From ancient grain silos to modern stock portfolios, humanity has never escaped the simple and seductive equation of worth with wealth. What once meant counting cattle and measuring harvests now translates to luxury cars in garages, real estate empires, and stock portfolios that supposedly validate our existence.

This material obsession permeates every layer of society. We often measure a person's success not by their character, but through Forbes listings, where billionaires become demigods and their net worth determines newsworthiness. Corporations chase market share and revenues, while entire nations reduce their complexity to a single, cold number: GDP. Whether we're measuring individuals, companies, or countries, we've surrendered to the same primitive impulse—believing that accumulation equals achievement.

The tragedy isn't that we pursue material comfort, but that we've allowed possessions to possess us, mistaking the size of our bank accounts for the depth of our lives. In this relentless pursuit of material wealth, we've forgotten to ask the most important question: When did having more become more important than being more?

The Matter of Being Material

To understand our material obsession, let’s examine what "material" actually means. The word derives from Latin materialis—" of, belonging to matter." Everything we see, smell, taste, and touch consists of materials in the form of atoms bonding to each other and forming the substances that make up our world: air in the wind, water in rivers, rocks on mountains, planets in solar systems, stars in galaxies, and life itself.

We are material beings. Our bodies are an arrangement and linkage of atoms, such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, that form amino acids, lipids, proteins, and DNA, which in turn form larger structures, including cells and tissues, that comprise and sustain us. From birth, we acquire materials essential for survival: oxygen, water, food, and shelter. These aren't luxuries—they're biological necessities. Without these basic materials, life becomes impossible or difficult.

As societies advance, our needs expand beyond the basics of survival. We develop medicines, tools, houses, entertainment devices, transportation systems, communication tools, and countless other products that enhance modern life.

The Allure of the Measurable

We gravitate toward material metrics because they appear tangible, quantifiable, and universally understood. We can count the number of cars manufactured, track revenues in dollars, and compare these concrete numbers across time and places. In modern societies, economic performance is mainly based on material accumulation. It offers the appealing illusion of objective success measurement. However, does this dominant metric truly reflect our well-being or happiness?

The belief that happiness and economic performance are linked has shaped policy development across nations. In nearly every modern U.S. election, economic issues have been a dominant concern for voters. This connection seems logical, and it explains the relative success of the US economy compared to other countries.

One country took a very different approach. In 1729, Bhutan's legal code declared that "if the government cannot create happiness for its people, there is no purpose for the Government to exist." This philosophy crystallized in 1972 when the Fourth King proclaimed Gross National Happiness (GNH) more important than Gross National Product, fundamentally reorienting national policy around well-being rather than economic output. The principle became constitutional law in 2008, with Article 9 directing the State "to promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness."

Yet Bhutan remains an exception. Every other country continues to use economic performance or GDP as its primary policy driver, raising an interesting question: why has this economic metric, measuring material and monetary value, become the dominant factor in determining success?

The Blurred Line Between Need and Want

As explored above, certain materials are essential for life and comfort; however, the boundary between what we need and what we want often blurs. Yet, the driving force is constant: our fundamental desire to feel good and be happy.

Our survival instincts naturally propel us to accumulate materials beyond immediate needs. Like animals storing food for lean seasons, humans are hardwired to gather and store things that we perceive as valuable. What begins as a biological necessity evolves into a comfort-seeking desire, driven by the need to avoid the stress of hunger and a lack of necessities, which can cause significant discomfort.

Yes, it's hard to resist the desire for comfort. When the desire to be comfortable dominates, then luxury obsession has already begun. At each stage, we're driven by promises of greater satisfaction, yet reality proves more complex.

When I examined my own desire for comfort, I recognized a similar pattern in myself. When I first arrived in the US as a high school student, my possessions consisted of a few pairs of clothes I brought from Vietnam. The remaining items were oversized clothes donated by a local church. Our family of eight shared a used Toyota sedan and owned no bicycles. Though I occasionally wished for better-fitting clothes and my own car, I rarely felt deprived. I was genuinely happy to embark on a new journey filled with promise.

