Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is interesting in that it rejects most classical and modern Western philosophy. To find anything that speaks to it in

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is interesting in that it rejects most classical and modern Western philosophy. To find anything that speaks to it in the West, you have to read pre-Plato fragments (Heraclitus), or Nietzsche, or the fringes of Process Philosophy. Even then, you probably won't be any closer to understanding quality but you'll at least be more confident in its existence and be able to vaguely conceptualize it. For me, the starting point is a deep appreciation for the ancient Greek state of mind called Arete (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arete https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arete). I say 'state of mind' because it was only transformed into a 'concrete concept' later. The Wikipedia article doesn't do it justice as it has been Plato-ized but.. it is something. Pre-Plato, it was a way of existing predicated on becoming or approaching excellence (as opposed to being a something). It isn't confined to a discipline or occupation and you never 'get there'. For Nietzsche, it enabled a key component of the Will to Power, self-overcoming.