The Root Causes of Materialism

The Root Causes of Materialism

Sean: Next question, how have you been budgeting your income during the pandemic? Okay, and what percentage are for essentials, groceries, electricity, et cetera? That’s interesting.

Karlo: Well for this Sean, it depends from person to person and to answer this from a general perspective, because for someone who has dependents, of course, you will prioritize your essentials, which would be food, electricity, or if you’re renting – the rent and then after securing all the essentials, you will now look at the other expenses that will arise, such as transportation.

Karlo: But for someone who might be single maybe his or her goal currently is just saving up their monthly income, or thinking would it be just enough. So again, we need to assess our current situation and then we can also talk with our family about our season right now. Because right now Sean, there are a lot of cases of people with sufficient income, but if the family member has been affected by the pandemic. Maybe someone in the family got laid off or got a salary cut, so you need to consider also the people around you.

Karlo: So once you consider those aspects, you can now start the budgeting. How much percentage will go to the essentials, maybe 60 percent and then 20 percent for non-essentials? And if you can still save a portion that we’ll be better. But for the majority who are really affected and you cannot save money. Maybe they can also look for opportunities around them because like Sean as an entrepreneur, you can always have this entrepreneurial mindset, you need to look for problems that you can solve. So maybe those are the things that you can consider depending on your situation.

Sean: Very good. I might not be the best person to answer this one because it’s my wife doing the budgeting so she would know best. I’m just the one who’s reimbursing everything, so that’s how I do it. So I’m the kind of guy who would rather look at how much money I can make, than how much I could save. Don’t get me wrong, I actually save like 80 percent of my income, but I really would not want to be so nitty-gritty about, you know, maybe we could save on this and that and this and that. I would rather look at where the opportunities I can come in, where I can generate more revenue, or I could come in as a business.

Sean: Any tips for people who tend to overspend when they go shopping? Such as shopping in Lazada, Shopee? “Added to cart” everything in these online platforms, what are your tips for them to save?

Karlo: Yeah, there are many tips I could give. First one if you’re married, let your spouse do the shopping online because the “control” really depends on the personality of the person. So if you’re married, maybe you can ask for help from your spouse, but if you’re still single, you need to set boundaries. For example, per month you can set a boundary of 3000 to 5000 or maybe 10000, depending on your lifestyle, depending on your earning capacity. I say that because we do not want people to deprive themselves of budgeting. But once you set some parameters, you set some boundaries, you will be more aware, for example when you already reached the 3000 thousand or 5000, that will be your maximum budget for the month. Because the tendency is that we’re really enjoying because of the convenience, in just a click of a button you can already order. So ask for help. Also, if you have a family member who can remind you from time to time, who can check on you. So that will be a big help being accountable to someone like that. Yeah, go for your friends who can check on you.

Sean: Yeah, good stuff, I think for practical tips, Karlo, when you’re shopping in e-commerce sites – don’t do it after 8 p.m. because your hormones change at night and you tend to buy more stuff towards midnight. So yeah, just don’t buy them. Don’t check out your cart during those times.

Karlo: Or they just go window shopping, Sean.

Sean: Yes you can do ‘screen shopping’ as well.

Karlo: Yep, just go screen shopping.

Sean: Is it wrong to be a materialistic person? Lara asks. All right. Karlo, what do you think?

Karlo: Well, it’s not for us to judge a person if he or she is materialistic, but we can use the material things around us for a particular purpose. For example, you want to buy a particular gadget, because she will use it for her work or business, you want to bless your family with a new house, or maybe you want to buy a condominium. Again, it’s based on your goals, your purpose, why do you want to buy a particular item or product? As long as you are not living for it, but you are using it for your goals in life, or maybe you are using the stuff that you are buying to have meaningful relationships with other people. For example, you bought a new car because you want to travel with your family members.

Karlo: Again, as long as our motivation is not to impress people, buying things we cannot afford because we want to impress the people around us. So if that’s the case, maybe that’s not good, right? Because the motivation is not really for your benefit. So you are just buying things to impress people. Again, we need to go back to the purpose of why we are buying things. Just like, again, what we mentioned about stewardship. If we will utilize the resources that we have right now for a better purpose, for the common good of our community. I think we can use it to our advantage, right Sean? Because you are doing it for other people, not just for you.

Sean: That’s a very good answer. I would – so I’m not going to answer it in that perspective anymore because you’re phrased it perfectly. I’m going to answer it from a perspective of faith.

Sean: Okay, so I’m a man of faith, I share what I believe in, and being materialistic in my definition is someone who loves the material world. These things are things you can buy here. The things you can use here in this world. And in the Bible says, do not love the world or the things of the world, and the world is actually one of the enemies that Jesus points out in the Bible. And that’s because this is not our home. Someday we’re going to pass away and we’re going to get home to heaven, hopefully to heaven.

Sean: If you’re someone who believes in Jesus that he’s God, he died for you, saved you and you follow his word. That’s salvation right there. You’re able to get to heaven. That’s our true home. Everything you amass here, everything that you – if you put your hopes and dreams here on Earth, on stuff, on people, it’s going to pass away. Bible says everything’s going to burn at the end of the day.

Sean: And guess what? Elon Musk is an atheist, also says the same thing you know. So materialism is not going to end well for anyone who has material things in their heart. So that’s something for me. Yeah, I’d say it’s wrong. I’d say it’s wrong. I think at the very core, I’d say it’s better t love eternal things, such as the spirit, your spirit, my spirit, other people’s spirits, care about other people care about your own spirit, read God’s word, meditate on God’s word that is more important for me. The material things are there for us to bless others, to point people to God, and to also provide for our own needs and that’s it. That’s as far as material stuff goes for me.

Sean: Causes for a person to be materialistic?

Sean: I’d say two things. Number one is greed. Number two is lust. That’s it. When you lust for things, you want to get it. You want to buy it. You want to own it. And when you have a lot of lust for things, that’s greed. So I think those are two causes.

Sean: The root cause would be the heart. The Book of Jeremiah Chapter 17 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can understand it. I can understand it sometimes and want to buy stuff. I don’t even know why I want to buy stuff, even if it’s not to impress other people. It’s just sometimes you want to buy something useless. You know, I don’t understand why I’m like that sometimes. Thankfully, ninety-nine point nine percent of the time I refrain from buying that thing. But yeah, so that’s my take on that.

Sean: How can one get over materialism?

Sean: Have an eternal perspective. If you know that everything’s going to burn at the end of the day, then you’re not going to invest in this world, and the stuff’s in this world, you’re going to give. Like 10 percent, I give the God of everything I make. And then I also give to other people like pastors, missionaries to help further God’s kingdom. And yeah, I make it a habit to give every month. And I know a lot of people who also have that much faith that they give their tithes and then they give and support pastors and missionaries as well. And God has blessed those people immensely. And I want to be as blessed as they also. The Bible says, give – literally, the Bible says this give and it will come back to you. Good measure. Pressed down, shaken together, running over, overflowing. So that’s God’s word, that God’s promise. If you believe that, then it’s going to be true for you. I know it’s true for me. And the question is, is going to be true for you, right?