”Discoveries” ARE When We Connect With REALITY, By The Action of QUALITY!
….This Is Precisely When NEW FACTS Are Formed, AND
…….This Is Precisely Where Previously Was A COMPLETE VOID In Our Understanding.
….[ “The birth of a new fact is always a wonderful thing to experience. It’s dualistically called a "discovery" because of the presumption that it has an existence independent of anyone’s awareness of it. When it comes along, it always has, at first, a low value. Then, depending on the value-looseness of the observer and the potential quality of the fact, its value increases, either slowly or rapidly, or the value wanes and the fact disappears. “ ]
.... “The overwhelming majority of facts, the sights and sounds that are around us every second and the relationships among them and everything in our memory—these have no Quality, in fact have a negative quality. If they were all present at once our consciousness would be so jammed with meaningless data we couldn’t think or act. “ (Cont.Next)
Wetmore Campground, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, nine and a half miles Northwest of Unity, OR.
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When You Are Caught, And Stuck =>
…It’s Usually Value Rigidity. Slow Down!
…….You Should Be Going Slow Anyway!
….Because It’s Cooler, and There Is More Moisture, Huge Trees Can Grow At These High Altitudes Near Blue Mountain Pass.
….“ So we preselect on the basis of Quality, or, to put it Phædrus’ way, the track of Quality preselects what data we’re going to be conscious of, and it makes this selection in such a way as to best harmonize what we are with what we are becoming.
.... What you have to do, if you get caught in this gumption trap of value rigidity, is slow down—you’re going to have to slow down anyway whether you want to or not—but slow down deliberately and go over ground that you’ve been over before to see if the things you thought were important were really important and to . . . well . . . just stare at the machine. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just live with it for a while. Watch it the way you watch a line when fishing and before long, as sure as you live, you’ll get a little nibble, a little fact asking in a timid, humble way if you’re interested in it. That’s the way the world keeps on happening. Be interested in it. “(Cont.Next)
Wetmore Campground, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, nine and a half miles Northwest of Unity, OR.
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Back On the Road With Gumptionology.
….“At first try to understand this new fact not so much in terms of your big problem as for its own sake. That problem may not be as big as you think it is. And that fact may not be as small as you think it is. It may not be the fact you want but at least you should be very sure of that before you send the fact away. Often before you send it away you will discover it has friends who are right next to it and are watching to see what your response is. Among the friends may be the exact fact you are looking for.“(Cont.Next)
Blue Mountain Pass, nine and a half miles Northwest of Unity, OR.
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Having Passed Through The Really Tall Pines At The Highest Altitude Of Blue Mountain Pass, We Are On Our Way Down.
….“ After a while you may find that the nibbles you get are more interesting than your original purpose of fixing the machine. When that happens you’ve reached a kind of point of arrival. Then you’re no longer strictly a motorcycle mechanic, you’re also a motorcycle scientist, and you’ve completely conquered the gumption trap of value rigidity. .. The road has come up into the pines again, but I see by the map that it won’t be for long.
… There are some resort billboards along the road and some kids beneath them, almost as if part of the advertisement, gathering pinecones. They wave and in doing so the littlest boy drops all his cones. “(Cont.Next)
Dixie Pass, ~9 miles Northeast of Prairie City, OR. Did you pass your ZMM readers awareness test here? … Here you should have seen for yourself that the Narrator has offered us a "scenery break" at the higher altitude, of yet another refreshing green tree, shady, and cool mountain pass.
….This of course, refreshes us and relieves our stress from the long Gumptionology. Just as the ZMM Narrator and Chris found a break in the travel, so also did Author Robert Pirsig as he was writing ZMM! These scenery breaks, can also help him refresh and relieves his stress from the long writing on boring Gumptionology!
….AND … Of course this is one of the major message of Gumptionology: Take quick breaks, no matter where your Quality track is taking you, especially after tired from long effort!!
The Below Repeats The Explanation From Photo Back At Dooley Mountain Summit.
….In this the above case (as well as implied several more times ahead), , the “Scenery Breaks” coincide with travel, from lower hot dry semi-desert, and climb the road up onto a higher mountain pass, and into the more enjoyable cool forests.
….Sometimes these “scenery breaks” are for gasoline or lunch in a town. The ZMM Reader will see that => Typically two and one half pages of Chautauqua between abrupt switch between The Chautauqua Discussion’s Main Topic and the Travel Narrative Scenery Breaks.
…SIDE NOTE: Here, As Is True For Practically Every Abrupt Switch Between The Chautauqua Discussion’s Main Topic And The Travel Narrative, We See An Especially Good Example Of => The "Metaphoric Bridge Connections" (MBC) Between The Chautauqua Lecture Passages And The Travel Narrative Descriptions!!
