>> Yes, and it's funny to see people here, who know and have read all
>> kinds of things, disparage the work that went into getting there.
>>
>
> >From what I've seen of scholars and musicians and artists, the "work"
> is in fact pleasure. Give these folks leisure time and this is
> how they'll spend it -- not out of any sense of responsibility,
> not because they're dutifully heeding their superego,
> but because they're enjoying themselves.
>
> Put another way, the best work is done when it's not work.
>
I think that's exactly where this line of thinking goes wrong. Take the example of a writer. A novelist may have an inner urge to write, but most writers will tell you that it requires enormous discipline - that a certain time every day has to be set aside, that they often force themselves to produce at least x pages per day, and often it feels like torture. Writers, just like anyone else, can find themselves sinking into indiscipline, watching junk TV or procrastinating instead of working on what they really care about. This may make them unhappy at a deeper level, yet they find themselves superficially "enjoying" it at the time. Conversely, forcing themselves to write may feel like torture at the time, but more profoundly it makes them happy.
It's the same with musicians or scholars or artists. Someone with great self-discipline, who writes (or practices an instrument or paints) for five hours every morning before allowing himself to do anything else has "developed a taste for hard work." Of course, in the artist's case he has the advantage of doing work that's meaningful for him. But the phrase "to have a taste for hard work" is also applied to people who do more conventional work. In fact, I think *most* people have this taste to at least some extent. They therefore understand the difference between momentary affect and deeper satisfaction. And if a political ideology can persuade them that it's on the side of work and satisfaction, as opposed to empty idleness and consumption, then it will have a great advantage.
SA