Dictionary definition: from the Latin Avaritia, a feminine noun: Excessive fondness for money, stinginess, meanness.
Catholic Church definition: Goes against the Ninth and Tenth Commandments (You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house). Inordinate inclination or desire for pleasure or possessions.
For the philosopher Seneca: The poor always want something, the rich want a lot and the greedy want everything.
A story of Priests of the desert: “Holy man” – said a novice to the Father Abbot – My heart is full of love for the world and my soul is free of temptations from the Devil. What is my next step?
The abbot asked the disciple to accompany him on a visit to a sick person who needed extreme unction. After comforting the family, the abbot noticed that in one of the corners of the house there was a trunk.
“What is inside it?” he asked.
“Clothes that my uncle never used”, said the sick man’s nephew.” He bought everything, always thinking that the right occasion would arise to wear them, but they ended up rotting inside it”.
“Don’t forget that trunk”, said the Father Abbot to his disciple, when they left. “If you have spiritual treasures in your heart, put them into practice now. Or they will rot away.”
Text commenting on the 1997 Asiatic economic crisis: The brokers bought and sold, convinced that the world would not change, because all they needed to do was to invest more and more and watch their fortunes grow. They didn’t care about the harm they were causing to the currency (Malaysia). Suddenly, 500 billion dollars disappeared out of circulation. When the time came to explain to all those who had lost their savings built up over the years and with much sacrifice, they replied: “it’s the fault of the market.” Actually, they were the market.
Death and Greed: Death and Greed watched the men working feverishly to find diamonds in a river. “I came here to take away some souls,” said Death. “Deliver me a third of these people and I will go away.”
“They belong to me, they are my slaves”, replied Greed. “I have nothing to deliver to you.”
Death then touched the water with his magic rod and poisoned it. Little by little, all who were there began dying.
“Why did you steal all my slaves?” shouted Greed, angrily.
“Because you didn’t want to give me any”, was the answer.
In a speech: because of its inability to produce, the Jewish people are parasites, and their aim is to enslave other peoples. They use greed to manipulate the stupidity of the middle class (Adolf Hitler, preparing the ground for the Holocaust, which cost the lives of six million Jews).
Many centuries before, the Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon used to say: The Lord sent to Man his messengers, called diseases. Eternal Providence put me in charge of caring for their health. Let the love for what I do guide me at every moment. Never let greed, or the thirst for power, or the desire for recognition, blind me and make me forget that a man’s objective is to give the best of what he has to another man.
Advice from the Tao Te King: The five colors blind human eyes. The five notes deafen their ears. The five tastes harm the palate. Races and hunts set off furious and savage passions in the heart.
Goods hard to get cause wounds because of dangerous obstacles. For that reason (…) the wise man rejects the superficial and prefers to dive into the deep.
(next: Lust)
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greed causes loss and indigence.
Yes, there are many things calling and driving man to the world, like the soul and its appetites, and need, and his senses and emotions, and the Devil, and the superficial enticement of the world, and bad friends like you. While those who call to the Hereafter, which lasts for ever, and to long-lasting eternal life, are few. If you possess even an iota of patriotism towards this nation and the high aspirations you brag about are not lies, you should help the few who call to eternal life. For if you silence them and help the many, you will be befriending Satan!
(The Flashes, Said Nursi)
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title nº 138: The seven deadly sins: Greed at Warrior Of Light. Thanks for informative article
“he who fights for everything fights for nothing” – this is basically saying he who has everything has nothing. maybe thats why greedy people always want more , because it feels like there is nothing. but people need to learn , we need no material posessions to be rich. the reward of hard work and struggle will be the richness of happiness.
A vast topic and food for thought- really enlightening read, and thought i should just drop a line and say thanks. This has been inspiring for my running project (check my humble/pathetic blog for more info) on a very, very personal Seven Sins project. Looking forward to more, especially for Ira and Invidia which are the last 2 for me.
