Subversive Puppet Show: Responding To Rog

Monday, June 06, 2005

Responding To Rog

Rather than post this on the long comment thread, I figured I'd just start a new post for my response to Roger. If ye like, click ye "comments" and read on.

1 comment:

Jason said...: "The problem I saw with your post, and the reason I talked about the Buddhist mantra and its affiliation with capitalist exploitation, is that the structure of your argument about "not being your home" falls under the very same critique you employ against other Western Buddhists. You are using _Fight Club_, or whatever Buddhism as a crutch. The logic of the argument is that you aren't your house and therefore you don't have to feel guilty about owning the house. I'm not saying you have to feel guilty, but you certainly shouldn't use a philosophy that teaches detachment from the material world to justify still owning material goods. Western Buddhists frequently do this, and thus (indirectly) justify capitalist exploitation in the very act of practicing their faith."

I think the disconnect here is that you thought I was using a pseudo-Western-Buddhist philosophy to avoid feelings of guilt for owning a house (or, indeed, any other material good). That is not the case. I was simply reaffirming that the house - its location, condition, and contents - does not define me.

If the house were to burn down tomorrow morning and all of my material possessions were to be destroyed, the hassle of finding a place to live would cause me more worry than the house itself. Honestly, I think I just didn't communicate my original point as well as I should have, because that was the conclusion I was trying to reach.; 3:50 PM