Spirituality and materialism are both seeking after happiness.
Spirituality seeks happiness within; Materialism seeks happiness without.
Spirituality teaches us to aspire for a better life, a more illumined life. Materialism teaches us to desire more material goods and material wealth.
Spirituality teaches detachment from the inevitable ‘outrageous slings and arrows of fortune’ Permanent happiness and materialism can never be found together.
Spirituality teaches us to be selfless; materialism teaches us to selfish.
Spirituality teaches us to love our fellow man. Materialism teaches us to love our material wealth.
“Whenever material things, money, worldliness, become the center of our lives, they take hold of us, they possess us; we lose our very identity as human beings,”
– Pope Francis, 29 September 2013.
Spirituality does not compare. Materialism is subject to constant comparison the father of jealousy and insecurity.
Spirituality takes the help of material progress but is never a slave to materialistic desires. Materialism cannot see how spirituality helps.
Spirituality lives in the present moment. Materialism lives in tomorrows world of endless desires and yesterday’s world of inevitable dissatisfaction.
Spirituality enables peace of mind. Materialism, even with all the wealth in the world can never buy peace.
Materialism eventually becomes frustrated with its own limitations. Slowly, reluctantly and even unwillingly, materialism eventually turns to spirituality to feed its insatiable appetite for real happiness.
Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Spirituality vs Materialism”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net Published 3 Feb 2011. Last updated 15 February 2018.
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