To be concerned with hylic matters means one is focused on material things. In Gnostic philosophy, humankind was divided into three categories: hylic (material concerns), psychic (concerned with souls and emotions), and pneumatic (spiritual and intellectual concerns). Gnosticism was practiced in early Christianity, around the second century. Today, “hylic” can still be used to refer to a focus on material possessions. It comes from the Greek “hylikos,” with “hylē” meaning “wood.”