Prevailing Worldview and its Impacts

 

Note: All posts are interconnected, so you are requested to read the previous posts before reading this post. 

Materialistic Worldview (A worldview of crises)

A materialistic worldview is a worldview where a human being is considered the only body, happiness is seen as sensual pleasures, Nature is seen only as a resource to gratify sensual pleasures and relationships are recognized only if there is a materialistic gain. This worldview has dominantly influenced the modern era. But since all the sensory interactions are inherently transient in Nature, this can never lead to sustainable happiness. In an attempt to make it perpetual, continuous effort is made to maximize and perpetuate happiness through this mode by trying to evolve and indulge in more and more pleasurable material interactions of newer kinds. This naturally gives rise to ever-increasing `consumerism' or the tendency towards unlimited material needs. It is also responsible for the widespread modern ethos for profit maximization and increasing accumulation of enjoyable goods and services. The fallacy inherent in this perception can easily be recognized as, on the one hand, it directly leads to exploitation of the natural environment, in an uncontrolled manner, as well as other human beings leading to strife, disparities, violence and continuous environmental degradation; on the other hand, it is also responsible for engendering restlessness, tension, insecurity, fear, psychological problems and other incongruities within the human beings. Therefore, it proves counter-productive on all fronts. Any effort carried out under this worldview to perpetuate happiness, in fact, results in increasing misery on all fronts.

Further, under the influence of such a perception of happiness, efforts to ensure prosperity (which essentially implies the feeling of adequacy in fulfillment of our material needs) manifest in the form of triggering more and more accumulation of enjoyable goods and services. And yet one keeps feeling `deprived' and wanting more and more because inherently no amount of material accumulation can make happiness sustainable. Such a propensity has also been called human greed - ever wanting more and more and as Mahatma Gandhi proclaimed;

 `Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not for every man's greed'

  Inherent Dilemmas in the Materialistic Worldview

 The materialistic worldview is full of inherent dilemmas. The dilemmas are as follows:

 Undefined Growth:

The worldview motivates one to grow (in materialistic terms) more and more. However, the term 'Growth' is not defined yet and has a very vague meaning. That's why people make their own definition of growth. There is no line defined when we can say there is now enough growth and no need to move further. Everyone is following undefined growth, which ultimately culminates in dissatisfaction and unhappiness in an individual.

 The dichotomy in removing poverty with undefined prosperity line

The poverty line is generally established but not the prosperity line, which is primarily defined as the acquisition of increasing wealth. Such ill-defined affluence has widened the divide between affluence and poverty, both worldwide and inside countries, and poverty will continue to exist on the planet. Thus, all wholeheartedly efforts on poverty eradication result in marginal impacts. It can be understood through the following example: the difference in per capita income between the North and South tripled from $5,700 in 1960 to $15,000 in 1993. The richest 20% of the world’s people now own 85% of their wealth, while the poorest 20% (who account for 80% of the total world population) own just 1.4% .

 The Hesitation in Adopting Sustainable Consumption (SC)

The following reasons, in the form of hesitations, have been identified while adopting sustainable consumption; 

(i)             With the prevalent notion of the growth in society, if we consume less, it is seen as “low quality of living standard” (Living high quality/status of life means higher consumption). Thus, it results in a hesitation to live in a nature-friendly manner for sustainability.    

(ii)           It becomes a challenge for an individual, who has grown up with the materialistic worldview, to break one’s habits based on materialistic taste, the social pressure of standard of life, high consumption, etc.  

 It is interesting to note that modern development keeps following undefined and ever-increasing growth promoting tendencies for higher consumption, while we talk about sustainable consumption.

    In the present state of society, it is apparent that people are so much indulged in seeking sensory happiness primarily from materialistic things. Subsequently, the prevalent propensity to maximize sense gratification is now believed to be a perfectly ‘normal’ propensity and culminated in the belief that happiness lies only in sensual pleasures. The materialistic worldview is now so entrenched in society that it is now even difficult to visualize any alternative. 

    Though, the worldview in Ancient Greek (before the fourth century B.C.) was quite the opposite of the modern worldview, which gradually changed and culminated in the materialistic worldview. The next post primarily discusses the changes in worldviews during the medieval ages.