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In the contemporary day and age of covetousness we’re continually pushed to seek more, want more and get more. However, greed by design takes away from the end goal of getting; it diminishes the joy of what one already has. When you want, you relinquish what you have.
Because greed disguises itself well, we must realign our definition of greed to recognise it and then free ourselves from its clutches.
Wanting what you once had, wanting what others have, wanting more than what you have, whether materialistic, aesthetic, intellectual or spiritual are all manifestations of greed. My elder daughter’s first roommate in college ultimately became a very close friend. The shared
experiences of their first moments in college bound them together.
But, time changes and with time everything
else. By the final year in college, life took them in different directions and naturally the distance between them increased.
Recently, my daughter was quite upset that her friend had no time for her anymore and yet was fraternizing with people they initially didn’t socialize with. The ache to mend her relationship took away from all that she had in the present.
Only when she understood that this was a form of greed was she able to let go and focus on the new friendships and relationships she had forged.
There is a tragic story of an impoverished but happy man who finds a magic cup that turns tears into pearls. He’d been poor but never unhappy. Greed made him seek ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed and he realized too late that he needed abject sadness to satisfy his greed.
Albeit dark, this is sometimes our story. We don’t always see that we are making ourselves unhappy in our quest for more. We don’t realise that constantly wanting something better diminishes the value of what we have on hand.
The Greek philosopher Diogenes says: “It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little” and I agree. More than a financial or materialistic bind, greed is slavery of the heart and mind and
we must try to free ourselves by wanting little.