16. Materialism is the opium of modern people
Materialism nowadays resembles a religion in many aspects. People ‘believe’ in it not just in a superficial way. They ‘believe’ in it in a very deep, semi-religious way. In addition to this, present-day materialism often leaves aside rationalism and in doing so, goes back to magic.
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Of course, nothing seems more real than something that is ‘materially real’. There is no problem with this. The problem starts when one only takes into account things that can be talked about as material, to the detriment of and even discarding things that may be equally real and important, but not so obviously material. This is an unrealistic view of the world, while of course the whole reality is real, not only the part that one wants to see.
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Concrete things, like talismans of all sorts and kinds, have always been important assets in magic. This is not because of what they are, but because they are. The fact-of-being-material, the concreteness on itself, has ‘meaning’ for the human subconscious. This is not the result of rational thinking. It’s the result of a human weak spot.
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New in our present age is the fact that concreteness is now also seen as the epigone of rationalism. This goes much further than ever before, inappropriately lending to the underlying ‘magic’ a very strong hold on our very science, our thinking, etc. This is not OK at all.
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For instance in medicine, it leads to a flood of suffering. Patients and doctors alike are hooked on the ‘concrete explanation’. Something material has to be found. Otherwise it’s not ‘real’ and therefore ‘imagined’ or even a downright ‘fake’.
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‘One is not really ill if no material proof can be found.’ So starts the quest for concrete proof. So starts the forgetting that the psyche of a person is very important for his health and well-being in all aspects, at all levels.
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Materialism has become the ‘opium’ of modern people. It keeps people away from using their own inner strength and possibilities. This is then taken advantage of for the purpose of power and money by people and organizations that happen to be in the right ‘niche’, as in the case of religion.
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They say: ‘history repeats itself.’
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