Greed is a problem of the heart

Greed, like everything, clouds human judgment and empathy when it reaches its extreme.

Greed, which is also known as avarice, is the tendency to be selfish, stingy, and hoard everything for oneself. A person who is greedy will want to have more than what is necessary or deserved, especially when it comes to money, wealth, food or other types of possessions. Greed is also known as avarice.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins within the Catholic tradition (the desire to please oneself with material acquisitions and possessions instead of pleasing God). Also in Buddhism, “desire” is a fundamental obstacle to enlightenment, you cannot be on the path of the search for happiness with a compulsive desire to acquire material things.

“Do you want to be rich? “So do not worry about increasing your wealth, but rather about decreasing your greed.”.

–Epicurus–

Greed in the heart is the key to self-destruction

Greed derives from the basic fear of not having, so, without realizing it, the greedier we are, the more we will be self-destructing. Filling the inner void with material things will only aggravate the problem and make the person feel worse about themselves and the world around them. Greed is driven by the fundamental sense of deprivation, a need for something that is absent or unavailable to us.

When the feeling of lack (especially emotional) is particularly strong, a person can become obsessed with searching for things they “need.” He will try to look for potential possessions that will eliminate that painful feeling of emptiness that is rooted in his heart.

But, It doesn’t matter how much you buy or how many goods you acquire, because while you may feel some momentary relief, it will be temporary. Suffering and emotional emptiness will reappear. From Buddhism, it is stated that our authentic nature is infinite and, furthermore, we are disconnected from it, so it is impossible to fill it with material objects; that is, finite.

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A greedy person can feel greedy about money, sex, power, food, the attention of others, knowledge… they can feel greedy for almost anything. It can be towards something concrete or towards something abstract, real or symbolic. This greed only seeks to fill an emotional void that overwhelms many people. However, we are trying to fill a bottomless pit.

But it will always be something specific that the person becomes obsessed with and needs more and more. Once this happens, life becomes torture, because you only focus on having as much as possible of a specific element.

Greed can be normal

According to Richard F. Taflinger’s study in “The Sociological Basis of Greed,” greed can be something that helps us survive, it implies desire as something that cannot be harmful. And certainly desire, as long as it is not something obsessive that wants to bury feelings of emotional emptiness, should not be something bad.

As Richard F. Taflinger says, we all need to buy food, have money to pay rent, clothes to wear, etc.

Is getting money being greedy? Without money you can’t live. This social element can be perceived in two different ways: as a symbol of wealth or as a symbol of resources necessary for survival.

The limits of greed

The more money you have, the better the quality of the objects you can acquire. How can the desire to improve our purchasing power turn into greed? Where is the limit? The limit is wanting things to fill an emotional or existential void.

Read Also: It is not the richer who has the most, but the one who needs the least.

It is fear that makes the difference between greed and getting things for our well-being. The fear of lack, of not having something that is essential for “happiness”, something that is not enough to make us happy. Because of this constant fear, the person compulsively desires things that he believes he needs. For this reason, they are extremely competitive and envious.

“If an individual has the necessary spiritual foundation, he will not allow himself to be overcome by the technological temptation and the madness of possessing. He will know how to find the right balance, without asking for too much. The constant danger is opening the door to greed, one of our bitterest enemies, and therein lies the true work of the spirit.”

-Dalai Lama-

Understanding greed to stop it

Greed is a toxic attitude that can only do harm as it increases within people. We live in a competitive society and we measure success to feel good, we want to have it to “outperform” others and grow. This society idolizes people who have expensive cars, who wear the latest clothes, or who have the biggest house. A society has been built that helps greed become a horrible addiction that makes the heart sick.

However, the danger of living in a greedy society is the contagion effect. If we do not become as greedy as those who have great fortunes, we run the risk of being labeled lazy. We may hear phrases like: “And you, what do you aspire to?” Little by little, a simple and simple lifestyle, without great luxuries, is being censored.