From: "Brian Charles Dauth" <magcomm at ix.netcom.com>
Charles asks:
> Why would making hay just be wasting a human life?
Because doing so would entail creating suffering for others.
^^^^^ CB: No , this making hay while the sun shines, eating, drinking and being merry is a party where a good time is had by all. No suffering for others.
^^^^^^
Buddhism is not against pleasure or satisfying desires -- it just orders things differently than Western-trained thinkers. In Buddhism, the object is to live mindfully and with compassion (what Marx refers to as living rationally -- at least as I understand it from Ted W.). Doing so will provide countless pleasures as the by-product of a person's actions. By placing the pursuit of desire (in a vain effort to prop up a sense of self) first, Westerners put the cart before the horse and end up creating even more suffering/exploitation -- witness our consumer-crazed, fetishistic culture.
^^^^^ CB: Speak for yourself :>). This here Western ain't creatin' more suffering and exploitation by my merry making. I don't even have a credit card partner.
"Everybody must get fetishes" - Bob Dylan
^^^^^^
Capitalism is the economic system of a culture that places the satisfaction of desire first. You are not going to get rid of capitalism unless you also get rid of this misplacement.
^^^^
CB: No, capitalism is the economic system that places first satisfaction of wealth of the few, and in doing so creates gigantic _frustration of desire_ for the many. When we get rid of capitalism, our desires will be ever so much more satisfied by spreading the wealth.