Cheers :)
i think that greed is the worst sin. it has caused global warming , wars , famine and a third world. just because were rich doesnt mean we have to keep others poor. and as a great man once said “give what you can , take what you need” – karl marx (considered) the founder of communism.
My art work had been used by an extremely wealthy artist. I was hoping that he would help me in turn be successful. I had thought since he had gone through similar hardships he was helping me further my own cause. However I heard nothing from him after he had used my ideas and I am still starving, where as he has profited from incorporating my images… I wonder wether it is I who had been greedy, or him.
by and by friends ridicule me for being naive and I feel a bit helpless seeing justice done.
Oh well. What can you do with greedy people, but just wait for death to take his toll..
Hi there, I sent my last message after Dover, the messages from Freddy up till Dusica weren’t there for me to see yet.
I would like to give a reaction, but I give it on the page of Lust. Really my favourite – not.
Thank you Aditya for bringing in some lightness. :-)))
Dusica,
Why r we so quick to pronounce our judgement on say what bible says about greed. For u if u r right, u don’t gain anything but if somehow for you what the bible says starts appearing right, then u may have gained something at least another point of view, and that too u’r own. interesting, no !!!!
Mirjam.
what u wrote was so poetic how could it be irritating, i liked it. Can u not do both ’stare’ at holy statues, holy paintings, etc and don’t consider a hanging zesus as holy if u r not comfortable with it, can u not stare ar statues, contemplate the bible, give voice to those who need and yes find time ( hoever small ) for u’r self too. Sure u can, I feel.
regards
aditya
Reading all of your words, I’m having a great time here. And not. :-) I’m still having trouble with the pain as you mentioned AVC. I’m not really couregeous about pain. As a child I really did not understand why there was a hanging bloody Jesus in front of the church. We do not need horror movies, we can go to some churches and see.
Yes, I think a computer has to learn from itself, like in the eighties movie War Games. But it needs information. And inventing information is, to me, the danger, because we can step out of reality. And then I mean out of the material world, which is absolutely necessary to be in touch with. So, its probably both ways, to me.
Yes. Intervening is a very difficult thing, I think. If the world would stop for a moment and I mean everything on it, us too, when we all would sit down and listen and look around us.
I once tried to save a fly out of a spiders web, I managed to succeed. But later that day I stepped on a snail.
So, to me that is: we’d better not interfere in the natural scheme of things, or compensate. It’s the balance indeed. But if it’s unnatural, then I think we can do intervene and I mean, not by ourselves, but with the intention of serving God. How do I know I’m serving God? I do not know, but when I serve Love, Light and Life, to me that’s serving God. I do not call that correction, because I do not do anything, I’m just pleeding.
There are so many lives who cannot speak, who have no voice, because somehow their voices are taken away or they are forbidden to speak. While I live in peace, so many voices are crying soundlessly, whether they have done something wrong or someone did something wrong to them, they all have hearts that beat. We can not forget about them. ‘Animal’ and ‘human’.
My pain is the sacrifice for me living in peace and love.
So, I love the sun and the beauty of all, but I think when I say to people and animals in whatever prison they are: “Well, the sun will come up tomorrow, really” – that’s really not a comfort. They maybe wish that the sun won’t come up anymore.
So: intervene? Probably not, but we can give them a voice, if they want to of course. To me, that’s a better way then to stare ourselves blind in front of holy statues. But that’s how I feel. And excuse me for being very irritating.
P.S. You can by a cyber activist for Greenpeace, Amnesty or various animal welfare organisations.
GREED: why is it one of the 7 deadly sins? My life’s perspective is to learn life. if u r not engaged to form your life, don’t u feel like a robot who lives only because he has to? Everyone has a special domain where he invest much interest. Jesus had his field too: he invested much time in praying to other people and i think, each time when he acted, he was curious about how many people will be here to see him or i don’t know what happened in this time. Is curiousity not a kind of greed? I think it is. When I hear something interesting, i am greedy of more information. Is this a reason for “not coming to heaven”, being banished to hell? Sorry, dear god, or people who wrote the bible, but this will be a reason to be doubtful about this religion.
