Materialism: The Antithesis of Wisdom
"The cultivation and expansion of needs is the antithesis of wisdom. It is also the antithesis of freedom and peace. Every increase in needs tends to increase one's dependence on outside forces over which one cannot have control, and therefore increases existential fear. Only by a reduction of needs can one promote a genuine reduction in those tensions which are the ultimate causes of strife and war." -E.F. Schumacher We live in a world of increasing needs. Historically, humans have been a species of relatively few and basic needs: food, shelter, water, clothing, community, and love. Why have our needs changed and how have they changed us? We need untrammeled nature because it makes us feel good in a way that nothing else can. When we sit and observe the natural world, we are seeing life that was created by the same hand that created us, and so the experience gives us some objectivity in an otherwise subjective experience. The fact that the creator should create such
