We are living in a material world

Many people believe the meaning of life lies somewhere in the concept of "progress". They believe this both personally - they have goals and ambitions - and cosmically - everything is evolving towards something better. And if the world isn't getting better on its own, it can be made better. This is where causes come in.

While I heartily endorse the impulse to improve the material conditions of people's lives, I do not believe the world is improved by fighting causes. For one thing, while you can feed, clothe and house people, you cannot make them happy - no matter how much money you throw at them. I recently heard of a study which found, given they are adequately housed, clothed and fed, the happiest people in the world are in South America, the most miserable in Western Europe.

However, most people don't get much more involved in causes other than voicing loud complaints that the government isn't giving them enough money because the prevailing philosophy in our society is "eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die". So our quest for happiness has led to a headlong competition for stuff - money, possessions, fame, choice, fun, adventure.

At present our local mall displays bill boards of a very photogenic family who are "champion shoppers" - consuming as a family activity. It's not news, of course, that we're a materialist society, but it's a belief that's so ingrained it catches us unawares - "oh, if only I could afford a new dress ..." But we know more stuff doesn't make us happy - just look at the stories in the women's mags - it's just that we have no other answers.

There's a singer I'm kind of fond of who sings biting satire in a little girl cockney voice who sums up this modern dilemma nicely: "I want to be rich and I want lots of money/ I don't care about clever/ I don't care about funny." Lily Allen's "The Fear" is a catalogue of all the stuff a modern young woman thinks she needs: "But it doesn't matter cause I'm packing plastic and that's what makes life so ...ing fantastic" and she finishes with that anathema to the women's movement "Not I'm not a saint and I'm not a sinner/ But everything's cool as long as I'm getting thinner."
So far, so good, but Lily's chorus packs the punch:
"I don't know what's right and what's real anymore
I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear?
Cuz I'm being taken over by the Fear."
Maybe she needs a good cause, but I've always found causes kind of naive. They have too much faith in mankind's ability to change.
What's missing here?