Materialism

Many people are wondering how we arrived to such a state in the world today, wherein the dominant cultural system is largely devoid of any sort of morality.

The answer is simple.

One word: Materialism.

Materialism is the philosophical way of life in which material aspects are the primary (in practice, the only) purposes for existence.

It is often contrasted with Idealism, the concept that ideals are more important than material comforts and desires.  There are many differing approaches to idealism, but all of them involve a religious or philosophical basis behind action and lifestyle. The concepts of right and wrong, absolute truth, and objective morality all stem from Idealism.

Today's major world problems, such as transhumanism, gross wealth disparty, the rise of human trafficking and child exploration find their root cause in materialistic philosophy.

Materialism, being fundamentally focused on earthly subjects (and objects) gradually conditions a culture to glorify traits such as strength, external appearance and mere physical sexuality.  Over time, this breeds the glorification of youthfulness, social and economic aggressiveness, indifference, competition, and the desire to extend physical existance and comfort as long as possible.

Morality becomes more and more of an exterior factor, hinged upon eroding social norms, rather than an eternally unchanging code of ethics established by a divine power before the foundations of the world.

Eventually, as we see today, cultural norms become practically meaningless, and hedonism, 'if it feels good, do it', becomes the order of the day. Every ethical boundary is questioned and done away with, until the most basic taboos are finally assaulted, such as strategic genocide, cannibalism or the sexualization of children.  There are unfortunately many historical precedents for these occurrences in other long-dead cultures.

The solution is not to try to contain or diminish  materialism, but to finally abandon the approach to the dustbin of history.  It has never worked out to date, nor can it ever, for it is based solely upon humanity's animalistic and atavistic impulses.

We must return wholeheartedly to idealistic cultural footings, to those principles which we know in the very fiber of our being to be right and proper. We must guard against the tendency to embrace material advancement as a panacea to our collective ailments and strive instead to cure with integrities.