Materialism

Materialism

From those who are concerned with such matters… we have often herd the lament that we live in a materialistic society. It implies that material goods and possessions are more important to us than justice or integrity.

If materialism is indeed on the Wrong Path… how did we get there? And… what is the cause… the Source… of materialism? Let’s examine it!

We can observe that all the material goods that we value… have been produced by the “hand of Man”. Houses… cars… TV’s… computers… stereos are all products of Human Labor. Furthermore… we can rightly say that… they all belong to the order of Man!

Because Man has selected… Greed… Domination… and Advantage… to be the central values of his movement… the entire Human order has been thus organized around these destructive principles. Therefore… whatever he creates is always confined to be within the walls of this harmful framework.

Everything that Man produces existed in his mind first. Bridges… cars… roads… computers… and guns… all existed in the consciousness of Man before showing up as material objects in the physical world. All the material objects that we desire… purchase… and collect… are invariably of the order of Man… and have emerged from the human mind. What we value… what we seek to own… all belongs to the Human Order.

We have… by our own choice of values… locked ourselves within the destructive order of Man. By choosing Materialism and “the More”… we also choose Greed and Unsustainability… and become helplessly entrenched within the Illusion… and the devastating order of Man.

The order of Man completely dismisses the Natural Order and takes any Intelligence there as being accidental and insignificant. By devaluing Nature… we inescapably devalue Nature’s values of Love and Harmony… and with it… all that Nature produces.

Furthermore… by limiting ourselves to the Human Order… we value instead… Dominance… Greed… and only that which the “hand of man” produces. Materialism is only the first hint of the hideous face that lies behind the mask of Western “Progress” and “Respectability”.

The Tip of the Iceburg

The “Tip of the Iceberg”

What motivates us in the simple things of life… what is plainly visible… is like the tip of the iceberg. When viewed by the shallow observer… much appears to be hidden. However… to the serious observer… the simple reveals much about the unseen. What lies beneath the iceberg is not substantially different from the top... but more pronounced... more extreme.

Like the iceberg, our visible daily lives say much about who we are... and what lies beneath the surface. That which motivates us in our most simple actions… demonstrates our central values… and will also be the motivation for the deeper and more complex issues that we face. The principles that we value and hold dear will be present and applied to all that we face... both small and large. They will be used universally in our decisions. Our smallest and largest problems will be approached using the same values.

If… for example… we let Greed be our defining choice for a job… it will also be our choice when faced with larger issues of world hunger… profit… or the death of the animals or the poor & unfortunate of the World. And likewise… it would also show up in the smaller actions like wanting the biggest piece of the pie… or cheating to win a game.

Our values represent who we are. We have directly (by choice)… or indirectly (by conditioning)… accepted them at the core of our being. Once in the driver’s seat… these values steer and direct us in all that we do. They now direct all of our choices… from the smallest to the largest… from the incidental… to the crucial.

To the Aware individual… a person’s values are present in all that he or she does… even the most seemingly insignificant. It is there in our dress… our grooming… the way we organize that which is around us… what we have elected to bring into our life… what we have left out… what we do with our time… our attitude… our health… our diet… our weight… our conditioning… our habits… what we choose to own… what we do for a living… our hobbies and interests… and our chosen relationships to the Earth… the animals… and the poor. All reflect who we are as a human being. To know one’s Values… is to know the person.