Thank you Peter. I think most therapeutic intervention has some root in ancient philosophy and I am more amazed to find out how most things/concepts/ideas I use personally and professionally for enhancing well-being existed thousands of years ago! 🙂

Hi Marc,

It would be lovely to discuss the notion of materialism and the semantics of the word further – but whatever we title the concept I refer to in this blog entry, some evidence tends to suggest that by always striving for more than we have, the gulf created tends to make people feel unhappy or dissatisfied. Thus being grateful for what you do have and what you have accomplished is a lovely antidote.

Onto discussing the nature and true meaning of materialism… I learned a lot of new things here in your answer, which made me very happy. I’ll go and read some more and perhaps be better prepared for that discussion 🙂 … But it is on my agenda for the next time we sit down for drinks together.

Could it be perhaps interesting to explore the word « materialism » a little deeper.
Today, we consider someone « a materialist » when he or she is only interested in amassing vast quantities of « matter », someone obsessed with things. The materialists are being opposed to those believing in some kind of afterlife, holding the belief that earthly possessions are of no value where we’ll be going « after ». One side says « you only live once », the other « there is another world waiting for you ».

The paradox is that the philosophical term « materialist » refers to someone that holds a conception of the world as only being made of matter. For a materialist, everything is made of matter, it does not exclude the idea of a deity or even that something exists after our earthly journey. Materialism posits that should there be a god or some kind of afterlife, they are just made of ordinary matter. What materialism refutes is the idea of different levels of reality, materialism refutes transcendence, the idea of lower worlds made of matter and upper worlds made of something else.
As such, materialism opposes dualism or idealism as championed by Plato (and of course by various churches because this philosophy fitted more with their ideas…) ,where our world is just a pale copy of an perfect world made of ideas.

As a materialist, I don’t consider that collecting things is good or bad, I have no judgement, mind you, I often do it myself.
On the other hand, becoming too attached to things can become a real psychological problem and an obstacle to a balanced life, that is where we, as hypnotherapists, can help.
If, like me, you attach importance to the meaning of words, and I think you do, you will understand my point of view.
In opposition to most of your peers, hypnosis is a field you like to champion as a scientific one, hypnosis is not just a word, it is something you will stand for.
Couldn’t we do the same with tortured words like materialism…?

The irony, of course, is that Epicurus was…a materialist…

What about you…?

😉