As I worked toward my goal of becoming a surgeon, my primary motivation has always been to help people, particularly children. However, economic incentives certainly influence many of my decisions along the way. When I became an attending surgeon, I could purchase clothes without checking price tags. Our family of four owned six bicycles, two cars, and numerous possessions. Each item seems justified - the road bike connects me with fellow riders and improves my fitness, while cars serve as a means of commuting to work and transportation for children to activities. Yet, despite this abundance, my happiness level at that time was definitely lower than when I first arrived in the US.

The Happiness Paradox

Global surveys confirm this pattern. Since 2012, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network has been releasing its The World Happiness Report, which ranks countries by happiness based on factors such as income, social support, life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption. Over time, the report indicates that poorer countries experience increased happiness with rising income, while wealthy nations show no correlation between additional income and well-being. Despite tremendous economic growth over the past fifty years, Americans’ happiness levels have remained stagnant, even among the highest earners who have experienced dramatic wealth increases.

Richard Easterlin identified this paradox: within any society, wealthier individuals report higher happiness than poorer ones, yet entire populations don't become happier as national income rises. We're comparing ourselves to our immediate social environment, not historical standards or distant populations. In my case, I was comparing myself to other surgeons and wealthy neighbors, rather than to the people in the poor Dorchester neighborhood where we lived after moving to the United States. In the new environment, I often felt the need to gauge my own success and that of my children against my peers and their children.

This phenomenon scales upward relentlessly. The poor compare themselves to the middle class, the middle class to the wealthy, and the rich to the ultra-wealthy—creating what economists call the "hedonic treadmill." Each group chases the lifestyle of those above them, transforming economic pursuit into social competition rather than genuine fulfillment.

The Monkey Business of Comparison

Science shows this pattern extends beyond humans. Researchers Brosnan and de Waal demonstrated this with capuchin monkeys. When one group received grapes and another received cucumbers for identical tasks, the cucumber recipients became agitated and refused to complete tasks they'd previously performed happily. (Capuchin monkeys prefer grapes over cucumbers.) Despite our evolutionary sophistication, we exhibit remarkably similar behavior.

We instinctively measure ourselves against immediate peers, not absolute standards. A neighbor's Porsche renders our Toyota inadequate, regardless of whether it meets our needs. This comparison triggers endless cycles of material pursuit, not for genuine need, but to maintain social parity and self-worth.

The Hidden Costs of Endless Pursuit

The perpetual desire to gain material comes at a cost. Like any endeavor, material pursuit consumes our most finite resource: time. Rich or poor, young or old, powerful or powerless, everyone receives equal time—24 hours daily. Economic pursuits drain these irreplaceable hours, creating trade-offs that compound silently and unnoticed.

These trade-offs manifest across three critical areas: health, relationships, and meaning. Our health deteriorates when we neglect the basic care of our bodies in the relentless pursuit of economic goals. Relationships suffer when work consumes time that could be spent with family and friends. Families and friendships often drift apart when we prioritize earning over being present. Financial reward overshadows a genuine relationship, which can become transactional when self-comparison dominates authentic connection.

Most importantly, life's meaning erodes as monetary success becomes more important than personal fulfillment. Being short on time, we will often cut out contemplation, meditation, praying, and reflection from our day. We end up working tirelessly for luxuries whose roles we don’t understand in our lives. On top of that, the consequence of overworking is that we don’t have the time or health to enjoy the fruit of our labor. This process reveals diminishing returns in action, but with costs we rarely calculate.

Beyond personal costs, our pursuit exacts environmental tolls. Extraction, production, and consumption are driving forces behind deforestation, pollution, and climate change. We trade pristine environments and planetary health for goods that often end up neglected or in landfills—a cycle that ultimately undermines the world we're trying to improve.

Navigating Without Being Consumed

So, how do we navigate the material world without being consumed by it?

Many religions have explored this question thoroughly throughout history. Some offer acceptance with caution, while others recommend extreme asceticism. The results vary.

When Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha, sought to understand the nature of suffering and its solution, he realized that neither extreme indulgence nor extreme self-denial was possible for awakening. He then embraced the Middle Way, a balanced approach to life without indulgence in pleasure nor enduring in self-mortification.

The answer to achieving material balance lies in a proper understanding—comprehensive knowledge of materials, from our physical bodies to those we interact with—and prioritizing their importance properly. Recognizing my previous indulgence in material possessions and understanding the necessity of them in modern life with its many responsibilities, I have adjusted my view and relationship with them. The acquisition of materials, whether for clothing, transportation, or sustenance, should serve the needs of bodily survival and function, maintain and enhance social roles (such as being a parent, physician, or friend), and promote peace and sustainability.

Lessons from Life and Death

During a January 2023 football game, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed after colliding with a Cincinnati receiver and went into cardiac arrest. While terrified teammates and fans watched, medical personnel used CPR and an automated external defibrillator, or AED, to resuscitate him. Twenty months after this near-death incident, Hamlin returned to football.

Hamlin's survival—like that of countless others—was possible due to a system established in the 1950s, when Peter Safar, James Jude, William Kouwenhoven, and Nick Knickerbocker combined mouth-to-mouth breathing with closed-chest cardiac massage to create standardized CPR. This CPR system was based on the easily remembered mnemonic ABC—airway, breathing, and circulation—which has been adopted into other advanced resuscitation systems, such as ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) and ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support), saving millions of people annually.

CPR's sequence of ABC isn't just a useful mnemonic—it's recognition of physiological law. Although human survival depends on many elements, some basic and some complex, specific priorities exist among the endless factors. Understanding the most critical elements first—airway and breathing before circulation—allows us to control life-threatening situations for better outcomes.

Similarly, an endless variety of materials exists that humans need for survival and want for comfort, from water to hydrate, to clothes for warmth, and to cars for transportation. Yet certain priorities exist among materials necessary for human survival and well-being. Understanding this principle enables us to pursue materials optimally, benefiting our own health, the wellness of others, and global sustainability.

The ABCDE Framework for Material Priorities

As with the chaos surrounding Hamlin’s teammate when his heart stopped, we often have a hard time deciding what to do when faced with many competing demands in life. Derived from physiological and natural laws, this framework is designed to provide a simple, easy-to-remember sequence for our daily work, laying the foundation for our material world. It starts with the first material that we were given: our body.

Let’s look at LeBron James as an example, who continues to play elite professional basketball at the age of 40. He reportedly spends $1.5 million annually on health maintenance. While seemingly extravagant, this investment directly supports his $133 million yearly income (2024). His approach recognizes what many miss: personal health is the prerequisite that makes everything else possible and sustainable.

Based on the principle of health over accessory, what follows is the order of materials one should pursue, derived from physiological and natural laws.

A - Air and Oxygen for Breathing: Oxygen in air is our most critical need. Oxygen is necessary for all cellular function. Death is inevitable within minutes without adequate oxygen. Anyone who has taken care of acutely ill people knows that the first thing we need to pay attention to is their ability to get air into their lungs and their breathing. The need to breathe in air is so vital that it’s hardwired into our autonomic nervous system, so we don’t have to control it actively.

Yet we often take air and breathing for granted. Challenges, such as climate change, air pollution, and poor breathing habits like mouth breathing and smoking, compromise this foundational health element.

By optimizing breathing techniques and protecting the air that enters our lungs, we can recognize the importance of air and breathing on our survival and overall well-being.

B - Beverage and Water Hydration: Our second most critical resource. Water is fundamental to life at every level, from molecular to cellular, physiological, and ecological. Without water, enzymes cease to function, cells shrink, waste accumulates, and we, or any organism, will die, often within days. Water scarcity already affects millions globally.

Yet, for many of us with access to water, we can compromise our health by knowingly or unknowingly contaminating our water with toxic chemicals and added substances that are harmful to our bodies, such as lead, PFAS (forever chemicals), sugars, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, preservatives, alcohol, etc. Industrial activities—such as plastic production, mining, and fertilizer usage—contaminate water sources, creating long-term consequences for all life.

