That's fascinating and nifty. I very much like the aspect of people redeeming one another, rather than relying on an external redeemer.

Many are staunchly anti-materialist and view the physical world as inherently unclean.

That's one possibility, another is that everyone compromises their morals, everyone does at least small things that are thoughtless and unkind, even if it's only buying the occasional product made in some hellish sweatshop w/o considering this. From this PoV, you're not cleansing people of the impurities of the physical world, but of our own failings.