Materialism isn't stuff - it is what matters.

Guardian article: Materialism: a system that eats us from the inside out
Buying more stuff is associated with depression, anxiety and broken relationships. It is socially destructive and self-destructive






What 'matters' to you?
If your answer is living for the approval and acceptance of 'others', then this materializes for you.
If sharing the honest joy in your very existence with others who share it with you matters - then you materialize this.

For many, the substitution of our self for a mask occurs in childhood and becomes fixed in adolescence. With grace we outgrow that enough to regain a true sense of value in our relationships - rather than reactively defining ourselves externally.

The mask is a deception and entrances us to a world of deceptions. Its a kind of dark magic that can on the one hand make you invisible when you don't want to be 'exposed', or can so corrupt the mind as to make it a slave to the lust for power over one's life, over others, over Life.

Doing what you want is what the mask aspires to - but it doesn't want YOU to take it off! Doing what you truly want is a deep self-honesty.

Presence is lost to pretence. Why keep up the charade? Because the mind of the mask was made to escape a lovelessness it could not cope with - and reopening those fears is unthinkable. This is where a little love goes a long way.

How to get off the rat race? Presence not pretence. What really matters is what we choose to value. Regardless of the past this is a new moment because we have the power to choose what we value anew.