Quoth the Raven

Ma·te·ri·al·ism (muh-teer-ee-uh-liz-uh m)- The preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, comforts, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.

That's right, materialism. Recently I've started studying the publication One Common Faith, which deals in no small part with the subject of materialism and it's diverse affects on our world today. Essentially, as the commentary notes, materialism has become the dominant religion of the modern world. Social Darwinism, communism, even social and economic development - all have their ideological roots deep in materialism. It spans both the good and the bad, both the laudable and the atrocious, and has penetrated down to nearly every level of western culture

But OK, traditional rant against materialism concluded, what really is it? It's all well and good to say the world is suffering from materialism, but that's just like saying that someone is sick without being able to articulate why. In it's most basic form, it is the sincere belief that through present means humankind can solve nearly any problem; it is the belief that while the inherited moral structures of the past may have been provided by such things as religion, modern morality has reached a level where it no longer needs to be expounded on, only enacted. It is, basically, the belief that through sincere action, we can realize the golden age of humankind. Which means it is, even more basically, naiveness at it's most extreme.

You see, we can say things like this nowadays, because the world has experienced nearly one-hundred revolutions around the sun with materialistic values as the core of popular belief, and rather than exemplifying the promised golden age, the world seems more than ever on the brink of total chaos. Even the well-minded aspects of materialism have eventually collapsed under their own weight. Take social and economic development projects, an item I listed earlier that may have seemed out of place. Clearly, this is a well-intended concept, and has produced some admirable changes and advancements. But taken as a whole, what can we really say about it? If the entire point of a social and economic development project is to advance needfull cultures to a level of accepted advancement and comfort, then where can we really point to as a symbol of actual success?

The extremes of poverty and wealth are greater than ever, and the suffering of "third-world" countries has never been more noteworthy. It is not that current human actions are ineffective, it's that they are misguided; it is not that a social and economic development project is unsuccessful, it's that it misses the point entirely. Humanity does not just thirst for a new car, it does not just hunger for material advancement. It does not only want world peace and only desire an end to world hunger. We, it, them, everyone - all truly thirst for a spiritual reality that gracefully allows for all of the above and infinitely more.

So you see, materialism isn't even evil. The world will always function by material concerns, as we dwell in a world made of matter. The real evil is the narrow-mindedness that materialism represents - the denial that while our everyday life is material, our thoughts, beliefs, and values exist in a higher state. What we need is a belief system that delineates in clear terms how and why we should act rather than just halts at the action itself, that intertwines material advancement with moral application, and allows progressive understanding so that we do not become stuck on only one aspect of what is a multifaceted existence. What we need, in short, is:

re·li·gion
[ri-lij-uhn]