Why Are Asian Countries Becoming So Materialistic And Moving Away From Spirituality So Fast?

[carlos flores]

I have been asking myself this question for quite a while. why are so many countries in Asia, especially Japan, South Korea and China, becoming so materialistic? From what it seems, they're slightly worse than us!

In Japan, for example, they now have "virtual wives" and have so many types of technology that seems to be replacing every single human aspect. They have become so immerse in materialistic stuff that it's actually quite sad to see it. While I admit i'm still materialistic myself, I can't see myself going that far as they do especially since the more aware I become, the more I realized how unnecessary it is.

How is it possible that these Asian countries with a long history of spirituality and being dominated by Buddhism is all the suddenly becoming so materialistic at a very fast pace? How long will it take for them to start moving towards spirituality again (if possible)?

[Ether]

Nobody knows. If you are expectating an assumption you shall be dissapointed because nobody can know.

[Prabhaker]

3 minutes ago, carlos flores said:

How is it possible that these Asian countries with a long history of spirituality and being dominated by Buddhism is all the suddenly becoming so materialistic at a very fast pace?

They were pretending to be spiritual, only few people were truly spiritual, now they have tasted fruits of materialism, it is very difficult to move towards spirituality again. No country was spiritual in true sense in the history. I live in India , I understand it very well. Few people are spiritual everywhere, mainstream society is materialistic everywhere. 

[Shin]

Because it's not a question of countries, but a question of individuality.

You can be spiritual as fuck without even heard of spirituality.

 

[Prabhaker]

3 minutes ago, Clint Eastwood said:

people always seem to talk about the 'materialistic West'

They are jealous of prosperity and civilization of west. I find western people less materialistic than an average Indian.

[Empty]

@carlos floresT The Arab world, which is the heart of Islam, is also moving into business and materialism, insanely. The problem, I think, is not a business. Instead, it is the universal internal laws that are cut with it.  With technology, people know the truth of their leaders who act out of ego in the first place. Now, they march and they want change!  

[AlwaysBeNice]

13 minutes ago, Empty said:

@carlos floresT The Arab world, which is the heart of Islam, is also moving into business and materialism, insanely. The problem, I think, is not a business. Instead, it is the universal internal laws that are cut with it.  With technology, people know the truth of their leaders who act out of ego in the first place. Now, they march and they want change!  

Islam teaches a vengeful separate God generally, that's creates and effect much like anti-spirituality and into complete mind insanity.

Sufism seems good though, but that's a small part of Islam

[Empty]

3 minutes ago, AlwaysBeNice said:

Islam teaches a vengeful separate God generally, that's creates and effect much like anti-spirituality and into complete mind insanity.

 

 

Yes, but it still provides a healthy way of living. I referred to the discipline of the Islam teaching. You find similar discipline in Buddism. Maybe the only difference is that Islam both teaches and rule people in a wise conscious way. 

[Harikrishnan]

6 hours ago, Prabhaker said:

They are jealous of prosperity and civilization of west. I find western people less materialistic than an average Indian.

Not only that we think we sorted out spirituality. But actualy we and past couple of generations have lost spirituality in true essence. India should go for full materialism and enjoy its full taste and after finding how shallow it is  then we can come back to roots. 

[Harikrishnan]

1 hour ago, Empty said:

@carlos floresT The Arab world, which is the heart of Islam, is also moving into business and materialism, insanely. The problem, I think, is not a business. Instead, it is the universal internal laws that are cut with it.  With technology, people know the truth of their leaders who act out of ego in the first place. Now, they march and they want change!  

Arab world where is the change? Saudi? Last month i heard they hanged an Atheist . Arabs in general are very very hard working people ? they dont have time for march or anything. (Money dosent raise conciousness)

[Prabhaker]

4 hours ago, Clint Eastwood said:

I think the in India the infrastructure is there to have a less materialistic life and focus on spiritual progress

Infrastructure is there but civilization is lost, mainstream society is trying to imitate west, obsession with money is at the levels of insanity. Retreat from materialistic life is an escapism instead of a spiritual growth in most of the cases.

[Key Elements]

@Prabhaker Yes, I agree with the materialistic part. Both sides have the wrong impression of each other. If I say I'm from the US, mainstream thinking in India would get the wrong impression of me, the individual. The same goes for the other mainstream society and probably any mainstream society. A lot of categorizations and assumptions are there. That's the material world. Mainstream relates on material, and even that is flawed. There's the wrong assumptions in clothing. 

[Harikrishnan]

4 minutes ago, Key Elements said:

@Prabhaker Yes, I agree with the materialistic part. Both sides have the wrong impression of each other. If I say I'm from the US, mainstream thinking in India would get the wrong impression of me, the individual. The same goes for the other mainstream society and probably any mainstream society. A lot of categorizations and assumptions are there. That's the material world. Mainstream relates on material, and even that is flawed. There's the wrong assumptions in clothing. 

