Greed: a destructive and powerful motivation

[bogeyman]

Greed is a line of thinking that is blinding, powerful and destructive to all life on this planet we call Earth. We as a species call this planet home, yet some are destroying the foundations of the very living systems that are keeping us alive. Some are greedy to the point of their existence and their activities are detrimental to our very existence and all living things on this planet.

The economic and political systems are in fact working against our own best interests of ourselves and our world. These systems and the indoctrination of thought are undermining the very foundations of our life support systems. Due to greed, technologies which would be very beneficial to the Earth, and all life on this world, are being repressed, destroyed, and some enter the dark world of black programs, and clandestine activities.

There is some form of blindness that comes with greed, and those that are will never cease their quest for more, regardless of the cost, for it also has ramifications, it reduces and almost if not entirely eliminates empathy and connectivity of the human species to the Earth and its living systems.

The systems we use encourage greed so the vicious cycle continues, and as a result we contaminate the air we breath, the food we eat, the water we drink, all of which are vital to our and all living things survival. Yet knowing these greedy people they will employ all sorts of tactics in the continuants of their quest for more and it will never stop in some.

To what end will these activities of greed come to.......our very survival is at stake, and if it is not broken no one will survive.

[Fellow Aspirant]

Well said. Too true. When is enough, enough, for each of us humans?

Our species' propensity for such insane "grasping" is, I think, based on insecurity. And this insecurity is based on a fear of the unknown. The result is a "I better get all I can get NOW before it goes away forever" mentality.

And this is only compounded when market forces step in to "capitalize" on our weakness, baiting the hooks their assurances of "You deserve to have this!" Is it any wonder then that TPTB want to keep the masses in a state of fear?

Perhaps one way out of this is if enough of us stop being afraid - of each other, of a looming, nebulous "catastrophe", and ultimately, of death itself.

My biggest negative emotion involved with all this has become anger. I find it so frustrating watching all of this insanity. So maybe there are a couple of other sins invoved as well. But GREED is way up there as a cause of so much misery.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Brian

[Chester]

It is my view that, in general, humans on Earth today are so overbalanced to materiality... a materiality based on a foundational metaphysical, cosmological world view that is based on materialism... a primary world view that exists in their core whether they are honest or not with themselves at their waking state conscious level of consciousness as to their actual world view (some people attempt to rationalize some religion which masks their need for self honesty... that this results in behavior that sees the finity of this single life as all that really matters and all this results in greed. Greed can manifest in many forms and does not have to be relegated to "having worldly possessions. There is greed for power, greed to control relationships, greed to go first, to be considered first, greed for attention (fame), greed... greed... greed.

[ZenBaller]

https://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/60607867.jpg

...and greed leads to the Dark Side. But sometimes it is the only way to go to come full circle, and restore balance to the Force. :-)

[petra]

Greed to me is just a distorted sense of entitlement.

Ever notice how some people just cannot be happy unless they have more than others? That's just the tip of the iceberg..

Sometimes other people's unhappiness actually means more to people than their own happiness too!

Jane and John are neighbours, but they do not like each other. John despises the color yellow. Jane wants to paint her house, and although her favorite choice is blue, she paints it yellow because John's unhappiness is more important than her own happiness.

[araucaria]

We are in the middle of the plum season here. The thing about this sort of crop is that a single tree often gives a large quantity of delicious and highly perishable fruit over a very short time period. In ancient times, you had to gorge yourself while the crop lasted, otherwise it would simply go to waste, and you might go hungry when it was finished. It would not be a matter of depriving anyone, as there would be enough to go round and more. They say civilization began when men learned to store crops, and presumably to make preserves. Another source of greed was then the storage of food beyond what a person needed, which was simply the natural result of harvesting a glut when a poor crop might follow the following year. Hence greediness is an inbuilt response to variably difficult circumstances. This of course led to the contrary vice of avarice. If your fruit is stored in pots of jam, there is no hurry to consume it; on the other hand, it will not keep indefinitely either. Hence the middle road of virtuous behaviour would originally have been equatable with careful management, nothing more nothing less. Enter materialism, when you could convert pots of jam into all sorts of other stuff and practise poor husbandry in a myriad new ways. It was only at the point when this lifesaving instinct was no longer necessary for survival, and overconsumption became possible on a regular basis, that on the physical level sugar and the alcohol produced by fermented sugar also proved addictive and meanwhile greed became a moral negative. Rather than see it as a vice, then, maybe we should see it as simply inappropriate to our present circumstances, or rather plain unaffordable for society in totally new ways. We cannot afford all-out greed because it creates scarcity and so within society as a whole there is not enough of everything to go round. Scarcity aka luxury is the elite’s game. Fifty years ago, air travel was a luxury commodity; a few centuries ago coffee was a luxury commodity. These things get democratized; even money: billionaires are two a penny these days. In other words, scarcity itself is getting scarce; soon the only luxury left will be places in underground bunkers. When the elite finally decides to make itself scarce, there will be a lot less greed, and avarice as well. For another thing that has been democratized is sexual abuse. Whether or not this is a form of greed or whether greed is morally wrong is not the point; the point is that obesity is correlated with sexual abuse:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/12/sexual-abuse-victims-obesity/420186/
http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/general-articles/sexual-abuse-and-obesity-whats-the-link

[jimrich]

Greed is a line of thinking that is blinding, powerful and destructive to all life on this planet we call Earth.
Who/what is "greedy" and why? IMO, the fearful ego is greedy. Are you the ego? IMO, I am NOT the ego, I am the Source and have no need of greed or fear BUT, in my play of life, there is a huge array of apparent opposites which includes: fear, greed, hostility, war, crime, hate, pain, depression, ANGER, etc. and all of their opposites which I keep in perfect balance - at all times.


To what end will these activities of greed come to.......our very survival is at stake, and if it is not broken no one will survive.
No individual ego is meant to "survive". Nothing is or ever was meant to "survive"! Its all a life play or game that I, Source, am expressing here and when its all over, I, Source (you and everyone) will remain just as happy and satisfied as ever so, fear not, if and when it ends, you, not the ego, will still be here - happy as a lark! :heart:

[amor]

Greed is a demon that grows in your consciousness. You have to grab it by the throat and kill it before it kills you.