… Of course these “Connections”, are nearly always there (Between the Chautauqua Discussion’s Main Topic and the Travel Narrative), but this is an especially good example of this idea of "Metaphoric-Bridge-Connections"!
…. Here is the Same Link, that was given with Previous Photo of Unity, OR, where you can learn more about MBA, “Metaphoric Bridge Connection” Click Here. AFTER this page comes up, Do > Top > Edit > Find > … Metaphoric ..
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Although I Did Find This Now Closed Roadhouse, I Did Not Find Any Signs for The Narrator’s “Resort”.
….A Little Boy Dropping Pine Cones Is An Example Of NON “Value Rigidity”.
….[“ There are some resort billboards along the road and some kids beneath them, almost as if part of the advertisement, gathering pinecones. They wave and in doing so the littlest boy drops all his cones. “ ]
.... .“ I keep wanting to go back to that analogy of fishing for facts. I can just see somebody asking with great frustration, "Yes, but which facts do you fish for? There’s got to be more to it than that."
.... But the answer is that if you know which facts you’re fishing for you’re no longer fishing. You’ve caught them. I’m trying to think of a specific example. . . . All kinds of examples from cycle maintenance could be given, but the most striking example of value rigidity I can think of is the old South Indian Monkey Trap, which depends on value rigidity for its effectiveness.“ (Cont.Next)
Eight and a half miles Northeast of Prairie City, OR.
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Looking West Toward Prairie City, OR.
…A View of the Valley After Dixie Pass.
……In The Distance, The White Spot Is a Tourist Information Kiosk
………Which Is In the Commemorative Form of a Giant Oregon Trail Covered Wagon!
….“The trap consists of a hollowed-out coconut chained to a stake. The coconut has some rice inside which can be grabbed through a small hole. The hole is big enough so that the monkey’s hand can go in, but too small for his fist with rice in it to come out. The monkey reaches in and is suddenly trapped—by nothing more than his own value rigidity. He can’t revalue the rice. He cannot see that freedom without rice is more valuable than capture with it. The villagers are coming to get him and take him away. They’re coming closer . . . closer! . . . now! What general advice—not specific advice—but what general advice would you give the poor monkey in circumstances like this?“ (Cont.Next)
Five and one half miles Northeast of Prairie City, OR.
…In the /\ Above /\ Photo => The ZMM Route and Prairie City, continue West, in the direction of the medium distance, little round, brown, grass covered hill, with a topping of small trees sticking up.
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Houses in the Distance Signal Our Arrival at the Next Town.
….[The poor monkey can’t get his hand out of the coconut because holds the rice in his hand. His fist is now too large to pull out of the coconut! ]
…l “ …. but what general advice would you give the poor monkey in circumstances like this? “ ]
….“ “Well, I think you might say exactly what I have been saying about value rigidity, with perhaps a little extra urgency. There is a fact this monkey should know: if he opens his hand he’s free. But how is he going to discover this fact? By removing the value rigidity that rates rice above freedom. How is he going to do that? Well, he should somehow try to slow down deliberately and go over ground that he has been over before and see if things he thought were important really were important and, well, stop yanking and just stare at the coconut for a while. Before long he should get a nibble from a little fact wondering if he is interested in it. He should try to understand this fact not so much in terms of his big problem as for its own sake. That problem may not be as big as he thinks it is. That fact may not be as small as he thinks it is either. That’s about all the general information you can give him. “ (Cont.Next)
Two miles East of Prairie City, OR.
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What A Change This Town Scene Is From the Dry Desert!
….Here => Instead of a Mountain Pass, We Get Our Scenery Break at a Town.
….Chris Has Gumption => Immediately, Without Any Help, He Continues His Letter To His Mother
….“At Prairie City we’re out of the mountain forests again and into a dry-land town with a wide main street that looks right down through the center of the town and onto the prairie beyond it. We try one restaurant, but it’s closed. We go across the broad street and try another. The door’s open, we sit down and order malted milks. While waiting, I get the outline of the letter Chris was preparing for his mother and give it to him. To my surprise he works on it without many questions. I sit back in the booth and don’t disturb him. “ (Cont.Next)
Prairie City, OR.
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The Narrator Now Applies His Gumptionology Theory (And His Own Personal Abilities) to His Problem With Chris.
….“I keep feeling that the facts I’m fishing for concerning Chris are right in front of me too, but that some value rigidity of my own blocks me from seeing it. At times we seem to move in parallel rather than in combination, then at odd moments collide.
.... His troubles at home always begin when he is imitating me, trying to command others the way I command him, particularly his younger brother. Naturally the others aren’t having any of his commands, and he can’t see their right not to, and that’s when all hell breaks loose.
.... He can’t seem to care whether he’s popular with anyone else. He just wants to be popular with me. Not healthy at all, everything considered. It’s about time for him to begin the long process of breaking away. “ [ Like the monkey letting go of the rice? ] (Cont.Next)
Prairie City, OR.
