This is what happens in societies where you keep the carrot but take away the stick. Good behaviour cannot be maintained unless the hope of reward is balanced with the fear of punishment. No need for spirituality, just discipline.

Two things must be understood. One is that materialism/physicalism only takes in part of the Universe - the part we perceive with our senses.

The other is that consciousness is not fundamental, but an anomaly in an unconscious Universe. Wild creativity results in many phenomena, the emergence of conscious beings is just one of them. We must therefore be aware of its limitations and its tendency to lead us astray. Empiricism - the insistence upon perceptible evidence - is one way of curbing our overactive imaginations. Critical and analytical thinking is another.