Hypnotic Cash

A great paradigm shift occurred in the 19th Century. Life no longer revolved around Church, rather people gathered along the corridors of the first department stores. Spirituality, over a relatively short period, turned into materiality. Slowly, after the invention of the elevator, buildings became the tallest structures in town. Church was not forgotten, religion was still a priority, but people began believing that luxury was more important than enlightenment.

Because of this shift in ideals, many religions lost followers and those remaining followers, lost faith. For religions such as Sikhism, materialism is the worst obstacle in the path towards spirituality. This is because material items bring about greed, anger and jealousy. What is luxury? Is it having material items, of which last only last for a short period of time then decay and are thrown out? Is it buying the newest, most expensive, items on the market, just to prove that you can afford such relatively useless materialistic items? Or is it being able to buy whatever you want, when you want it, and for absolutely no good reason? Such items will not, and cannot, be taken with you to an afterlife. In heaven, angels are not lazing around and watching a seventy inch plasma screen television, such a perspective cannot be related to such pure creatures. The simplicity of their clothing and lifestyle gives insight as to the life which humans should lead in order to achieve the ultimate goal in most religions, enlightenment.

All of the renowned and revered saints lived in simplicity. All of the more prominent leaders of religions, especially those with strong faith, live in simplicity. All humans try not to live in simplicity. The irony is the reality. Such a paradigm shift basically shifted the mind from necessities to luxuries. In truth, man needs only three things to survive: clothing, food and shelter. Not six cupboards filled with clothes and a 20-acre mansion.