Qualia and matter are all that there really is out there, but qualia is under-appreciated compared to matter. We must remember to look at it.
We used to pay attention to qualia. The rest of our fellow creatures still do, quite fully. It is only our inventive brain that has led us astray. Actually, it is not our inventiveness itself that has led us astray – ideas and thoughts are very qualiadelic – it is the products of our ideas, the technology that increasingly imprisons us within our materialistic and addictive economy.
But we can always re-notice and re-focus on qualia. The arc of our inventiveness needs to turn toward ecosystems instead of the human landscape (as it exists currently).
While the matter of our bodies (and brains) may only take us so far, the qualia in our minds can explore endlessly. Invention is a gift, unless we allow it to remain a curse. Just remember: we pay attention to matter because we need it, but it is qualia that reveals that matter to us. We can enjoy things, but we send our gratitudeGratitude to qualia.