Dear Clover,
From a personal point of view, I also think that there is much to be accomplished. I have yet to complete the Great Work for myself.
And like you seem to do, I trust in the remedy prescribed by the Great Physician (although his handwriting is sometimes not very clear; he seems to share this with his “lower peers”).
May Love guide all to their Will, and make them do it!
Clover !! HI !
In short the magic wand is “For the human race, the way out ( of the mess we have made of this earth, ourselves ) the way out is, in” huh !! ha ha ha !!
regards
PS : Paulo has written on lust, he did not hear us, so be it. afterall he too is a man ( a generous one no doubt) . This one interests me most what does he mean by ‘control of the vital force’, not using it as recommended in some scriptures is hardly control. if at all I will be guilty of overindulgance. I need to clear myself on this, will await u’r and Deb’s & AVC & Mirjam and all other comments on Lust. should I say lustily, naah !
Aditya
Hi Mirjam !
Seems I offended u, sorry friend, sometimes when I am successful in what I am doing at the moment i don’t feel too happy afterwards, see.
How true, what we write, what we say, is for us also as much much as it is for ‘them’.
About the ‘rude’ remarks I have received I firmly believe that we see in others what we want to see, if someone sees me as stupid, whether I am stupid or not is the moot point, there r shades of stupidity in ‘that’ person too.
About ‘corrections’ there r two kinds. one is where things are not ‘good’ and need to be corrected, second one is that they r already good but need to be correcetd to make it better. Say love, if u have ever loved, each good thought u have, each good action u show, corrects something futher. Ceratinly there is no need to ‘correct’ out of anguish. In fact correctiosn brought about by agnuish r short lived. Accepatnce & then further correction – that is development as per me.
That Story about Karna,
Mahabharata is an epic of us Hindus, the famous Gita ( may be u have heard of it, it’s like bible )is a part of it. There r many very very interesting charecters in it, 106 Cosuins, 101 on one side 5 on the other. One cousin the eldest of them all who would have been undisputed king is Karna, but he was born to his mom who was testing some boon, before her marraige and hence was abandoned.
Mahabharata is a very long story, comming to point- Karna was adopted by some ‘lower’ people and yet he gained the highest of knowledge in use of weapons from the gretest master of the time, but trecherously. When the ‘guru’ found out that Karna was not a chhatriya( memeber of the warrior caste) ( well actually he was ) he cursed Karna saying that he will forget all his knowledge in the moment of his most dire need. And so it happned. The fellow’s maganaimity was used against him a and he was killed. My observation over the years has been that – we too r like karna, we gather our knowledge but somehow when we really need all the wisdom, in a moment when say we r angry, or lustful or greedy, all our wisdom abandons us … why why oh why !!! is it because we lack awareness.
just relax.
regards
aditya
When I think of greed, I mainly see desire for materialistic things. It is not good to search for hapiness while gathering property; money, big houses, cars, jewelry, etc. Those things can be taken away from you. They can replace hapiness. The things that really matter, family, friendships, life-experiences, are not valuable in money, but in your heart.
Kind regards to everyone
Avc, good analogy again. Now imagine that machine is a human body, composed of infinite cells, each with an important task so each equally necessary as you said. Gradually or suddenly, that body starts showing sings of something going wrong; a blemish here, some pain there, etc. It’s still working, of course, it’s alive, but not
correctly anymore. Hmm let’s go to the dr and check. It turns out some of the cells are sick, some are working oddly… hmm perhaps some cancer. What do you do? Do you just leave it as it is because that’s also a part of the machine/body? If you leave it untouched it will quickly deteriorate. So you have to take some special actions, you must change something in the life of that body so that it goes back to healthy levels, right? (if possible).
It’s the same with planet earth. It is increasingly giving us sings of somethings going wrong as well. We have to intervene. I believe our purpose here is just to evolve but somehow we forgot that along the way and became addicted to the wonders of the planet and of its pleasures, and that’s when the equation went unnbalanced.
