[MD] Zen-Amerindian connection

[MarshaV]

Greetngs SA,

Both your posts from yesterday were great, and contained important 
considerations for the way one lives their life.  I do have time to 
sit by the fire and whittle, but then I have no one for whom I'm 
directly responsible.  It was much more difficult when I was raising 
children and working.  It was difficult to untangle from the social 
pressures.

Thanks for the postings.

Marsha


At 11:49 AM 12/29/2007, you wrote:
>"Keepers of the Game:  Indian-Animal Relationships and
>the Fur Trade" by Calvin Martin
>
>
>      [SA currently]
>      This quote below is taken from the above book on
>the Zen-Amerindian connection as follows:
>
>
>      Prologue:
>      Marshall Sahlins states, "Wants may be 'easily
>satisfied' either by producing much or desiring
>little.  The familiar conception, the Galbraithean
>way, makes assumptions peculiarly appropriate to
>market economies:  that man's wants are great, not to
>say infinite, whereas his means are limited, although
>improvable:  thus, the gap between means and ends can
>be narrowed by industrial productivity, at least to
>the point that 'urgent goods' become plentiful.  but
>there is also a Zen road to affluence, departing from
>premises somewhat different from our own:  that human
>material wants are finite and few, and technical means
>unchanging but on the whole adequate.  Adopting the
>Zen strategy, a people can enjoy an unparalleled
>material plenty-with a low standard of living....
>That, I think, describes the hunters.  And it helps
>explain some of their more curious economic behavior :
>  their 'prodigality' for example-the inclination to
>consume at once all stocks on hand, as if they had it
>made.  Free from market obsessions of scarcity,
>hunters' economic propensities may be more
>consistently predicated on abundance than our own."
>
>
>      [SA currently]
>      More abundance, readily available needs in
>hunter-gather cultures, than the anxieties and
>constant wants in a industrial, post-industrial market
>due to the high profit margins to maintain and
>compete.  As in Zen so the Amerindian, "enjoy an
>unparalleled material plenty-with a low standard of
>living".
>       I see this not to be about quantity, and how
>much one has.  It seems to be better when it is about
>quality.  The craftsperson that takes the time to make
>a quality product versus the cookie cutter model that
>shells out quantity but with little care.  Do you have
>time to sit by the fire and whittle wood?
>
>
>woods,
>SA
>
>
> 
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