Up From Materialism

Up from Materialism:
The Central Spiritual Struggles,
the Clash of Civilizations
and the Role of Secularism

Tikkun Institute Staff

Michael Lerner writes:

How the prevailing corporate- dominated, media-shaped culture is holding back the evolution of human consciousness and retarding the spiritual development of civilization.

While acknowledging that spiritual development is ultimately undertaken by the individual, in this discussion we ask what a supportive culture would look like and how can we withdraw support from the prevailing culture and begin to build the one we actually want. Is the Pope right in thinking that secularism is the real obstacle to religious consciousness today? Can one fight the materialism and selfishness of the Old Bottom Line and still be secular? Can secular people make room for a spiritual consciousness?

A culture that valued our embodied spiritual selves more than the pursuit of profit, fashion, or power is a beautiful and complicated dream. But what would it look like? The questions we will address in this workshop are broad, complex, and interconnected with our understanding of our place on earth, and our relationships to each other and our own material selves.

It is not simply a question of undoing a culture of materialism. As panelist Robert Inchausti says, "I wonder if the word "Materialism" will, in the end, be the best way to describe what we are up against." According to the American Heritage Dictionary, one definition of materialism is "the theory or doctrine that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life." As Robert notes, "There is a repressive "asceticism" of the ambitious and an "idealistic" aspect to militarism. We might want to find language that better describes the prevailing narcissism, competitiveness, and self-interest as a way of setting the stage for our alternatives."

One question that might guide us is the cornerstone of the voluntary simplicity movement: what is enough? Enough is not scarcity or hunger. Enough includes healthy food, clean water and air, access to education, a satisfying way to meet one's needs through jobs or other means, a sense of security for when we fall ill and age. But, as the writers of the classic "Your Money or Your Life" have shown, there comes a point where adding more fails to bring satisfaction, and becomes instead a burden on the individual and the earth. It also can never address our non-material hungers for community, meaning, and spirit.

What are the supports that might help people listen to their deepest needs for themselves and their communities, for what would be enough for all of us, above the frenetic roar of advertising and schooled fears of what level of material wealth brings security? What kinds of "culture-jamming" might help provide an alternative message? How might our culture offer the recognition, status, and emotional nourishment we seek but now for building equitable and sustainable communities instead of for actions benefiting only one person or one corporation, often at a high cost to others and the earth?

We may be led by the above question to another one, of the inherent value of the material world. Again according to the American Heritage Dictionary, materialism is a philosophy that says "physical matter is the only reality, and that everything, including thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena." This may not in itself be the problem. What may be more important for changing the culture than resolving the debate regarding the nature of physical matter as the only reality or the possibility of the existence of some transcendent realm is re-imbuing the material with sacred value. The logic of capitalism says that matter is there for the pursuit of wealth; it is in itself of "no matter." A transformed culture might say instead that all of our human bodies, and those of the moose, the dragonfly, the redwood, the minke whale, the earth itself, are sacred, and must be treated accordingly, with respect, compassion, tenderness, and love.