How to deal with the non-material

Beyond the sova point the question of how best to deal with material goods ceases to be compelling. As we move through the sova point the compelling question becomes how best to deal with the non-material. 

So what is the non-material? 

• It is relationships with other people or collectives of beings, 
• it is concern for the fertility and resiliency of the systems to which we belong, 
• it is the cultivation of the values and ideals to which we submit ourselves, 
• it is the management of our self- and mutual-esteem. 

In every case the non-material has to do with the storage or restorage or sustenance or maintenance of something of value. Insofar as we are maintaining something of value what we're doing is submitting ourselves to the needs of that thing and that value. The difference between material and non-material is that we consume the material while we submit ourselves to the non-material. 

God is that Being with Whom we can correspond regarding the non-material in terms of the values and the exercise of relationship – affection, caring, anger, admiration, etc. 

It is from the material things in our lives that we gain sustenance and pleasure; from the non-material we gain satisfaction and contentment. It is in the trading off of material values for non-material values that we encounter the hard choices.