We need to balance it again so that we can continue living here. Evolving, dreaming (like me…:)), keeping on serving our purposes, while seeing and enjoying the wonders of the earth in an even more pleasurable way. But it will not flourish miracuolously. We have to work for it. When I said we have to give up many things, I was referring to all of us. Obviously, the more you waste the more damage you cause to mother earth. The US, being the country of waste for excellency, will probably have to “sacrifice”, or give up, or change more. While some tribe in Africa, that lives more naturally and frugally, will certainly have to “sacrifice” less. Same aplies to each of us individually. I’m not saying we should all be poor, no. We should all enjoy more balance, that’s all.
Mirjam it’s so true, writting is more for ourselves. Participating in this discussion has reminded me that I have to accept God’s will, fully. Even if I don’t quite understand it at times.
Adyta, you have me curious, so what’s the magic formula?
Greetings,
Clover
I don’t think we can ever be complete in ourselves.
As in the case of a very complicated machine, each little part has its own highly specific purpose necessary for the machine to run properly.
I think it is safe to say that none of us can tell what the purpose of every part is and how they are supposed to interact in the enormously complicated machine of the universe. The blueprints are not easily accessible.
Many of us do not seem convinced that this machine will run for much longer. Some of us are not even really sure what the machine was designed to do in the first place.
Others seem to do their best to redesign it.
Maybe we can at least agree that it is not likely that the designer expected any of us to perform all the functions of the machine on our own. It is more likely that we were supposed to do our part. No more, but no less.
Some of us maybe function as lubricants or fuel. Other parts may serve to burn that fuel to release its energy and set other parts in motion.
Hence, when we are trying to figure out what are supposed to do, I think we had better start with studying our own personal design. Gradually, we can then explore how our different features interact with the other parts next to us.
I definitely agree with Clover that each of us will have to give some things up in order to do our part properly. But I do not think that it is very easy to tell what those things are, especially in case of other people. In the area of telling others what to do, I think great caution is recommended.
I think it may also be worth noting that it is not a question of sacrifice strictly speaking. We are simply trying to direct our force to a particular purpose. And I do feel, personally, that the reward is so much greater than the momentary pain and trouble we occasionally have to go through.
Some parts of the machine remain unaware of their purpose all through their life time. Indeed, most of the parts probably do. But that does not mean that they are unimportant.
Remember the machine is running. That means that the different parts are doing their job, so far. Be careful if you decide to interfere…
Dear Aditya,
Thank you for your reaction and your questions. I really mean to say: that you are ok as you are. Yes, I am glad that you are here, otherwise I would not have mentioned that.
The words we write are not just for the other to see, the words you write are words to yourself. So, what I write are words to myself too. We learn about ourselves from interaction with others. So: I learn from you too. We are never too old or too wise to learn.
I can come out strong, because I had to throw down many walls. Many opinions about me were lingering in my head. And one of them was: you are a very silly and stupid girl. And instead, what I’ve always believed they put me down, these words made me stronger. I cannot stand walls or imprisonment. And sometimes I cannot stop myself, even when there are no walls anymore. It became a habbit.
If you would know me, you would know that I’m just a harmless girl. Doing small things, like saving an insect. Even when we think we are alone, there is always life and that comforts me. Whatever we do, these little creatures are doing what they always did. That’s also the Comforting Zero. Knowing that we are small and we do not have the power to change everything. Knowing that every bit and piece has its use and function.
What I mean to say is that we do not have to correct ourselves. We have to accept ourselves. Looking in the mirror and seeing what a wonderful bunch of colours we are (thank you AVC).
I do not feel enlightened, I do not know what that means. I just know that in my darkest hours there was always something to amaze me, I found light in, for instance a small spider. And I followed the signs of others. So, my ‘wisdom’ and ‘answers’ are not mine, I just found it in the river, in the undertow.
So, I feel sorrow when we try to correct or wipe out the small miracles of life.
So: you are wonderful as you are. Now, tell us your story.
Love,
Mirjam
Dear Deb !
