• Thank you to Carol and Steve Bowman, the forum owners, for our new upgrade!

Why Are People So Materialistic

G

GalaxyDreamer90

Senior Member
I've noticed lately a lot of post here about how the rich and famous seem to have everything, which leads me to question why are people these days so materialistic and obsessed with celebrities. Lately I've been finding the rich and famous very stuck up, self centered, and mean, which is probably why I stopped idolizing celebrities long ago. It has also been proven that having a lot of money doesnt equal happiness.
 
Well, you can't buy love or true friendship with money... it even would be harder to tell who really loves you or is your friend when you have a lot of money. Or fame, or power, or what ever (and a certain amount of fame and power inevitably comes with a whole lot of money)... While it surely is not nice to be starving poor, I also do not envy people who own more than is good for them. I don't think they are happy. I wouldn't want to be in their place. I think I already said a few things about money and fame and why I think it is nothing to wish for.
 
I wouldn’t want to be famous. I think a lot of stress would come with being widely known, also wouldn’t have much privacy either.

And I think SeekerOfKnowledge makes a good point, money can’t buy true friendship or love.
It would be nice to have a good income of course, but I think I’d use it more so for a comfortable living situation and to go out and experience things, not as much for the materialistic side of things.
There’s celebrities out there who clearly love to show off, but I also think there’s others who just have nice things because they can afford it, and that’s fine.
 
Money is necessary. I'm talking about health, simple comforts or even family emergencies. The problem is having a lot of money, but being greedy and not taking that opportunity to do good things for others. There are celebrities who donate to causes, but I don't know if it's something sincere or to "clean up" their image. I never believe in those speeches of support for minorities, I think they say that to get fans. I know, because when I met some artists in the past, I heard and witnessed all these things. I'm glad I've always acted like a normal person, but even though I was quiet, I saw their obsession with wanting to make money, money, money and more money with the honest art of many people.

The money was no longer used only for the essentials. Money is used to control, to have power, to scale socially, or to belittle others. Unfortunately this has been going on for a long time. And yes, being a celebrity is suffocating and fame is something ephemeral that is of no use after you die. I want to make music now, but my only fear is being famous. How ironic is that? I like being an anonymous person. Anonymity is relaxing for the moment.

I think people or society are materialistic for many reasons. There are psychological, emotional reasons or even the need to believe that you are better than others. Complex of inferiority. This is a delicate subject to talk about, because nobody knows the real reasons of materialistic people. Anyway, I think that using the money to help, or for what is necessary, is fine.

About friendship and love, obviously this is not something you can buy with money. That's true. But in case of celebrities, there are people who buy friendship from others. I saw that too. Nothing is as honest as true friendship.

You can't buy a sunset, a sunrise, or a starry night. There are people who can buy this. But these things are still honest and free.
 
GalaxyDreamer90 said:
I've noticed lately a lot of post here about how the rich and famous seem to have everything, which leads me to question why are people these days so materialistic and obsessed with celebrities. Lately I've been finding the rich and famous very stuck up, self centered, and mean, which is probably why I stopped idolizing celebrities long ago. It has also been proven that having a lot of money doesnt equal happiness.
Click to expand...

But lack of money means misery. You see, in this world, money can't solve everything, but it solves a **** good amount of problems.

Having money and status means you feel secure on the inside, which helps with interacting with other people and contributes greatly to a sense of wellbeing, confidence, and career success and satisfaction - things every soul deserves on a fundamental level.
 
Money is a tool which can be used for the "good" or for the "bad".
Just that for many it seems to be like a drug: they don't know when it is enough and want more and more...
Money can solve some problems, true. But it also can cause problems.
It is natural to want some security, but there is no real security anyway. You still can get cancer, die in a car accident or what ever.
Every soul deserves to be happy, true, but happiness not necessarily has to do with material possessions, career and station. Of course a low-paid helper's job is not fun, and I wouldn't want to work until my hand bleeds just so that others get richer and richer, while I have barely enough to have enough to eat and a bed to sleep in. But I wouldn't want to be the owner of a company or a big Boss either, actually, this would be the least thing I want.
Wish I could have a more simple life. With enough to eat and all I really need for a healthy life, but without all this career, money, station... stuff.
 
