Spiritual Materialism

Today many of us  typically confuse spirituality with religion. With the growing influence of Eastern Religion on many of the "New Thought" religions, the two terms have become synonymous.

It's now considered chic for some of us to claim we are spiritual, but not religious.  Nevertheless, for now, in order to illustrate our point here,  let's separate them by defining spirituality as the part of us that seeks religion to fulfill our hunger for pure enlightenment.

Similarly, we can argue that religion is the structure we use to express our spirituality. And let's acknowledge that religion is not the only source available for us to express our spirituality.

Meanwhile, there's also a great deal of confusion regarding the relationship between spirituality and materialism.This confusion is bred, undoubtedly, from our living in a capitalist society.  For many of us, materialism is the antithesis of spirituality.

On the other hand, materialism is something we can touch feel, enjoy. And if we tie it to our spirituality, then we will have the best of both worlds.

Materialism causes us to desire material possessions -- houses, automobiles, jewelry, expensive clothes, lavish lifestyles, and so forth -- while we seek spiritual fulfillment by relieving ourselves from these attachments. And, unfortunately, many of us become victims of our desires.

The purification or freedom from our desires for materialism is the primary cause of our suffering. We suffer because we spend our time working on achieving materialism.

The more we have, the greater our attachments, the greater our suffering, and the further we move away from spiritual enlightenment.

Meanwhile, as more and more people seek innovative ways to acquire wealth and remain spiritually fulfilled, some ministers have embodied and teach their congregants a so-called "prosperity religion."

They preach that the Creator -- God-Allah-Krishna-- wants them to be wealthy. It's the Creator's way to bless us for having adhered to our spiritual practices.

According to them, the greater our spiritual awareness, the more the Creator blesses us with material possessions. They illustrate their points by showcasing large homes, expensive cars, clothes, jewelry, and so on. They claim the gifts come because of their spiritual practices and their devotion to the Creator.

It's difficult to explain or enlighten ourselves when we are focusing all of our energies on become wealthy. It's even more difficult for us to recognize that we are confusing spirituality and materialism. The former is free of suffering, while the latter is the cause of our suffering.

For many of us new on the path, spirituality is too vague, too hard. We can't pinpoint just what it means and exactly where it is. It's not like a picture of a place where we've never been, but would like go someday.

Spirituality, at least enlightened spirituality, is found within each of us. It's our invisible, faceless, formless, and colorless unconditioned consciousness.

Our unconditioned consciousness is our being without beliefs or limitations. It's the unchangeable within us, conditioning a part of itself to be us. This unchangeable awareness of being, without being anything, is in all of us. It contains the blueprint for how we are to live our lives.

As we seek more and more materialism to fulfill us, we sell our lives (irreplaceable time) to the highest bidder. These actions plunge us deeper into the victimization morass.

And as victims of materialism, it's difficult for us to believe there's something as powerful as an unconditioned consciousness within us. We don't dare even consider something like this as a viable option for living our lives, especially when it's compared to materialism.

At the heart of our contentment is materialism. We feel good with it and lousy without it. And there's little we can do to satisfy our thirst for it.

Nevertheless, by selling ourselves for materialism, and by listening to others telling us about ourselves, we move further away from our unconditioned awareness, the enlightenment which we seek.

And as we do, we are constantly searching for something to make us feel good about ourselves. This is the search for spiritual fulfillment, which some of  us confuse with religion.

The victims of materialism or capitalism are usually the ones willing to believe and accept promises of spiritual rewards. We are confident that we're on the path that leads to spiritual rewards. At this point in our awareness, we have settled the discussion between spirituality and religion.

 There are some of us who believe there's more to achieve, and there's more work to do on overcoming victimization  before we can feel fulfilled. So we continue to work on creating an enlightened consciousness.

We believe an enlightened mind will free us from our limited beliefs that's causing us to suffer an insatiable thirst for material possessions. This is the clarity we need to understand why we devote our lives to accumulating material things.

Whether we like it or not, we're nothing but expressions of our beliefs. The truth about us is found in our beliefs about spirituality and materialism. They're not the same, even though we want them to be this way.