Material life involves the production and distribution of goods and services. Material life is as old as humankind. Material life, of course, is only one aspect of life. The production and distribution of at least rudimentary goods and services food and shelter, for example is a precondition for the survival of human society. Although material life is necessary, it is not really an end in itself.
Material life is primarily purposeful.
It serves particular ends, but is not generally an end in itself. The particular purposes material life serves may be as fundamental as the purposes served by a loaf of bread or as frivolous as the purposes served by the lace on a rich lady's gown, but it is the eating of the bread or the wearing of the lace or perhaps even the social status one gains by wearing the lace that is the purpose, not the baking, delivery and purchase of the bread or the tatting of the lace. Material life is primarily one of life's means, not one of life's ends. This is, of course, an oversimplification. The skilled weaver may derive pleasure directly from the act of weaving, even though the cloth so woven must be sold in order that the weaver eat.