What is greed? (Neutral intuitive answer)

answered 2013-10-06 16:29:32 -0500

Lo K. B.
329 ●7 ●13 ●21

updated 2013-10-08 13:24:18 -0500

Sat Nam,

What is greed? Well, that's a tricky one. There is no set list of what is greed and what is not greed, because it doesn't work that way. By definition, greed is marked as a state of mind where one is constantly desiring and wanting something all the time to the point of excess, such as money, food, clothes, or anything, especially wanting more than what one needs (like desiring 5 cars). Greed is the sister of lust, which is a similar, fixated craving and/or obsession.

Example:

An extreme example of greed may be a man wanting to have five cars without being able to afford it, and is willing to get them no matter the cost, even if it means having to trick someone or exploit someone to get it. What makes this greed? The man does not need five cars to live, work or survive, and is willing to give up important things such as his home, character values and integrity for a material object that is unimportant in the grand scheme of things. You can probably guess what will happen to him when he gets the cars, too. If he doesn't feel pretty stupid, he'll just want more cars or better and more expensive cars. Usually when a vice "takes hold" of someone, it's a never-ending race to feed the ego, which cannot be satiated. And, usually when one begins to follow a vice, the others come in later.

Kings also suffered on a grand scale because of greed. I know that in the medieval history of England and France, monarchs and noblemen often killed people if their servants did not get them the right sort of cloth for their wardrobe, or something as minor and useless as that. In India, kings also had vast stores of rice and spices that they would never share with their people but instead hoard it just to say to fellow rulers, "Hey, I got more than you."

A more practical example of greed is seen when there is something offered for "Free". Have you ever had an experience where there is a booth at a carnival or some other festival and they have free samples? If you look closely, some people are itching to take all of them, some want to jump over their neighbor to get at them and others politely wait until others are finished serving themselves. There is no judgment in it, but which person would you rather be? The more self aware and socially conscious, or the more self-centered?

Sorry for the length but I hope this helps. It is a little difficult to actually understand greed without knowing what to look for. God bless you!