Honestly couple of years back i coudnt imagine a spiritual American or an American monk.

[Key Elements]

3 hours ago, Harikrishnan said:

Not only that we think we sorted out spirituality. But actualy we and past couple of generations have lost spirituality in true essence. India should go for full materialism and enjoy its full taste and after finding how shallow it is  then we can come back to roots. 

Oh my, that will destroy the environment, right? I already saw Jubilee Hills a new section in Hyderabad built and now they are going beyond that and made new communities like Gachibowli and Kothapet. Concrete contrete everywhere. Fewer trees. I like prominent gurus like Baba Ramdev. Hopefully, they will help guide the mainstream. I love his toothpaste - Dant Kanti. His natural products and simple lifestyle speak to the public. I sure miss Sai Baba. 

[Prabhaker]

17 minutes ago, Harikrishnan said:

Honestly couple of years back i coudnt imagine a spiritual American or an American monk.

 Only when a society becomes affluent does spirituality become meaningful. To be spiritual, or to be interested in the ultimate questions of life, one needs to have fulfilled all lower wants and needs. For example, in Buddha’s time, India was like America is today. In those days, India was the richest land. The spirituality that we have in India today is just a leftover from those days. 

[Seeker_of_truth]

Being materialistic (as far as my understanding goes) means being attached to physical things. I'm an Indian and so maybe I can understand some thing going on here...

Someone like me would be highly skeptical of all the traditions and I would rather go by what I think is right than going by some tradition for tradition's sake. Till now in my life, I've had constantly changing views on god. But an average person isn't like that. They believe in their parents and higher authorities (like holy books, priests, etc) and they don't change their beliefs as if they know its the truth. But reading psychology and watching Leo's videos, now I think that spirituality has got some thing to offer and how tricky my mind is. When you don't know that you can find happiness in something other than physical things, naturally you go to find happiness in physical things. Even if asians were spiritually dominant in the past, the traditions have become for tradition's sake and almost no one knows why the heck they put such traditions in the first place. Most just follow it because their parents did so without knowing the reasons. As time progressed the reasons were lost and here we are now with most people following those traditions with zero understanding of what they are supposed to do, so they do almost all of it wrong. The skeptical rest either plunge into materialism or turn to spirituality. What do those people who follow traditions for traditions sake become ? materialistic, because they don't know any other way of finding happiness than by materialistic stuff. If they didn't know anything about their mind then they'd be like that for the rest of the life - working hard for temporary happiness.

I think they should be taught proper traditional practices or they should watch Leo's videos with an open mind. I think the former is easier to implement in large scale as most people don't like to accept the fact that their idea of religion is false. There is this guy in India called Sadhguru, he does both. As a skeptical Indian I was surprised at how much meaning there is to some traditional practices which he sometimes mentions.

 

[Seeker_of_truth]

Also in yoga there is something called karma yoga - yoga by action. I see a lot of people becoming spiritual by doing this. They look like the average people but they are not. What this means is that you gotta do things that you love so much that the act of doing it becomes much more bigger than your own life. So I think Leo's life purpose course is also a spiritual course. It might not enlighten you but at least you'll love your life. 

[Harikrishnan]

3 minutes ago, Key Elements said:

Oh my, that will destroy the environment, right? I already saw Jubilee Hills a new section in Hyderabad built and now they are going beyond that and made new communities like Gachibowli and Kothapet. Concrete contrete everywhere. Fewer trees. I like prominent gurus like Baba Ramdev. Hopefully, they will help guide the mainstream. I love his toothpaste - Dant Kanti. His natural products and simple lifestyle speak to the public. I sure miss Sai Baba. 

Envirnoment is getting destroyed rapidly. Iam from Kerala which is famous for its green is loosing its green. We are not getting rain like old times (5yrs back) and its getting hotter and hotter day by day. (And i feel pity for people who are saying climate change is hoax) And baba ramdev is not admired in my state much and people are looking with suspicion. Spiritual masters are not cared much even in our spiritual circle. Even on Sadguru we have two opinion. (I like both of them for there work). Thats why i said let materialism run its full course.

[Key Elements]

@Seeker_of_truth There are still many who say, "He is not of my religion," and just do their pooja at home and that's it. Hopefully, that will change. I think there is some hope in the younger generation. If they are  aware of their environment and destruction of it, they could get past that.

[Seeker_of_truth]

@Key Elements What I see is most people are mechanical. They don't think for themselves. I think the first thing such people should do is to start thinking. As you say yes, maybe the younger generation can do it.