Both Uses of
revert
in
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
- Not by its rising is there light, Not by its sinking is there darkness Unceasing, continuous It cannot be defined And reverts again into the realm of nothingness That is why it is called the form of the formless The image of nothingness That is why it is called elusive Meet it and you do not see its face Follow it and you do not see its back He who holds fast to the quality of old Is able to know the primeval beginnings Which are the continuity of quality.†
Part 3reverts = goes back to a previous state
- What keeps the world from reverting to the Neanderthal with each generation is the continuing, ongoing mythos, transformed into logos but still mythos, the huge body of common knowledge that unites our minds as cells are united in the body of man.†
Part 4 *reverting = going back to a previous state
Definitions:
-
(1)
(revert as in: revert to childish ways) go back to a previous state
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Revert or reversion can also have a specialized meaning in the law with regard to property. Archaically, it can refer to physically turning away from something.