Materialism and Problems of Today is an extract from an
article written and published by Swami Jagadatmananda in
Prabuddha Bharata Magazine January 2006 Issue.
Industrial Revolution
Ever since James Watt ushered in the Industrial Revolution
with his invention of the steam engine in 1790, science has advanced so much
that it has changed the culture and civilization of the whole world. Politics,
economics, and even religion, have all been immensely influenced by science.
Science in Wrong Hands
Prof. Maurice Wilkins, who won the Nobel Prize for medicine
in 1962, admitted in an interview that ‘about half the world’s scientists and
engineers are engaged in war programs.' Physicist Fritjof Capra writes: ‘We have
piled up tens of thousands of nuclear weapons; enough to destroy the entire
world several times.’
Spirituality Answer to Materialism
‘Materialism and all its miseries can never be conquered by
materialism’, said Swami Vivekananda. More than a hundred years ago he observed:
‘Spirituality must conquer… The whole … world is on a volcano which may burst tomorrow, go to pieces tomorrow. They have searched every corner of the world and have found no respite. They have drunk deep of the cup of pleasure and found it vanity.'
Man with a materialistic outlook naturally develops an
inordinate craving for wealth, power, status and popularity, and the accompanying
permissiveness ultimately degrades him.
Modern civilization does not seem to suit mankind! It is not
based on the knowledge of man’s real nature, nor does it function with the objective
of achieving his all-round development. So what is the use of scientific advancement
when we do not try to know beforehand where it is going to take us? What we
choose from the unlimited treasure of science is often not concerned with the
progress of humanity.
In fact, by providing us with more leisure than we know how
to make good use of, scientific civilization has done us great harm.
‘Mental weakness, psychosis, lunacy are perhaps the price we have to pay for our tech no logical revolution’, said Alexis Carrel.
In the late 19th century, Swami Vivekananda pointed out that
‘it is spiritual culture and ethical culture alone that can change wrong racial
tendencies for the better’.
Basic Attitudes Towards Life Needs to Be Changed to Make Proper Use of Scientific Advancement
Unless our basic attitudes towards life and reality are
changed, true happiness and lasting fulfillment will ever elude us in spite of
the proliferation of objects of enjoyment and means of seeking pleasure. Why?
Because pleasure is caused by excitement of the senses and is short-lived,
whereas real happiness is independent of sense contact and long lasting. It
wells up from within, from the depths of the heart. Pleasure is based on selfish
or ego-centric drives, whereas happiness comes from transcending the little
self and working for other people’s welfare. Sense pleasure produces painful reactions,
whereas true happiness gives us calmness and peace.
The majority of educated people in our country have embraced
the scientific materialistic outlook. It is one of the chief objectives of
science to provide comfort and convenience to mankind, but then too much of a
good thing can also be harmful! The hold that these comforts and conveniences
have on man is ever tightening.
To be sure, we are all proud of the
advancements of our scientific civilization, but unfortunately, the achievement
of science have also increased the number of people who behave worse than
beasts. Millions die in wars. Moral values are sacrificed in the name of
individual freedom. And the media and technological innovations like the
Internet often end up doing the greatest damage to moral values. So there is no
guarantee that man’s inward progress will keep pace with his external
advancement.
In order to understand that principle of interior progress,
we have to grasp the nature and structure of the mind at its deeper levels. We
should get acquainted with the precious gems hidden in the ocean of our mind.
We must comprehend the universal principles that underlie the progress and welfare
of human life. We need to abide by certain values that endow us with the power
of guiding our selves. And until we find sound answers to some fundamental questions
— What is the purpose of human life? What are its objectives? Is there anything
more to our lives than just eating, drinking, sleeping and begetting children? —
our lives will remain empty.
As Alexis Carrel says, ‘No advantage is to be gained by increasing the number of mechanical inventions. It would perhaps be as well not to accord so much importance to discoveries of physics, astronomy, and chemistry.’
In truth,
pure science never directly brings us any harm. But when its fascinating beauty
dominates our mind and enslaves our thoughts in the realm of inanimate matter,
it becomes dangerous.
Man must turn his attention to himself, and to the cause of
his mental and moral disability. What is the good of increasing the complexities
of our civilization if our weaknesses prevents us from using them to our best
advantage?