classical and romantic understanding

"Zen and art of motorcycle maintenance" by Robert Pirsig is my favorite book. I need to figure out exactly why I think so - but it must be due to couple of things - the writing itself which I think is beautiful even though it is philosophy, secondly the perspectives of quality - I got the concept of quality inherent in any thing or act or person that cannot be named through this book.

One other aspect I need to dig up and connect some other dots is about difference in people's worldview. I think there are people who can be largely classified as classical and romantic based on their predominant disposition like the quote from the book below (highlight is mine). Reproducing the full quote here to give the complete context.  Bit more commentary continues after the quote.   

I want to divide human understanding into two kinds...classical understanding and romantic understanding.

A classical understanding sees the world primarily as underlying form itself. A romantic understanding sees it primarily in terms of immediate appearance. If you were to show an engine or a mechanical drawing or electronic schematic to a romantic it is unlikely he would see much of interest in it. It has no appeal because the reality he sees is its surface. Dull, complex lists of names, lines and numbers. Nothing interesting. But if you were to show the same blueprint or schematic or give the same description to a classical person he might look at it and then become fascinated by it because he sees that within the lines and shapes and symbols is a tremendous richness of underlying form.

The romantic mode is primarily inspirational, imaginative, creative, intuitive. Feelings rather than facts predominate. "Art" when it is opposed to "Science" is often romantic. It does not proceed by reason or by laws. It proceeds by feeling, intuition and esthetic conscience. In the northern European cultures the romantic mode is usually associated with femininity, but this is certainly not a necessary association.

The classic mode, by contrast, proceeds by reason and by laws...which are themselves underlying forms of thought and behavior. In the European cultures it is primarily a masculine mode and the fields of science, law and medicine are unattractive to women largely for this reason. Although motorcycle riding is romantic, motorcycle maintenance is purely classic. The dirt, the grease, the mastery of underlying form required all give it such a negative romantic appeal that women never go near it.

Although surface ugliness is often found in the classic mode of understanding it is not inherent in it. There is a classic esthetic which romantics often miss because of its subtlety. The classic style is straightforward, unadorned, unemotional, economical and carefully proportioned. Its purpose is not to inspire emotionally, but to bring order out of chaos and make the unknown known. It is not an esthetically free and natural style. It is esthetically restrained. Everything is under control. Its value is measured in terms of the skill with which this control is maintained.

To a romantic this classic mode often appears dull, awkward and ugly, like mechanical maintenance itself. Everything is in terms of pieces and parts and components and relationships. Nothing is figured out until it’s run through the computer a dozen times. Everything’s got to be measured and proved. Oppressive. Heavy. Endlessly grey. The death force. Within the classic mode, however, the romantic has some appearances of his own. Frivolous, irrational, erratic, untrustworthy, interested primarily in pleasure-seeking. Shallow. Of no substance. Often a parasite who cannot or will not carry his own weight. A real drag on society. By now these battle lines should sound a little familiar.

This is the source of the trouble. Persons tend to think and feel exclusively in one mode or the other and in doing so tend to misunderstand and underestimate what the other mode is all about. But no one is willing to give up the truth as he sees it, and as far as I know, no one now living has any real reconciliation of these truths or modes. There is no point at which these visions of reality are unified.

And so in recent times we have seen a huge split develop between a classic culture and a romantic counterculture...two worlds growingly alienated and hateful toward each other with everyone wondering if it will always be this way, a house divided against itself. No one wants it really...despite what his antagonists in the other dimension might think.

I think it will be good for people to know what their predominant understanding is - whether is classical or romantic. As the author says, it is not always one or zero - there are lot of grey. Once we know where we tilt towards, we need to figure out ways to unify - ways to switch over consciously to the other side, to understand the other perspective and to force ourselves to acquire skills that help us to understand both the aesthetic and the inner workings. 

I think that a person who is driven by emotions and  intuition primarily must realize that and make a conscious effort to understand the reason and facts and vice versa. There is beauty in both. It is like an engineer who is creative and have artistic tendencies or a dreamer who wants to get into the details of something beneath the skin of it.  

I feel there is similar awareness needed in other aspects too - introvert and extrovert personalities for example trying to imitate the other side to suit different social situations. I need to explore that also a little more and also see if there is a connection to people having predominantly right wing ideology vs left wing also - whether it proceeds from their understanding of the world and their default disposition - like artists tend to be left leaning and CEOs tend to be right leaning. It might be generalization and stereotyping, but I think it has to do with predominant side of someone's brain and hence the world view/understanding one has developed. Something to think about further.