What is the difference between a materialist and and a transcendentalist?

The materialist thinks that he will live forever, and the transcendentalist knows that he can die at any moment. The real fact is that death is sitting on your head at every moment and can take you at any time even when you least expect it. Therefore the wise man lives every moment in full Krishna consciousness knowing full well it could be his last moment. He never forgets that Krishna is his only shelter and his only protection from this dangerous, all-devouring ocean of birth and death.