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The Narrator Now Applies His Gumptionology To His Problem Of Recurring Bad Dreams, and Being Trapped “Behind the Glass Door” And Unable To “Reach” Chris.
….[For Chris] “That break should be as easy as possible, but it should be made. It’s time to set him on his own feet. The sooner the better.
.... And now, having thought all that, I don’t believe it anymore. I don’t know what the trouble is. That dream that keeps recurring haunts me because I can’t escape its meaning: I’m forever on the other side of a glass door from him which I don’t open. He wants me to open it and before I always turned away. But now there’s a new figure who prevents me. Strange.
.... After a while Chris says he’s tired of writing. We get up, I pay at the counter and we leave.“ (Cont.Next)
Prairie City, OR.
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On The Road, Straight Ahead, For the First Time, We See One of East Central Oregon’s Many Volcanic Cones!
….Gumption Traps Lecture Continues.
….“On the road now and talking about traps again.
.. The next one is important. It’s the internal gumption trap of ego. Ego isn’t entirely separate from value rigidity but one of the many causes of it.
.... If you have a high evaluation of yourself then your ability to recognize new facts is weakened. Your ego isolates you from the Quality reality. When the facts show that you’ve just goofed, you’re not as likely to admit it. When false information makes you look good, you’re likely to believe it. On any mechanical repair job ego comes in for rough treatment. You’re always being fooled, you’re always making mistakes, and a mechanic who has a big ego to defend is at a terrific disadvantage.“ (Cont.Next)
Entrance to John Day, OR.
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After Town Of John Day, OR =>
….Typical View of East Central Oregon’s Level Lowland Valleys.
……Gumption Traps Lecture Continues.
….“If you know enough mechanics to think of them as a group, and your observations coincide with mine, I think you’ll agree that mechanics tend to be rather modest and quiet. There are exceptions, but generally if they’re not quiet and modest at first, the work seems to make them that way. And skeptical. Attentive, but skeptical, But not egoistic. There’s no way to bullshit your way into looking good on a mechanical repair job, except with someone who doesn’t know what you’re doing. .. . . . I was going to say that the machine doesn’t respond to your personality, but it does respond to your personality. It’s just that the personality that it responds to is your real personality, the one that genuinely feels and reasons and acts, rather than any false, blown-up personality images your ego may conjure up. These false images are deflated so rapidly and completely you’re bound to be very discouraged very soon if you’ve derived your gumption from ego rather than Quality. “ [The Narrator then covers the many] “internal gumption traps …. that block affective understanding, [together] called "value traps"“
..He covers:
….“Ego“,
….“Anxiety“,
….“Boredom“, and
….“Impatience.“
Five miles West of Mount Vernon, OR.
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In This Case the Next Town Is Signaled By a Grove of Giant Trees!
….“We’re pulling into Dayville and my rear end feels like it’s turned to concrete. .. Well, that about does it for value traps. There’s a whole lot more of them, of course. I’ve really only just touched on the subject to show what’s there. Almost any mechanic could fill you in for hours on value traps he’s discovered that I don’t know anything about. You’re bound to discover plenty of them for yourself on almost every job. Perhaps the best single thing to learn is to recognize a value trap when you’re in it and work on that before you continue on the machine.“ (Cont.Next)
Entrance to Dayville, OR.
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And Here Are the Trees!!
….“Dayville has huge shade trees by the filling station where we wait for the attendant to appear. None does, and we, being stiff and uneager to get back on the cycle, do leg exercises under the shade of the trees. Big trees that almost completely cover the road. Odd, in this desertlike country.“ (Cont.Next)
Giant Trees, Business district, Dayville, OR.
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This Is The Modern Incarnation Of The Narrator’s Old Gas Station.
….The Site Of The Narrator’s Second Gas Station Is The Vacant Lot Right.
….“The attendant still doesn’t show, but his competitor at the filling station across the narrow intersection is watching this, and soon comes over to fill the tank. "I don’t know where John is," he says. .. When John appears, he thanks the other attendant and says proudly, "We always help each other out like this."“ (Cont.Next)
Business district, Dayville, OR. This is the location of the two 1968 Dayville gas stations. The one on the left is still there, but expanded into a grocery store. The one on the right was removed and the area converted to a city park.
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Theda’s House, Directly Across the Street, Is the Probable Location Of The Lawn, Where The Narrator & Chris Rested.
….“I ask him if there’s a place to rest and he says, "You can use my front lawn." He points across the main road to his house behind some cottonwood trees that must be three to four feet in diameter.“ (Cont.Next)
Business district, Dayville, OR. This now unused grand old home is directly opposite the two gas stations and is the most likely yard where the Narrator and Chris rested.
