Pitilessly materialistic spirituality makes me think of a dichotomy between a kind of earth-mother, nature worship, energy coming up from the ground, warm, enfolding, fuzzy, cannabis, hemp trousers spirituality. Reggae music and home cooked vegetarian food, embodied, loving, anything but pitiless, spirituality on the one hand (Pattycakes and John Eden signify this for me, and I don't mean that as an insult)
And the kind of electric, occult, magical, intellectual, father God, visionary, spirituality on the other. Mark was attuned to the latter and revolted by the former.