Newton "revolutionized" physics and the so-called natural sciences by reducing the physical universe to a linear mathematical equation. Descartes did the same thing with culture. John Locke did it with politics, and Adam Smith did it with economics. Each one of these "thinkers" took a piece of the spirituality of human existence and converted it into a code, an abstraction...Each of these intellectual revolutions served to remove the wonderful complexity and spirituality from the universe and replace it with a logical sequence: one, two, three, Answer!
There is a conflict between being and gaining. Being is a spiritual proposition. Gaining is a material act.
(with thanks to Russell Means, whose power will never rest)