Our priority is to care for our own health and the health of others by ensuring proper and healthy hydration and preserving clean water for our use.

C - Cradle and Cocoon for Sleep, Shelter, and Protection: Sleep and rest are evolutionarily conserved behaviors in all complex organisms, especially animals with nervous systems. Although not all life forms "sleep" in the same way humans do, nearly all life exhibits daily rhythms that regulate energy, repair, and survival. While food and water support cellular functions, sleep, rest, and dreams primarily support the brain, mind, and their recovery. The effects of sleep and dreams also ripple across all physiological systems.

In modern society, material pursuits, among other things, often come at the expense of sleep, rest, and bodily protection, leading to poor physical and mental health. Moreover, poorly designed shelters, such as houses and clothes, strain environmental resources without improving sleep quality and protection.

To facilitate adequate and healthy sleep, rest, and protection, suitable and affordable housing and clothing are needed. The construction and production of environmentally friendly and sustainable houses and clothes would ensure our long-term well-being and happiness.

D - Diet and Food: Food is critically important to us because it provides the energy and building blocks necessary for our survival, growth, reproduction, and repair. Food provides our primary source of energy, fueling everything we do. The importance of food over reasoning, listening, or praying is emphasized throughout history. An Indian proverb reminds us that “Even the Lord does not accept prayers from an empty stomach.” In the West, French poet and fabulist Jean de la Fontaine said, “A hungry stomach has no ears.”

Historically, food was scarce, and famine caused significant human deaths. In modern times, while some regions still experience food shortages, the overconsumption of unhealthy food and food production that prioritizes quantity and profits over quality create both health crises and environmental damage. Poor knowledge of nutritional science and eating habits contributes to the modern obesity pandemic and metabolic disorders, while industrial agriculture drives deforestation.

Focus should shift toward consuming balanced, healthy, whole foods in appropriate quantities and adopting sustainable farming and food production practices.

E - Exercise and Energetic Movement: Exercise is vital for maintaining and improving overall health and well-being. Its importance spans across physical, mental, and emotional dimensions. Our bodies evolved for physical activity. Historically, humans walked, ran, and jumped to hunt food and harvest goods.

Modern life, with its transportation, automated factories, and industrial farming, has largely eliminated the need for prolonged physical movement and labor, often leaving us bound to sedentary work. Sedentary living is strongly linked to a range of chronic diseases and health risks, affecting nearly every major system—cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal, oncological, neurological, and psychological..

Our priority is integrating movement, lifting objects, and stretching our bodies into daily activities. We can accomplish these tasks either by incorporating activities into our daily life, such as walking, cycling for transportation, taking the stairs, or dedicating time to perform these activities through exercises or workouts. Regular physical activity is not just for fitness; it’s essential for disease prevention and long-term health.

The Dust We Are

The framework above acknowledges a fundamental truth: materials are one of the key components of our existence. As scripture reminds us, "for dust you are and to dust you will return." Our physical existence depends on a constant exchange of materials with the environment—oxygen for carbon dioxide, water for urine, and food for waste. Material isn't separate from life; it is part of life.

A key to well-being and happiness lies in achieving material harmony, which means neither in acquiring more goods nor rejecting materialism, but in understanding the materials themselves, from our bodies to the cars we build, and what is the order of importance in our lives. When we prioritize genuine needs, whether biological or psychosocial, over sensual indulgence or hedonic desires, our relationship with the physical world will be at its truest form. Instead of exploitation and excess, we foster a sustainable exchange, signifying the continuous cycle of material turnover.

This shift serves not only individual well-being but extends outward to benefit everyone around us. When our choices align with health, relationships, environmental stewardship, and meaning, we model a different way of living—one others can observe and adopt. Through harmony with the material world that sustains us, we can discover the happiness we were seeking all along.

The Material Pursuit and Its Role in Happiness