As mentioned earlier, the influence of materialism on our lives is enormous. Although my forthcoming statements may seem radical, a thorough contemplation will reveal that the turmoil and sufferings in the world are significantly linked to materialism.
What is the first evident impact of materialism? According to Darwin's theory of evolution, our lives originated from the prebiotic soup in the sea, and evolved from the most primitive cells into reptiles, from reptiles into monkeys, and from monkeys into humans... Our lives are composed of inexplicable material combinations, and we come from the combination of our parents' sperm and egg. Each person only has one life, and there is nothing after death.
While it may sound absurd, materialism reduces human life to nothing more than a complex arrangement of material substances. According to this view, the world is made up entirely of matter and life emerges from material composition. However, when this composition breaks apart, death follows and nothing remains after death. Materialism also posits that every person has only one life. Unfortunately, this perspective on life can lead to two tragic outcomes: firstly, the course of life is inevitably doomed to tragedy and secondly, the end of life is also a tragedy.
What does it mean to say that the course of life is doomed to be a tragedy? Materialism posits that our lives are determined by our material composition, and this outlook suggests that to a large extent, our fate is beyond our control. My high school teacher used to tell us that life offers two paths: the first is the path that we can control, where we can study hard, pursue our passions, and achieve success.
The second path is the one we cannot control, known as fate. Even if we become experts in our field, there is no guarantee that we will not end up in jail someday, or that we will not be struck and killed by a car. There are simply too many things that are out of our control. According to the materialist view of life, the misery that hangs over the course of our lives is inevitable because fate is not meant to be altered. While some small parts of fate may be altered through our endeavors, overall, we are subject to forces beyond our control. (It is worth noting that Buddhism does not accept this notion, which we will explore later.)
Materialism views death as a dead end for human life. Since we only have one life, the meaning of it is largely determined by how long we can live. Therefore, we need to make the most of our time and strive to be as happy as possible because there is no second chance. The purpose of our existence is simply to make this life a worthwhile cause. While this idea may seem logical, it is not guaranteed to work out as we hope. Why?
Excerpted from: Buddhist Worldview and Modern Life
