[iDC] Re: a critique of naturalized capitalism

[Edward Cherlin]

On 4/11/07, Jonathan McIntosh <jonnyrebellious at gmail.com> wrote:
> Edward did you take a look at the link I sent out? The whole point on my
> very short email was to send that link, which you did not address in your
> comments, which puzzles me.
>
> -Jonathan

Sorry, I have had to take one thing at a time. I have been having
difficulty posting to IDC, and just found the workaround (ASCII
only--feh). Then I responded to everything that came before your link.
Now, as to that link:

http://www.zmag.org/books/pareconv/Chapter24.htm#_VPID_133

This is a familiar Zen koan. "Why bother (gardening/repairing the
car/saving the world) when it will all revert to the way it was
before? I replied, while pulling bindweed out of the hedge, "It will
be better for a while, and it might encourage someone else to
continue." My master accepted this answer at that time, though I have
had to go deeper into the matter since then.

There are innumerable arguments for behaving better, going back to the
Chinese warrior/philosopher Mozi, who argued that everybody believes
in Universal Love--as practiced by everybody else. So why not practice
it yourself, and try to create a community where it is practiced? He
was successful in creating a defensive military force that prevented
any of the Chinese Warring States from conquering any other during his
lifetime, but was unable to create lasting institutions, unlike, say,
Gandhi. Nevertheless, I admire the old man.

But it mostly isn't a matter of argument. The problem we face is known
in Buddhism as the Great Grief, not only that we cannot save
everybody, but that we are dependent in every aspect of our lives on a
system that creates suffering. In the US, we all benefit from slave
labor in ages past, and from unconscionable economic arrangments at
the present day. But this does not excuse us from saving ourselves and
those willing to listen. Six million schoolchildren will get One
Laptop Per Child computers this year. I intend to engage them in this
conversation. I ask the naysayers, "Do you really think that it is
better to curse the darkness than to teach people to make candles?"
Several hundred million hungry children would like to have a word with
you on that, and soon will be able to.

I can't imagine someone on a sinking ship saying that it is no use to
get in the lifeboats. So we have to research how to break through the
denial, and awaken the appropriate sense of urgency. Much of the
denial can be understood as a form of cognitive dissonance, since
changing oneself and one's behavior now requires the admission that
one has been deluded and behaving badly throughout the whole of one's
previous life. That confession of being in the wrong (of delusion, not
of sins) is the starting point for Buddhist practice.

It is also the starting point for true Jewish, Christian, Muslim,
Hindu, etc. practice, but that is a different discussion. I will cite
only two examples here: The Jewish New Year begins with a celebration
on day 1 followed by the Day of Atonement, day 10. The Catholic Mass
begins (after a few welcoming preliminaries) with the Act of
Penitence.
-- 
Edward Cherlin
Earth Treasury: End Poverty at a Profit
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Earth_Treasury
WIRE AFRICA  http//www.wireafrica.org/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/cherlin