SeekerOfKnowledge said:
Money is a tool which can be used for the "good" or for the "bad".
Just that for many it seems to be like a drug: they don't know when it is enough and want more and more...
Money can solve some problems, true. But it also can cause problems.
It is natural to want some security, but there is no real security anyway. You still can get cancer, die in a car accident or what ever.
Every soul deserves to be happy, true, but happiness not necessarily has to do with material possessions, career and station. Of course a low-paid helper's job is not fun, and I wouldn't want to work until my hand bleeds just so that others get richer and richer, while I have barely enough to have enough to eat and a bed to sleep in. But I wouldn't want to be the owner of a company or a big Boss either, actually, this would be the least thing I want.
Wish I could have a more simple life. With enough to eat and all I really need for a healthy life, but without all this career, money, station... stuff.
Click to expand...

None of what you said is practical in any real sense.

"Money can solve some problems, true. But it also can cause problems." - nothing in life is perfect, but money on average solves more problems than it causes, for souls who can handle it. That's why I think mature souls who demonstrate compassion should be rewarded with money.

"Every soul deserves to be happy, true, but happiness not necessarily has to do with material possessions, career and station." - this applies to some people only. For others, like myself, career achievement is the goal and very reason why I get up every day. People's preferences are different so unfair to use yours as the benchmark.

For me, without career success, there is no point in living at all. What's the point of living if I'm just going to lounge around all day? Boring.
 
gauss576 said:
For me, without career success, there is no point in living at all. What's the point of living if I'm just going to lounge around all day? Boring.
Click to expand...
These are the only two options: career success or lounge around? Add a few hundred other options into that list of possibilities and you might have a clearer picture.
 
While I would say I'm hard working I couldn't stand having a job where I'm working so hard for little pay. It's not so much I hate hard work I just want to do something I enjoy for a career. I had a dry cleaning job once and I just couldn't stand it and I quit after only two weeks. The main reason I couldn't stand it though was that I was doing the same routine the whole time I was working. While I like some routine I can only stand so much. My dream is to be a comic book artist and make my own comic series since I like to draw and write, but I'm unsure how successful I could be at that. However, art seems to be the only thing I'm good at and have an interest in, but not every artist becomes sucessful. In fact here we have the stereotype of the starving artist who doesnt make enough to support themselves. I talked to my older sister about this and she suggested I get into data entry like her. It might not exactly be making comics but at least I'd be making money and working with computers, which, like many people my age, I'm good at. Sorry if this is kind of long.
 
Don't worry, no matter how long you write, the important thing is that you share it and feel better.

Something similar happens to me. I want to be a singer and I'm thinking about making a band, but I have insecurities and I don't know if I'll be as good as I was in my past life. I'm thinking about studying psychology or medicine. I was studying risk prevention but I didn't feel well.

I had lost my musical skills and now I am recovering what I lost, however the ambitious and competitive world of the music industry is so stupid for me. Luckily, there are record companies that are not so invasive in other people's creations. I lived that, I don't know if I want to live it again. Remembering, money is important but if you see that someone is making money because of your talent, that idea slowly starts to decline. My own experience.

Whatever you do, I hope you can feel satisfied. Good luck.:)
 
I think in a way, it represents wishful thinking. Maybe if people aren't happy in their lives now, they could have been someone who had a better life, was loved and adored.

I agree with the above and I've always said myself, money makes things easier but not better.

Since my wife left and I've been my son's sole parent, he's matured more than he ever has been able to before.

Ill make more money than I am now later, but his life and future are already better simply because of me being in his life.

What matters is what we have, share and build with each other. As a "rich girl" I can tell you its not worth it. It destroyed my family in my past life and a good bit of this one.

I think that's what people don't understand about wealth and or fame. What it takes to get it and hold into it, will destroy you from the inside out.

There are so few "ethical" rich people you can't probably name more than a few. But how many can you name whose lives have been destroyed by the pursuit of wealth? All of the sex scandals that come out of Hollywood, the child stars that are now dead because of abusive parents who pushed them into it and they developed drug and alcohol problems as a result? Look at shows like dance moms. Could you see putting your family through that hoping you or your child will get rich?

I was saying in another thread, its far happier, safer and better to be average. Its not glamorous, but ill take it.
 
