A guitarist should know the inner workings of the guitar for the same reason a motorcyclist should know the inner workings of his machine. Otherwise, it's not Zen at all. You are separating yourself from the very mechanisms of your life. You see, our downward spiral into modern material culture started a long time ago when Plato and Aristotle began separating appearances from reality, "ideals" from the real world. Well, something had to replace the fleet of gods who were by then just a myth, so "philosophy" had to do. To make a long story short, the whole western world followed suit. . . .

Read Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig. It will explain why, if you play electric guitar, maybe you should understand how it works.

As for me, I play acoustic, so I have no worries. I always feel Zen, especially playing outside. I can feel it in the little critters too, the ones I see "do, do, do, looking out my back door."