These activities set our collective sights on something so much greater then ourselves, and in turn provide us with the motivation to strive for the betterment of society (too often these energies have been directed toward wars). It does not encourage the self-centered instant-gratification that the culture of materialism (which may as well be a synonym for individualism), that we’ve seen grow and thrived over the last 40 years and is now taking over the American psyche, preaches.