Hi !
Thanks u liked those questions which have been botehring me too !
U r right, needs are something diffrent from desires but then how to know the diffrence !
And about others taking care ou say Christ or buddha etec etc. I mean is that I am afraid, i don’t trust nature enough, that i don’t test it.may be nature will take care even if we stop earning our wages. But the again in present times will it not be better to earn a living first, if enligthenment is then there is no need to rush towards it. God.if he exists, has creatde such a beutiful world, pschycedellic really, why not enjoy it a little more, what is the hurry. This is how I think / feel on th issue.
regards
aditya
PS : For Deb ! who is honest !!! ha ha ha
Dear Mirjam
While thanking you for your advise and your last para’s ( I know I do really need to look at the sky more often while not forgetting the earth on which I stand ) I did not like your lack of comapssion for my first para. I am sure u have been reading those outburts of frsutration from diffrent people. Now whoever is frstrated, he needs to correct something, whoever is not in bliss needs to correct something, r we not told often enough that bliss or peace or whatevr u may call it is our real nature, whoever has not yet found his/her real nature has to ……
When u say no correction is required ( and there again if say i am lame or dark or white or whatevr or ahve this or that chromoseme, if the matter is troubling me then I need to either corrcet the situation so that my botheration will go away or i have to become ‘ enlightend’ i.e. correct myself till it bothers me no more, no that will be wrong it it bothering me does not displease me too …, if u have already arrived to your real natuire, till u have become enlightend so to say, assuming that no correction is required will be dangerous. If u r anything but happy, blissful, … way to go.
And I am writing it in the hope that u will listen compassionately. please allow. mean it whenh u say that u r happy to see me here.
I have made a tall claim !! somethmg which can solve half of the probelms of this world. won’t u like to hear what it could be ??
regards
aditya
“Aligning microcosmos with macrocosmos – the Great Work!”… AVC, couldn’t agree more with you. That’s the whole point of following our hearts and intuition, listening to God’s (macrocosmos) will. Not really our own will or our ego driven will though. So your statement, “…it is difficult to arrive at any other conclusion than that our only obligation is to use all of our talents and powers to their fullest. In this way, we act in accordance with our Will and preserve the balance of the great equation…”, is only true so long as we are following that higher WILL. And remember that most humans follow their ego driven will. Hence, I would say that, we have to be careful when assuming we know all is as should be according to the macrocosmical view point or God. In hermetism they say: “As above so below” which means, more or less, that we are a reflection of the universe.
To alling to the macrocosmos, and preserve human life on earth, we have to go back to some basics. We will have to sacrifice many of the habits we have gotten accostumed to for the last centuries. Not an easy task in our consumism obssesed and money driven world though. Your reply might be: That will be God’s will, right? So long as we listen to him and follow his plan, I have no problem with that…:P
Hugs to all,
Clover
Thank you Paulo (the macrocosmos must be smilling through you).
Aditya,
Those are good questions: Can I live without desires? Is it worth living without desires?
I’m assuming you mean desires beyond ordinary ‘need for survival’ desires. Because, if we take it to the ‘picky’ stage…even a desire to eat, is a desire. I know…we all tend to get so detailed in our answers – get carried away!
Off the ‘top of my head’ and without thinking this through, I’d say that it’s possible to live like that, using the great spiritual masters as examples, as you have. I imagine that it could be a fulfilling life, if you are perpetually living in the moment and your needs are taken care of for you by others. Yet, on the other hand, because the Universe in constantly moving and changing, and everything tends to move in a positive direction…towards growth, I expect that it perhaps goes against our natural state. (?) And that’s why it’s so hard for the average person to live without desires. Because growth involves change, involves movement, involves not staying the same, not stagnating, and so our need to change manifests in desires.
That’s all that’s come to me from the surface of my mind. I’ll have to think further on this, as it’s an interesting question. And, I look forward to hearing others’ opinions on it, as well.
Love,
Deb :) Who desires to shut her mind off from thinking of desires.