Please go to the Second Album at:
Click here, and scroll down to the SECOND Album, and then click on these words => “All 4 Parts: What Chris and the Narrator Might Have Seen Along the Travel Route

But All This Still Begs a Few Questions: How (& Why) Is ZMM So Accurate?

1) How did Mr. Pirsig keep all this accuracy in mind?
2) Did he take notes during the time of his travel in 1968?
3) How much information was obtained from maps?
4) Or did Mr. Pirsig take a very large number of photographs (that we don't know about), so most ZMM travel details were extracted from these (unknown) photos?
5) Is this why we see so much correspondence with practically every one of his 12 photos we already have?
6) Or was his writing of ZMM all from memory? (See DATE-LINE below.)
7) Beyond this, why was the ZMM Travel Narrative held to such strict accuracy?
8) Finally: Why would Mr. Pirsig include so much specific travel detail in ZMM? And especially so, when we consider that the ZMM Travel Narratives are not the most important parts of ZMM? In other words: Why such travel accuracy, when the ZMM central focus is the Chautauqua Lectures propounding the Meta-physics of Quality?

Six Pirisig Imperatives for Accuracy

I can think of six Pirsig imperatives for Accuracy. (Due to time constraints, these were included as a handout at the MOQ Conference rather than included in the presentation.)

1) I think that being factually accurate is just the Scientist and the Mechanic coming out in Pirsig. This inevitably sets the tenor of his book.
2) Pirsig must make his book consistent with one of the ZMM's main messages: the Scientist and the Mechanic must be truthful to be successful, and ,besides, it is a good idea anyway, especially truth with one's self.
3) The MOQ in ZMM asserts that our minds create "the whole world," and "reality" is the only grounding that science (and even all of humanity) will ever get!! We require "reality" to keep our minds straight. Ditto for any author in pursuit of Quality.
4) The mentally unstable Narrator says he depends on "Good old reality" and repeatedly says (or implies) that he would "go off the deep-end," except for the ever present support of the surrounding ...... and beautiful...... physical world. Thus, he must fully participate with (and report) his surroundings.
5) About the time ZMM was being written, Pirsig said something like the following:
"For success, ZMM needed all the support it could get. " He went on to say: "For the reader to accept the overall central philosophic messages of ZMM, the story narrative must seem to the reader, absolutely real." For Pirsig, the way to achieve this, was to be both interesting and absolutely factual with his travel scenery.
6) And that, I believe, is why the travel narrative was added to ZMM in the first place.

Closing.

My research concerning Mr. Pirsig's Travel Narrative demonstrates that he did achieve his own stated criterion; he held his book to "Good old reality."

To quote Professor Robert Nelson, "[ZMM's] plot remain consistently responsible to the topography of the physical landscape through which the protagonist moves ."

Yes, indeed, as Mr. Pirsig says , "Good old reality" frames every step of his travel along the ZMM Route:
…And, indeed, this is true of our every moment of our own "Very Existence," moment to moment, day after day, year after year!! On What Mr. Pirsig calls “The Track Of Quality” .

A many years ago => A version of this above MOQ Conference Presentation, including “handout” information, was available online at Anthony McWatt’s robertpirsig.org/Gurr.htm … But this is no longer available.
… A copy of this “handout” is available by email reguest to HenryG__USCA.edu.

DATE-LINE May 29, 2022 by Henry Gurr: Three New WebPages Found By Facebook.com/ZMMquality Creator David Matos.

'''In a UK Guardian Newspaper Interview, Nov 2006 => Robert Pirsig Tells About His Book, His Methods For Good Writing, and Says How He Kept Records, In Preparation For Writing ZMM Book =>
… TA: What about archive material for the books. It sounds in Lila that you were an obsessive note-taker?
RP: I took notes on Zen [topic] before I started to make the trip. I'm not sure now what I wrote on the trip, but as soon as I got back I made these slips that I described at the beginning of Lila. I could recall it all very clearly.
Click Here For Complete UK Guardian Newspaper Interview,

Author' Robert Pirsig Talk About His Book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance .”
Shortly after the book was published, Connie Goldman talked with Robert Pirsig at his home in St. Paul, Minn, where we learn more about his book and his methods for good writing.
SPECIAL SERIES: From The Original Recording, A Replay : 26-Minute Listen: Click Here.

''' Robert M. Pirsig on the Book He Wrote (And the One He Didn’t).
“Gradually, I Began To Discover That I Was On To More Than I Had Thought.” ''
By Robert M. Pirsig and Wendy K. Pirsig April 29, 2022
This article has Robert Pirsig’s lecture to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Soon After ZMM Was Published, AND expands upon what Mr Pirsig said in his above mentioned Guardian Newspaper Interview, Nov 2006.

Edited by David M1207124. HsgAddNuLinksFmFb220529,HstRev230810.
File= WikiZmmqZmmFactual RevDm 072412v3RevHsg04.doc
File= WikiZmmqZmmFactual RevDm 072412v3.doc
On220529 HSG Find No S5268 Saved Copies S> Above C&P Fm ZMMQ Server by HG, General Rev, & SavedAs =>
File= WikiZmmqZmmFactual RevDm 072412v3RevHsg03.docx