When you look around, all you will likely “see” is material. Matter.
The stuff of atoms and particles. Of quarks and bosons and neutrinos.
But, this is not so.
Our material “reality” breaks down quicker than most would be comfortable with when we study physics to any degree. Every atom is 99% empty space. So, too, are you and everything that you reach out and touch. And, while we can argue semantics, the fact remains that not even those on the cutting edge of quantum theory understand what all “this” is.
When we deeply engrain this, we are set on a psychedelic experience, one which required no mind-altering substance to initiate. In fact, the “trip” of life is so queer, so impossible, that we begin to walk around in a state of awe at every turn, that when we look at our friend next to us, or a tree, or a blade of grass, we come to see that it is all so completely fantastic, yet simple.
It comes then that it is not hard to take the leap of faith required to see that there is an intelligent creator behind it all, that God is very real, and all that it takes to see Him is to pull away from the material and focus on that which is.
While most are pre-occupied with the things that they can see or taste or touch, there are bigger games to play, bigger questions to ask, and grander things to ponder than that which is right in front of our face.
That is why the Church fasts - it is why ascetics sleep on the floor, abstain from the vices of the world, and complain not of material circumstance. For they understand that material circumstance is no reality at all. Reality is none of that which most are chasing.
I would argue that the truth is that most - the vast majority of this - is not material at all.
But in our blindness, in the constant barrage of the material world to make us fear death, we are kept from the fact that this this life is a gift from God for the very purpose of finding Him. For he
art everywhere present and fillest all things
Orthodox Christian prayer “O Heavenly King”
He is everywhere we wish to look. He is the only Truth.
The material, the physical, will all fade and wither and crumble in the sands of time.
But we, well… we do not.