January/February 2006 Spirituality
Materialism is not the problem

by Ken Lloyd Russell

Ken Lloyd Russell
Our society conveys to us a distorted idea of what a religious person is like. It puts forth the notion that materialism is the opposite of spirituality. It puts forth the message that the religious person is not interested in wealth or fame. However, this is misleading. While a spiritual person is certainly not interested in wealth or fame, that particular understanding conveys just a sliver of what is truly in opposition to the spiritual. Materialism is but one aspect of non-spirituality.

The far more significant understanding of what is the opposite of spirituality is that which is conveyed by externalism. The non-spiritual person’s life is wrapped up in a fascination with the external. The externalist believes that satisfaction and meaning in life can be found external to him or herself. Something out there is going to provide satisfaction and fulfillment. Even religion is something that is external. And an externalist can appear to be quite a religious person too, by society’s standards.

For instance, there are many people who follow the rules and regulations of their religion who are not at all spiritual, at least by my understanding of the term. A person could be living in poverty, believing this to be following the dictates of their religion (a prevalent notion in Christianity), yet is not spiritual. This person is not concerned with their interiority. They are following external rules. They may believe them to come from God, but they are still external to their being. And they are probably deriving some satisfaction from their poverty, which is not that different from deriving satisfaction from wealth.

The religious path is not concerned with the external. The religious path is to go within to find God or Buddha-nature or however you wish to symbolize the ultimate. This is why Jesus said to seek the Kingdom of God within. This is why the Buddha said that all beings are Buddha. In Zen there is the statement "All beings are from the beginning Buddhas". It is called the Lion’s Roar and can awaken one if it falls on receptive ears. Note that it doesn’t say that you can become a Buddha or that you will be rewarded with Buddhahood if you are virtuous. It says you are a Buddha. Divinity or Buddha-nature is our intrinsic nature, the foundation of our being. It is not external to us.

The religious path is one of clearing away everything external to us. That is everything that follows from birth on this planet – the whole body\mind complex with all its memories and emotions and beliefs. It does not matter if we believe in God. It does not matter if we follow the Ten Commandments. What matters is that we go within and realize our own divinity.

Society does its utmost to distract us away from our inner nature. It starts with the parents shaking a rattle at the baby and ends with scientists craving the Nobel Prize. The ultimate prize, the only prize worth winning, is yourself. When you finally come back to yourself you will find that your essence is equivalent to what is understood by the terms God and Buddha-nature.

What you really are is not found out there. It is not found in material things, nor in good acts, nor in following the dictates of a religion. It is found by discovering what you really are, under all the conditionings of your life. Go within and find the ultimate. Go without and lose your Self. Go without and ultimate peace and satisfaction cannot be found.

Remember that materialism is not the problem. Your level of affluence, or lack of it, has little bearing on your spiritual quest. What is important is to keep stripping away all that is external to your being.

Visit Ken Russell’s website: www.thewayofseeing.com.