When Trungpa Rinpoche first came to the West he was struck by our obsession with materialism and materialistic success  •  he referred to materialism as a “spell” or a thick black fog that traps us in a particular fixed view, one that is not very healthy or uplifting  •  generally, materialism is a deadening quality where things and people are viewed merely as objects  •  1) physical materialism: how we relate with objects  •  2) psychological materialism: how we relate with our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs  •  spiritual materialism: when we use spiritual practices not to free ourselves from ego fixation, but to boost our egos