[nocturne]

The amish are not exactly poor; they seem to have all their needs met (food water shelter, etc).

You bring up a good point; many asian philosophies warn against desire, trying or struggling.

It doesn't neccessary LITERALLY mean don't try to pursue hapiness; rather don't try so hard that the greed and emotions bear down on you.

For example; poor people would be happier if they had nice toilets, clean water, etc. But beyond your needs you have greed; is that BMW really going to make you happier than a toyota?

To be honest, a little bit. But if you constantly stress over status and money, then your riches come at a cost.

So I would say productivity is NOT a lie; but you need to be careful how you go about it. If you are too extreme and think you just need to "be with the flow"; you end up doing nothing. The taj mahal would not be built; beethoven would never have written symphonies, nirvana would never unplug, steve would woo women into polyamourous relationships and play video games all day and not write any articles (joking steve), shakespeare would just smoke a joint and not write; etc, etc.

If you are too extreme and think you need to be perfect, you end up stressing yourself to death and dying of cancer, using steroids, etc.

Elvis succeeded cause he was hard working and talented; Its ok to want to succeed greatly, but I doubt his excess did him any good.