Korea Institute of Psycho-education: The danger of materialism in the pursuit of happiness

Humans are designed to pursue happiness in relationships with other people. We must accurately understand the operational mechanism of human mind and psychology in order to pursue happiness in the right way instead of judging based on only visible phenomena. When you accurately understand the operational mechanism of mind and psychology, you can analyze your own and other people's psychology and find the right way to pursue self-actualization and maintain healthy relationships.

These days, many people put importance on making financial success in pursuing happiness. They think that the more money you have, the happier you become, so never stop making efforts to accumulate wealth by all means. We also see the phenomenon of 'the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer' adopting the concept of relativistic view on wealth.

As an individual who lives in the world of materialism, you cannot just blame others or the society for the prevalence of materialism. You must first calmly reflect on whether financial success can be equated with happy life or whether you put more importance on other things in the pursuit of self-actualization. People who get used to the convenience of materialism tend to equate wealth with happiness. Some may employ immoral or illegal ways to accumulate wealth losing integrity as a human being. The society with many people who prioritize wealth over many other important matters will experience the polarization of wealth and other diverse social problems.

Happiness is not determined by the amount of money you have. You will become unhappy if you constantly compare yourself with someone who has more money than you no matter how much you already have. You can become absolutely happy with only basic necessities when you are satisfied with what you have. Happiness comes from inside yourself based on your own standards. Everyone has different standards for how much money you need to be rich and happy. If you live with the idea that the richer, the happier, you will not be able to be satisfied with your life forever. You will be anxious and nervous to get one more sheep when you already have 99 sheep.

There are two ways to achieve financial success. One is to make efforts on your own and the other is to take others' achievement. The latter is easier than the former. The society is considered healthy when most people choose to make efforts on their own to achieve financial or other types of success. Some people focus on what they are interested in instead of financial success itself. They can develop their own ability in the area they are interested in with passion, will power, and constant efforts. They are highly likely to achieve success that is often accompanied by financial success. They may experience many incidents of trial and error in the process, but they do not stop pursuing their goal keeping pure passion.

Many people try to succeed on their own for financial or other types of success. In the process, many people make efforts only to fail and despair. If you give up pursuing self-actualization thinking that you are unlucky or incapable, all the efforts you have made so far become nothing. You must think that you are not unlucky or incapable but the opportunity has not come just yet, and must keep going. Also, you must not give up just because you are not recognized by other people. We all have the desire for recognition, but it should not be the major factor that stops you from making efforts with passion for your own goal of success.

When you are satisfied with what you have now adopting only your own standards, you don't even have to apply the concept of financial success or 'the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer' in the pursuit of happiness. You must decide for yourself whether you really want to become richer than now or you are satisfied with the financial situation you are in now. If you decide that you want to become richer, you must examine whether you are building skills and abilities to become richer, or watching for an opportunity to take others' wealth. In the society where materialism prevails over other values, rich people are susceptible to losing their wealth any time since many people try to take their wealth at all costs, and distrust and corruption also prevail.

When you get immersed into what you like with pure passion, you become happy and generate even more passion, which may eventually be accompanied by financial success. When you pursue only financial success in your life with the concept of materialism neglecting other important values, it is unlikely that you become happy and you will be easily damaged by stress and wounds. Humans are designed to feel happy when they are in the process of pursuing self-actualization. As you connect and equate self-actualization with the accumulation of wealth more and more, you will become greedier and greedier discarding all other values.

If you really want to achieve financial success keeping other important values, you should first build your own skills and abilities to achieve your goal. People who want to become rich but do not want to make efforts are considered to be not pursuing self-actualization of any type for happiness and have psychological problems. Make sure that you examine what your standard of happiness is and your psychological condition. You cannot become happy until you die when money becomes the only standard for happiness. Wealth itself is not anything wrong or improper, but adopting materialism in the pursuit of happiness is.

The most dangerous thing in the pursuit of human happiness is not poverty but despair. When you keep hope and keep making efforts to cultivate the wasteland, you will find the land full of fruitful plants and lively animals someday. Rich people will lose happiness when they become greedy enough to be anxious and nervous to gain one last sheep to have 100 sheep by all means. Not only despair but also greed are unnecessary elements in the pursuit of self-actualization for true happiness.