Why are we naturally inclined to materialism?

Question

Thanks to all your answers and have a great day~!

Answer 1

Tough question!! Needed some deep thinking to answer this to my satisfaction.

Nature has made us highly receptive to our physical senses..... when our senses are sending inputs, our brain and mind get preoccupied with them on priority.... this is designed this way for ensuring security and protection of our body.

In my view, therefore, we are naturally inclined to materialism which is physically relevant to our senses.

I have deliberately taken my thoughts on this question beyond the obvious reason of our stronger desires for and recognition of tangibles.... and tried to go to the roots of that natural tendency.

Hope my original thinking has not taken me astray and the answer does make sense.

Superb question!! I would like to see the other answers too.

Answer 2

Are we? There are three general attitudes, 1) all is material, 2) the word 'material' sayeth as much as 'nothing', 3) material is negative as a constraint on the spirit to hold it to material existence.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/en/berkeley.htm

'80. In the last place, you will say, what if we give up the cause of material Substance, and stand to it that Matter is an unknown Somewhat - neither substance nor accident, spirit nor idea, inert, thoughtless, indivisible, immoveable, unextended, existing in no place ? I or, say you, whatever may be urged against substance or occasion, or any other positive or relative notion of Matter, hath no place at all, so long as this negative definition of Matter is adhered to - I answer, you may, if so it shall seem good, use the word 'Matter' in the same sense as other men use 'nothing', and so make those terms convertible in your style. For, after all, this is what appears to me to be the result of that definition - the parts whereof when I consider with attention, either collectively or separate from each other, I do not find that there is any kind of effect or impression made on my mind different from what is excited by the term nothing.'

Answer 3

We get put off by big big , new words like 'materialsm'. Desires could be a better word. This , again , is not a new phnomena. It has been there since the human was born..

Desire is fundamental to the humans. It gives him the power of choice and it constantly tests the man which direction he takes to .The stick and carrot story. If desire has undivided attention from the man he is lost in it. This forms , also , the link for his future births/deaths cycle. Any unfulfilled desire needs to be exhausted either in this birth or future births.It is endless.
If man realises the futility of such an endless pursuit of desires he turns towards ( chooses , shall we say?) higher form of evolution .

Materialism is nature`s way to sift through human race and narrow down the number for general upliftment of the human race.

Answer 4

I do not believe that we are naturally inclined to be materialistic. We do want food, shelter, water and sex. We seek more of basic needs than are immediately necessary so that we can avoid having to pursue these things over and over again. We build a secure and somewhat permanent shelter to avoid the need to find a new place to sleep every day. We stockpile food so s not to have to hunt and gather all day every day. We tend to live near a source of water and we marry to have a steady, reliable mate. After the basic needs are satisfied, we begin to look beyond survival and seek to make the basics more comfortable. It is this comfortable part that begins to become materialistic, but it is only an extension of our basic need to survive.

Answer 5

That is the beauty of the God's tool known as the duality or the paradox or the ignorance.

It is so deceivingly attractive by its nature.
The God has made it such so that the Play of the world goes on uninterrputed.

Without the God's will or his intervention no one can even go away from materialism. It is God's grace alone that can do such a miraculous job where a human being will start going away from materialism and towards the God and be attracted towards him - the God - the real source instead.

The deceivingly attractive bond of the nature keeps deluded souls bound to materialism with its inherent attraction.
It is very powerful and its attractive power is beyond the capacity of any human being to repell.
A human being left alone has no choice but to surrender to this nature since it is so powerful and with such a huge attractive power compared to the limited powers and capabilities of a human being.

It is God's will or grace alone that can lead the soul towards the real source the God instead. Through the God's will alone a few blessed souls start walking towards God and through "his" will alone they reach God and be with God forever. Since normally human will is limited against the power of the nature, the power of attraction of the nature.

Also our bodies and mind are made of the same natural elements as the finer or subtler forms of matter and materials the materials and materialism attract us. They move and attract our senses, mind, ego and intellect too.
It is the nature's play within nature that keeps us attracted to materialism.

Answer 6

I don't believe that we are "naturally" inclined to materialism. Big business has pounded it in to our heads through relentless advertising to the extent that people adopted it as a way of life.

Answer 7

hehehe like the song Madonna sings we live in a material world hehehe but we must gain the balance of the spirit to break this materialism hehe its extremely hard to do but I know well to do people that keep grounded because of their faith in God and that is the darn truth of the matter :))))))))))))

Its amazing how some people that are so materialistic look and act and feel they have no souls and nothing makes them happy no matter what they get because they are so spoiled rotten sad to say materialism is a sin of the soul we should look beyond these things to helping other human beings and not looking what we can get out of this material world!!!

Answer 8

It's rooted in our suvival mechanisms, goes back to a time when all we had to do all day was go around gathering fruit, and tanning hides for the winter. But now with our our modern "conveniences" and "advanced" technology, most of us don't have to wonder where the next meal is coming from, or go looking for a cave without a bear in it to spend the winter. We have alot more time on our hands.... We still have the same drive to aquire things, though, and it is taken advantage of by the business world. Now that most of us don't have to worry about the most basic necessities in America, we have business telling us we need the newest, and the best, and the biggest all the time. The catch is that selling each other stuff we don't need, is how we go about getting food and shelter for the winter, instead of hunting bears and caves. It's quite a circle, but it's how we now exchange energy with each other for our survival. Behind the latest model of an automobile on a dealer's lot is some guy with 2 kids and a mortgage trying to pay the bills with the money he is asking you to part with... I tend to do my circling around flea markets and yard sales, rather than in malls, I don't have an emotional need for the latest and greatest, as long as I have an item I need for the winter, but yes, I do think we are naturally inclined to materialism to one extent or another, and it is an essential tool for our survival....It gets scary when it gets out of hand though, when people don't understand thier limits, and understand the difference between fulfilling thier needs vs. fulfilling thier wants to and extent that they ruin thier lives with debt, or even scarier if you have ever entered the home of someone with hoarder's syndrome. When it gets out of hand to a point where someone has replaced things like spirituality or relationships with things like Prada, it's just sad....I do include seeking basic things like food, shelter, and clothing as materialism, though, they are material needs that must be aquired in order to survive. Thanks to all the time we have on our hands, many people have not been properly trained in the use of thier imaginations, and as a species, our imaginations crave novelty, and that is how business gets in there and makes use of our imaginations, if we don't know anything better to do with them... When your power goes out for a week in the middle of the winter, your life gets reduced back to the basics, I know this from experience, who cares about Prada when your whole day is wrapped up in things like making sure you have dry wood for the fireplace, and trying to preserve whatever food is left in the fridgie....

Answer 9

I think that when you are young you are very materialistic, everything is about what you have or don't have, as you age and become more mature, material things become less and less important, I have been trying to get rid of most of my "stuff" and travel light! all important documents and pictures are going to my children and the rest of everything I have is all stuff, just collecting dust and sometimes spider webs. I believe that my fortune is with God my father in heaven. The things of this earth will pass away and our bodies return to dust, but our eternal soul is priceless to God.

Answer 10

Are you talking about materialism as in "I like to buy a lot of stuff" or the philosophical definition of Materialism (the only things that exist are made of matter)?