The Meaningless Life of Materialism
Although the Age of Sin started more than 5 thousand years ago, it is only in the past 500 years that humanity took a nose dive into the destination oblivion. This is the age of industrial revolution, colonization, capitalism and unlimited greed. While greed was considered a deadly sin in the past, the capitalists made it the biggest asset and motivating force, so humanity never had enough of anything. Material want kept going in a exponential graph while the spiritual component of civilization went down below the zero marker.
It only takes a little digging. contemplation to ascertain the main causes of this downfall. In the first three yuga cycle, spirituality is the primary societal force, and existence of God is not questioned. The inner journey is emphasized and practiced, although in decreasing trend as the yugas are supposed to be characterized. It is when Kali Yuga, the last of the cycle comes, when God is placed in the background, and pysical material plane is the primary concent, with self gratification and enrighment are the gruiding force. This happened largely due to the Western culture's misunderstanding of spirituality and universal truth. For them, everything is limited to bodily existence and pursuit of maximal sensual pleasure here and now. Focus on body and mental pleasure mean it is an ego-driven existence, EGO really means Edging God Out. The events are driven by scientific "progress" and instant gratification through consumerism dominates the culture, which they even dedicate to spreading through all means possible.
It is a hollow existence. The only pursuit that remains in this thinking is gather as much things as possible and amass as much wealth as possible, even celebrated by publishing names in Forbes magazine. This is exactly the opposite of a spiritual instruction that was followed in the past three yugas. A simple analysis can tell what a meaningless existence it is. Take their names, for example. Tom, Dick, Harry, Jane, Barnara, or Cynthia, they are names without any meaning, just like their lives.
Look at the media and see what people are saying their purpose in life is. I have seen only people who want to have a good retirement so have financial security. That's it. That is the ultimate goal of the Western culture. Simply pathetic. Meaningless, I said. Also, take for example the effect of this materialistic culture. Crimes rampant. Scamming others, no matter who is hurt.
Racism is a direct result of body-centric culture. That makes color of the body as primary identification of humanity, not their character. Everything is superficial. What looks good is actually good because it is a sensory perception. What lies underneath does not matter. Little are they aware that beyond the body, there is a subtle foce, mind and thoughts that are not visible, and even subtler than the mind and thought is the witness consciousness called the soul, intenitesimally small which the physical instruments cannot even register.
In the past ages, release from the material plane was the primary pursuit, and bring born as a human was the last step to reach that salvation stage. So, there was a practice to find the inward path and shut down the allure of outward senses. That is why the names of people were not just names, but had deeper meaning, and life has a purpose to release from the sansara, most famously demonstrated by the Buddha, who gave up all the royal power and perks to gain it.
There is no Buddha in the West.
There is plenty of dellusion, anxiety, and mental turmoils.
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