Materialism

They say, “Most people seek after what they do not possess and are thus enslaved by the very things they want to acquire”. It’s true. The years spent in college were truly idealistic with no thought lent to the murky path to be taken in future. The muck on this path is too much to describe in a single write up but the aspect that I am about to discuss is one that slowly catches up and refuses to let go - Materialism.
Materialism goes beyond definitions because it, in most cases, defines various parameters of lifestyle. Very few people can resist the radiating charms of materialism. It has the characteristic property of ruining a life while making the person in question squeal in delight at the thought of his/her latest acquisition. The birth of materialism in a person takes place when ‘wants’ become ‘needs’. For example, cell phones were a want in the era when the land phones were going strong. Today, probably a cell phone with PDA features has turned into an acquired ‘need’. People cite a lot of reasons for this metamorphosis. Some say that economic stability triggers it. Some others indict malefic social rat races. Agreed. However, these are environmental reasons and are easy to pinpoint (but not change). What I am after is the thought process that goes behind such a phenomenon and the potential solutions for it.
I always believed that eternal material comfort was a fallacy and that I would not fall prey to it even through my corporate lifestyle. I am yet to find out the shape my job is going to give me but the materialism factor can already be sensed as a side effect. Everything that exists is material-centric. Even a baby cries because he needs something material. Any fool understands the pinch of material lust but the mind presents the problem in at least two ways. The first is conscious thought, as felt in the aftermath of any enlightening experience. The second is the purpose of any thought and that is about something being beyond itself.
As I see it, there are three ways of tackling this raging quicksand of a problem. We can follow 'ease' as a dictating parameter in their gradation. The hardest method is eliminating feelings, emotions and every other mental state - in short be a machine. Everything that has to do with human feelings and wants need to be eliminated and be treated as redundant junk. A certain number of ‘acceptable’ finite states should govern our actions. In my case that would be declaring to myself that I was created to work and any other event would lead to a malfunction of my intended purpose. There has to belief that the purpose of existence is much bigger than the modus vivendi.
The next method is a little less harsh - We need to reduce these thought processes leading to materialism and boil them down to certain thoughts that start a train of other materialistic demands. We must however consider that these are not ‘demands’ per se but needs to avoid professional failure. Taking my case again, I could bring it down to the basics of feeding, clothing and housing myself. This method, though more humane, is far more difficult to put into practice than the previous method. The difficulty here lies in identifying the base needs and the derived wants/needs.
For the least resolute, the only way out is to accept science and the anabolic nature of the mind nevertheless claiming that it depends on the material in such an intimate way...way more intimate than a mere incidental connection and having a great natural dependence. This part means that you can fag your force away, soak your soul in ale, redefine the intensity of an orgy and generally have a blast 'cause whadda ya know - you're the new material man.