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That Pipe, Once Upon a Time, Carried the Water Under the Driveway to the Irrigation Ditch Along the Fence.
….“We do this, stretch out on some long green grass, and I see that the grass and trees are irrigated from a ditch by the road that has clear moving water in it.“ (Cont.Next)
Business district, Dayville, OR. This is the yard of Laurie Chapman several doors East of Theda’s house.
….The irrigation ditch is no longer used. The homeowners have turned over their “water rights” to the city, and sprinkle city water to make the lush green lawn, flowers, and by default provide water for the big trees.
….Most Western towns and surrounding agriculture must have similar means of irrigation. Extensive irrigation ditch systems, or city water sprinkling, are a major part of their life support system
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A View 30 Feet West (Right) of Previous Photo: Same Lush Green Yard & Fence. But the Irrigation Ditch Is Barely Discernable.
….“ John sees I’m awake and we talk a little. He says the irrigation water comes from the "Chinaman’s Ditch." "You never could get a white man to dig a ditch like that," he says. "They dug that ditch eighty years ago when they thought there was gold here. You couldn’t get a ditch like that anywhere nowadays." He says that’s why the trees are so big.“ (Cont.Next)
Business district, Dayville, OR. From reading ZMM I got the idea the ditch by these trees was quite large. As you can see in my photos, the ditch by the trees is unused and partly filled in. It probably was never any more than a 8 inches deep and sixteen inches wide. This is probably because this was just a minor branch of a much larger irrigation canal system. The “ Chinaman’s Ditch“ probably was huge at its main flow outside the town. This is because it probably supplied agriculture irrigation to many ranches in addition to the town itself.
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….THE WATER FOR THE “CHINAMAN’S DITCH” PROBABLY CAME FROM A GREAT DISTANCE “UP IN THE HILLS”.
…A) Topozone map for Dayville, OR shows a Dark Green Line, Southwest Of Town, That Is Likely The Larger Main “Chinaman’s Ditch“ since it systematically follows the contour lines, for a long distance South, upstream, along the South Fork John Day River. If you ClickDrag till you see the top edge of Quadrangle 24, you will see “flume”, which marks where this Dark Green Line joins a similar line on the east side of this river. All this says these are irrigation ditches.
…. The above ZMM Passage says =>“ "They dug that ditch eighty years ago when they thought there was gold here … “, and went on to imply that a town plus agriculture could never have enough money to pay for digging this “ Chinaman’s Ditch“, and the money came from Gold Mining!..
.. So … still to be researched is => How & where did the water get sent to the location of the gold mining. Perhaps further study of the Topozone maps may show the old mine and its own separate ditch. Right Click And Open In A New Tab. =>
….After Map View Comes Up, You Will See an Awful Clutter Of Adverts That Are Impossible To Eliminate. => You Best Should =>
….Use Scroll Bar At Far Right To Adjust Green Topo Map Until You See JUST BELOW The Plus & Minus Upper Left => A Click-On For “Full Scree”. Click On It, in ~40 seconds the screen will fill, and Adverts Will Be Gone.
….Then use Plus & Minus To Zoom. You can “Click&Drag” Map In Any Direction, To See More Off Your Screen Edges.
…B) Southwest Of Dayville, OR, Satellite View Also Shows Likely The Same Larger Main “Chinaman’s Ditch“.
…. After this Satellite View comes up, you will see in the desert left side of screen, a dark line dotted with trees. This “Line”, fits very well the shape of Green Line shown in the above Topo Map! AND just like for the above-mentioned Topo Map, this “Line” can be followed, for a long distance South, upstream along the South Fork John Day River.
…C) Southeast Of Town, Google Street View Shows Water Flowing In Likely A Branch Of “Chinaman’s Ditch“.
…. After this Google Street View comes up, you will see, an example of this “Chinaman’s Ditch“, with flowing water at screen center.
… AND the Bottom Of Screen Strip Map shows many fine blue lines, which are evidently irrigation ditches, since one such line comes to the road right AT the ”Stickman”, which is the location of this street view.
… AND on the left of the Strip Map, you see a portion of an irrigation ditch, the shape of which, fits well that-mentioned and shown in the above Topo Map and Satellite View.
…D) The Google Street View (GSV), Blue Link Above Allows You To “GSV Drive” Along The Highway Into Dayville, OR, And See The Big Trees.
….INSTRUCTIONS =>After Google Street View (GSV) Comes Up, click the Google Street View Image, WHERE you want the “VIEW” to go. Thus you can successively Click-Click-Click = “GSV Drive” along the street you see on your computer screen. You can even click on a side street to “GSV Drive” the side street !!
… You can always “GSV Drive” further to see more & more sights!! AND, at any time, you can Click-On The Plus & Minus to Zoom. AND, you can “Click&Drag” the Image On Screen in any direction, for a better view.
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