Money provides comforts and options that are normally out of reach for those slaving away their lives for only subsistence wages and empty promises of retirement. As for the rich and famous most are as disappointing as it can get with people in general that instead of making good on the advantages such provides it all ends in indulgences and self aggrandizement at the expense of others. It could and should be better however that is not how it works out sadly, pretty tired of it really and just want to walk away from it all be it in life or in death. I have no sympathies for the wealthy as all they have to do is not make a mess of their lives and lives of others while those on the bottom are the ones who have it hard. The middle classes could and should be doing better but decades of only being focused on their own slice of the pie has allowed those with darker interests to take almost everything so for later generations there isn't much left other than more hardships. As for those who always ascribe themselves to be leaders I'll just sit back and watch them fall on their faces only to be sorry in old age or in death when they get to judge themselves.
 
We see quite a number of intelligent people who behave badly, even in an evil manner. Should one conclude that intelligence is a bad thing?
 
Simply put, those who work harder deserve better results. Should not come down to chance or random factors out of one's control that dictate our lives. If I work as hard as someone else, I deserve a life as good as theirs. At least not a continuous stream of never-ending bad luck.
 
gauss576 said:
If I work as hard as someone else, I deserve a life as good as theirs. At least not a continuous stream of never-ending bad luck.
Click to expand...
With that I agree. It is not fair that there are people hoarding resources who don't have to do much for it while there are others working their *** off who don't get anywhere, can't even put money aside for a bigger holiday, for old age or for their own house...
That for me, being middle-class in this life, even what we own sometimes feels like a burden is a different matter entirely. (Wish I could give away some of the items just standing around... wish I could donate money instead of getting even more stuff for Christmas or my Birthday... and so on...) Or that I think that money alone doesn't make you happy. That I think that too much money is as bad as having not enough. That I agree with Totoro that the price you pay for becoming rich might be too high... even members of my own family are having different opinions, and of course, I respect their views.
I am agreeing that hard work should pay off, though.
 
Thyme may i ask who you were? I find some rich people act worse than children..i have an Uncle who purchased two apartments in NYC...each apartment cost around 20 million...he has never given a dime to anyone that i know of. He has people around him that need help and he does not offer...mind you he owns probably 20 homes around the world. They drink and party and are NOT young. I think the last time I saw his wife i had a tiny influence. She has started to help people in small ways. Wealth is a funny thing..most people that have it take it for granted and have no idea how other people struggle. It is a crazy world
 
Cat1965 said:
Thyme may i ask who you were? I find some rich people act worse than children..
Click to expand...

I just prefer not to say who I was. I can safely say that person was not as people believed. There are people who say "He hated this" I even lied many times! People who claim to be him talk about these things as a truth. Many of the things I said were huge LIES. In my present life I am giving up that habit, and it is very healthy to say things as they are, without inventing to be pitiful. It was funny to me that people would believe my crazy stories, you know, there are people who think that what I said was the absolute truth about me (In that past life).

Back to the thread, yes, there are rich people I met in the past. They acted in a childish way, even if they were intelligent. For a moment, I also thought it was fun to have a lot of money (Something that's not bad at all) but in the end my family benefited from all that money. I suffered betrayals and serious problems for money. Anyway, I agree with baro-san, each person creates their own reality. Personally I feel good in my current life, even when my family didn't have much money when I was a child. I don't romanticize poverty, but, if you have money to spare, why not help someone who needs it? :rolleyes::)
 
[My avatar is Jizo Bodhisattva, the protector of children.] To me "materialism" means an attitude that denies all reality except what is seen or measured. In that sense it usually means atheism. I went through an agnostic phase as a young adult. Somehow I got snatched up by a religious cult which cost me all my money and which abused me relentlessly for 17 years. The cult was around music, figure that, and the cult leaders were musicians - a composer and a piano teacher. At first it seemed really neat (except for the requirement of sexual abstinence, a hellacious practice for mainly 20-something-year-olds), with all sorts of theories about "the other side", "guides", etc. etc. etc. I escaped it, but went atheistic for several years while in deep therapy. I became more spiritual though, with a firm belief in the transcendental nature of reality, the seen and the unseen. I'm now a prolific classical composer in a great marriage. But I sure had to pay my dues to get to this point. And I still have PTSD under major medication. But relatively speaking, life is good for me and my wife. So far, so good!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top