This is another article written at the request of one of the BrianKim.net Inner Circle members. It’s one of the many privileges membership has to offer. We all know deep down inside that materialism is an empty path.

Always buying the latest, greatest, most expensive stuff doesn’t lead to a better life. Advertising has us believing that though as it’s in the corporations best interest to get you to buy those things. Media portrays celebrity lifestyles of mansions, cars, clothes, and conditions us to believe if we have all that too, it will give us the good life.

But as we get older, we see through the facade.

Yet, we are all still drawn to the path of materialism.

There’s this “magic pull” to it.

What is this magic pull that materialism has on us?

Logically, we know it to be bad for us, yet we want to pursue it.

If we can identify what this pull is, it’ll be easy to avoid falling into the trap of materialism.

Here’s the magic pull.

Realize this:

We don’t want the Ferrari.

We don’t want the mansion.

We don’t want the latest designer clothes.

We want the SOCIAL BENEFITS that come with all those things.

That’s the pull.

Think about it.

If everyone in the world was blind except you, would you still want the Ferrari, the mansion, the clothes, etc.?

What use would it be?

Might as well drive a pinto, live in a trailer, and walk around naked because none would be the wiser.

You would still have the same level of social benefits as far as you’re concerned.

But alas, we don’t live in a world where everyone is blind.

And we know people judge us by what they see.

So we think – buy all the nice things and get the social benefits that come along with those things.

We want to be admired, respected, and get that envious attention from the people in our social circle so we succumb to the path of materialism to get those social benefits.

It’s the dream to pull up to your house with the Ferrari and see the jaws drop and hear the “oohs and ahhs” from your neighbors, especially the ones who have been rubbing their big purchases in your face.

That’s the magic pull.

Sure some will say they just want the Ferrari because it’s a nice car and it’s fast, but deep down inside, the pull of the social benefits is still there acting as the motivational force.

And it makes sense.

Social benefits were crucial to survival in the “tribal sense” back in the day.

But here’s the thing.

Let’s say you buy a Hummer. Does that Hummer garner you the same social benefits you seek if your social circle (the people you know and associate with constantly) say is made up of hardcore environmentalists?

Probably not.

You’d probably be shunned and excommunicated from the group.

This is key here because you have to realize that social benefits are relative to the social group.

If you don’t have a specific social circle that you belong to, it’s a sign you’re having some trouble forming a rock solid personal identity. You don’t know who you are, what you stand for. Because you have no identity, you defer to the most popular social group, which is the group of the majority – which of course extols materialism.

You want the social benefits of that group so you pursue materialism to get it.

Here’s the thing though.

If you’re an exercise freak, you hang out with other exercise freaks. It doesn’t matter if you buy a Hummer. What you want is to be as physically fit as possible, push your body to the limit so maybe you train for triathlons.

And here’s the difference.

You don’t train for a triathlon because of the social benefits of taking that action.

You want to do the triathlon anyway, of your own volition.

The motivation behind it is “taint free”.

And the social benefits are a plus. A bonus. You’re not doing it SOLELY for the social benefits.

You’re doing it because YOU WANT TO DO IT.

Other exercise freaks in your social circle will be in awe of you, will admire you, give you that respect you seek – but you never wanted that directly. You were just doing what you wanted to do. All that came as a byproduct.

So then you won't feel the need to buy expensive things to give you those social benefits as you already have them.

Other people just get into materialism solely for the social benefits, but they fight against themselves on the way to getting those benefits.

It’s the classic case of the Joe Schmo working at a job they hate, buying things they don’t need with money they don’t have, just to impress people they don’t really like, and that’s no way to live.

Why do things you hate just to get social benefits from people who you don’t really like?

This works both ways though.

If you think of yourself as a worldly person and want nothing but the best material goods in your life, go for it. Find others who want the same thing. They won’t be hard to find. Do what you have to in order to get what you want. The social benefits will be a plus for you as well.

It’s a one glove fits all approach to getting the social benefits you seek naturally.

So the key here is to give yourself an identity. Who are you? What do you stand for?

Once that’s done, you live up to that identity and your social circle starts to slowly build of people who share similar values, and at the same time, you weed out all the others who don’t so you’re not exposed to any temptations to pursue other activities to gain social benefits.

You do what you want to do and the social benefits you get, come naturally as a side effect.