this 1000 word post constitutes section 6 [C] of seven for the Pamphlet 21st Century Tract
Human beings have now been redefined as Consumers. We are no longer dignified as being made in the image of God. We no longer comprise spirit, soul and body – we are now just physical bodies with material needs and wants.
We no longer enjoy the protection of a supreme Creator and Provider who sees value and worth in every human being – a worth derived from being his handiwork, enjoying his love, and his superior purpose for our lives. Both law and culture have systematically been redefined according to a purely Material conception of our existence where human beings alone control their destiny and their morality.
Materialism dominates everyone in positions of power in western society – including many who espouse God. Politicians have no sense whatsoever of answering to the King of kings – the very idea is a joke! Politicians respond solely to what boosts their reputation in the eyes of the electorate. Problems can be solved by spending more money, or else by lying about who is responsible. The actions of politicians are dictated by what they perceive – or believe – people want. That perception is invariably merely material. God is entirely irrelevant.
In the Covid 19 crisis of 2020-2021, politicians sought to banish death and suffering by taking the most extreme measures to control the spread of the disease. Because there is no God to answer to, they saw no limits to their powers or responsibilities. They consulted the ‘seers’ of today’s Materialist Religion, the Scientists, and they foretold dire death and destruction from Covid unless drastic physical measures were taken to contain a physical problem. Physical distancing – both personal [at least a meter apart] and functional [closing down or severely controlling places where people physically gather]; physical control of our exhalation using masks; physical immunisation by mass vaccination. The answer is always physical because the diagnosis is always physical. The diagnosis is restricted to the physical because the soul is merely a physical manifestation; while the spiritual is a figment of primeval imagination.
There is therefore no consideration whatsoever for the consequences to human dignity or liberty. The working assumption in this material world is that the money to offset all problems can either be printed or borrowed. Traditional constraints don’t exist because we are now the masters of our means; we are the masters of our destiny. We are the masters of right and wrong – and of what can, and cannot, be done.
We now live in a world where the material is accentuated across every area of life. Indeed, not just accentuated, but domineering and controlling. The material dominates every aspect of 21st century life: morals; politics; society; religion; economy.
Human beings are being treated as material beings with merely material interests, material needs, and material wants. The pressure to consume goods is constant via marketing and advertising. There no longer exists a day in the week free from material concerns of production and consumption.
Entertainment is constant. We now have 24 hour television and 24 hour access to the internet. The communication of Information is persistently warped by considerations of how it will stimulate emotional reaction. The constant message across all platforms of information and entertainment is the indulgence of appetite and desire. For decades now human dignity has been insulted and depraved by the media assumption that it is normal to have a sexual relationship on the very first day of meeting someone !
Other human beings now exist for our personal gratification. If MY NEEDS are not being met in a relationship, then the correct course is to dispose of that relationship in the same manner in which I would dispose of a piece of household equipment which no longer functions properly.
The fundamental personal principle now at work is: How does this situation, this job, this relationship meet my needs, my desires and my aspirations.
The fundamental moral principle in personal behaviour has ceased to be my personal responsibility towards others. I am now a consumer of this existence; I am not primarily a responsible participant in society as family member, employee or citizen.
In fact every dimension of life is reconfigured around me and my wants. My sexuality is now reconfigured according to my inclinations, not according to objective biological science. Family is now reconfigured around overcoming personal limitations to make family work for me: children are now objects to be brought into being and to be possessed according to my needs; their needs are considered around my perception of their need. The work place is now to be reconfigured around my personal circumstances. Every aspect of our existence is now to be redesigned according to the ruling principle of the corporeal self. I am a consumer and society exists for the gratification of my material appetites.
Such extreme focus on the demands and Rights of the individual is not just warping our mindset with consequences for emotional and spiritual health. It is not just destroying us and our sense of social responsibility. It is destroying the very planet on which we rely for our physical existence. How ironic ! A religion devoted to the Material is destroying the material world which it worships.
Sheer greed for material goods has led to unprecedented demands on the natural resources of the planet. We have been consuming oil for over a century with no regard for the consequences – either the depletion of that resource [now imminent] nor for the serious pollution which burning oil entails. Oil is just one example, but is typical of the way in which we fail to consider either the rape of the earth’s resources or the pollution which results from their industrial scale production and abuse.
Plastic pollution is now so extensive that there is no place on earth where plastic waste is not to be found, and found in dangerous quantities.
In reality our mentality must be challenged and radically changed. Instead, Materialism continues to preach and teach self indulgence. One way or another, we are destroying ourselves.