A Red Flag Rises, Part IX: Materialism and the Death of the Soul

"God is dead," Nietzsche famously declared, and then went on to consider himself among the executioners, adding, "We have killed him."

While it is not strictly true that materialism always follows from atheism, the two philosophies are clearly closely related. With the denial of a spirit-creator there usually comes a denial of the spiritual dimension itself. It is certainly true that our world has never witnessed so great a wave of materialism as that which followed from the tide of the death-of-god philosophers during the last century and a half. There have been, throughout much of history, the occasional materialists (even as far back as the Roman philosopher Lucretius),  but never before have they been found in such great numbers, and never before have their ideas had so much impact upon society as now.

This sixth element of Marxist Socialism, materialism, is the subject of this present essay. It is not my purpose here to attempt an in-depth examination of materialism per se,  but only to offer some thoughts on several aspects and effects of materialism. This is, by no means, designed  to be an exhaustive list, but simply a brief examination of a few interesting points.

1. Biological determinism. Since strict materialism automatically assumes the denial of God, or gods, we must consider the effect of this philosophy upon our understanding of the nature and origins of man. Without the notion of a creator we are forced entirely upon the position of unaided evolution to explain the origins of our species. I say "unaided", for I am not attempting to discuss evolution here, pro or con. It may be possible to square the idea of evolution with the idea of a creating God, Who guides the process, and set it in motion. The materialist must accept evolution in toto, blind, unaided, and irresistible, as the sole cause of our existence. The only other possibility would be the eternal, unchanging existence of our species, which is clearly illogical. Those areas of our lives which involve something higher than matter, and which were traditionally ascribed to the action of God, such as conscience, moral and natural laws, kindness, etc., must now be seen purely as a construct of blind matter, the by-product of unguided evolution. Thus, even altruism, self-sacrifice, monogamy, parental love, and proscriptions against murder, are merely accidentally developed traits which have been beneficial to the survival of the species. There was a time when they did not exist, there may come a time when they no longer need to. Morals are not absolutes within such a system. Also, free will is here denied. I do not choose my behavior, nature has chosen it for me. If I am faithful to my spouse, that is because I have been programmed with traits which benefit the development of my species. If I am a philanderer, it is simply because I am following my innate programming to produce offspring. I am not free, I am not a "person". I am the grovelling prisoner of biological determinism, a piece of matter, the offspring of chance. My very emotions are evolutionary constructs. Love, free will, hope, the yearning for the eternal, the desire to create, friendship, pleasure--  to the true materialist all of these are illusions writ upon our beings by the hands of environment and history.

2. Destruction of artistic creativity. It should be clear from what I have written above, that a society which is defined by true materialism, which understands and accepts it, will become impoverished in the creative arts. The denial of the spiritual, of the afterlife, of free will, of the reality of love, of hatred, compassion, good and evil, is a denial of all those aspects of humanity which have been the wellspring of great art throughout the centuries. Artistry and creativity there may still be, but it will be shallow, confined to the material. Thus its focus will be increasingly upon sensuality, violence, and absurdity. Since the focus of these essays has been on Communism, it is worth noting here the remarkable bankruptcy of artistic creativity in Communist countries. Artistry of performance there has certainly been. Russia, China, and other Communist nations have shown us throughout the decades, through strict discipline and  the zeal to impress, phenomenal performances of opera, ballet, symphony, gymnastics, and other art forms. But the performance of preexisting works is not the same thing as creating new works of art. Consider Russia for a moment. Holy Mother Russia has produced a virtual pantheon of some of the finest composers and literary geniuses in history. In the field of classical music names such Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, and others come to mind. The roster of Russian writers may exceed even that of Russian composers. Chekov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nobokov, et al,created some of the most remarkable literary masterpieces of their generations. All these names either precede the Bolshevist revolution of 1917, or were separate from Communism . We have not seen their like in the long years of Communism. It is as though the greatness of Russian creativity vanished overnight, or was obscured from our sight in some Red fog. It may be argued here that the reason for this has been not so much materialism as from government censoring, the totalitarian crushing of free thought and speech. While there is certainly weight to such an argument, I do not believe that it can explain everything. Were there no happy materialists in Russia? Was no writer pleased with Communism? Surely some Red author, one who saw no reason to write anything displeasing to the Party, could have created some stirring drama of love and devotion, action and adventure, treason and faithfulness, hopes and dreams, despair and joy, brotherhood and suffering. But no, the human mind and spirit always seeks to go beyond and above itself. The human person longs for the infinite, seeks the joys of the spirit, and yearns for eternity. It is from this that great art springs. If even free will and the emotions are denied their validity (as mentioned above) in the materialist construct, and if eternity and the spirit are simply illusions, then the genius of the creative arts will no longer walk the land. Biologically determined animals with no freedom, no afterlife, no meaning, and no purpose have little need for art.

3. Greed. It occurs to me that Marx was often rather conveniently oblivious to the corruption inherent in human nature. I mentioned this briefly in the last post, in which we saw Marx's seemingly naive confidence in the realization of his future classless utopia. Of course the Church could have informed Marx about something called Original Sin, which means that his idea could never have been achieved without Grace, but atheists traditionally care little for the wisdom of the Church. Here again Marx's apparent naivete returns. He is a complete materialist, and expects that the Communist class will automatically dissolve itself after its successful revolution, in order to bring about a truly equal and classless society (see The Communist Manifesto). It does not require a philosopher or an economist to tell one that such an idea completely overlooks the very real possibility of the ancient vice of greed raising its ugly head. Greed for money, greed for power-- any philosopher not taking these aspects of human nature into account is doomed to create a failed philosophy. Certainly the possibility of greed destroying a society is always with us, yet a fully materialist society offers comparatively little with which to combat this vice besides sheer force. Even this force, be it police or military, offers no defense against the corruption of those who control it. With nothing to live for past this life, with no heaven or hell, no everlasting reward, what is there to restrain a man from greed, from enjoying the benefits of this life to the full? Certainly Communism has never yet entered its prophesied state of equality, brotherhood, and classlessness, but remains instead a society of inferiors and slaves, a society of "have-nots" ruled unrelentingly by the iron hand of the "haves", who have no desire towards sacrifice or brotherhood.

4. Despair and Hedonism. The idea of materialism, if well understood and truly lived out, seems to result in two distinct attitudes and modes of living: despair and hedonism. To understand that one's life has no real purpose, to understand that one is not responsible for his or her actions, and to understand that there is no life past the one which we live here, is to understand the stark idea of futility within one's own self. Such a realization makes it virtually impossible to live a "normal" life. In a person of morbid tendencies, or in one who is in a state of great suffering, this idea of futility may lead to despair, even to suicide. In another it will lead to hedonism, to the adopting of the philosophy of "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die".

 Needless to say, neither of these two traits, nor the other issues listed above, are precisely conducive for a healthy society.