There is obviously a place in life for a religious
attitude for awe and astonishment at existence.
That is also a basis for respect for existence. We
don’t have much of it in this culture, even though
we call it materialistic. In this culture we call
materialistic, today we are of course bent on the
total destruction of material and its conversion
into junk and poisonous gases. This is of course
not a materialistic culture because it has no
respect for material. And respect is in turn
based on wonder.

Alan Watts