In the famous speech from the movie "Wall Street", the character Gordon Gekko played brilliantly by Michael Douglas, made a compelling argument that "Greed for lack of a better word, is good." The character insinuated that greed of men who were at the vanguard of the industrial revolution were responsible for building America into the power that it became. Now that particular aspect may hold some water, because if you look at any successful empire in history, it was because of the initial torch of greed that lit the way for conquest, if conquest is what one appreciates. Greed is one of the sins that brings human beings completely lower than any other species that has ever existed on earth. Man has never been satisfied, and has never had enough on his plate, so at the cost of lives, cultures, nature, ethics, and sanity, and even the well being of his planet, man has been a slave to the inner animal of greed. We are taught subliminally at a very young age to be greedy. More toys equates to more happiness. For kids who used to play board games years ago, most times, you had to accumulate something in order to win. And for some time now television commercials aimed at young minds for the sake of consumerism tell them that they must get this, own that, and accumulate things in order for their life to have meaning. It is insinuated in school, and later in life that success equates to having more money, so that you can have more things. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the desire to have things, but this line of thinking over time often manifests itself into greed, because desire is just one leap away from greed where material things are concerned. Greed is the desire to acquire, possess, and hoard "things", and that is just what human beings have been doing for their time here on earth. If the history of Earth could be put in clock terms, man has been here probably close to a second. But in that very miniscule span of time, greed has been at the center of our hearts and minds, driving human beings to "get" something, even just for the act of getting in itself, and not necessarily for self preservation, and has done more damage in man's time on earth than any other trait that we have inside.
Greed is some wild animal that can't be tamed or stopped once it realizes how easily its prey can be taken over, and eaten. This is exactly how desire morphs into greed. In the human mind, once something has been gotten, we are content, but we have been programed to think that someone or something is after our contentment. Therefore in order to solve that, we must have more of what has made us content. Now our rational mind knows that this isn't true, but the subconscious mind is hard at work, and that's where greed has set up an office for it to report to. "Bigger, Better, and More" are greed's triumvirate Father, Son and Holy Ghost entities that people worship and obsess over, making them do things completely unethical, and unreasonable for the sake of getting and having. In fact ethical behavior and greed, usually are in direct contradiction with one another, because ethics demands judgment and restraint, and greed demands to run rampant and be visceral. I am not saying that all who exhibit signs of greed are evil, but greed often puts quite rational people in a position of trying to acquire things to please their ego, or accumulate things for recreation, or possession wrapped in the guise of "the pursuit of happiness". Greed has a way of justifying itself, and making others feel guilty for questioning motives. The motive is none other than the greed itself, because it burns in people. The phrase "Because you can doesn't mean you should" never comes to mind for one possessed by greed. "I can, and will" is the only phrase worth articulating.
Is greed good? People will argue with me, and state that this country was in fact built by greed, but I am sure that the Native Americans would beg to differ that as a good thing. This country was actually built by desire, but but greed came quickly enough disguised as an idea of "destiny". Individual greed is bad enough, but when put within a collective mindset of a group of people,or an entity in power, it becomes dangerous, and sometimes catastrophic for those on the other end.Tell the richest person in the world that there is hidden treasure somewhere, and watch the sparks fly as they destroy everything trying to run to it. Greed has started wars, made people incredibly wealthy while making others impoverished, and has been the central cause for murder, exploitation, enslavement of other people, and a host of nefarious things that have disastrous results. Greed doesn't have to initially have these things in mind at the forefront, but as more fuel is needed to feed the animal, the more ethics fade into the background, causing extreme lapses of remorse for actions, and ability to curtail the urges for more of what makes imaginary comfort, and happiness. Happiness is exactly what greed replaces during its onslaught. When people place their trust into man made acquisitions, the result can only a never ending search for fulfillment resulting in the need for more of something. Power, money, items that can be purchased with money, land, and other things that can be easily put in the category of "stuff" are what greed goes after purely for the satisfaction of the host. A husband and wife with four cars? Why not make it five, because they can. A man worth 12 million dollars? He'll call his attorneys to arrange making some acquisition to make it 13. Some material that can make money discovered in a tropical jungle? Get rid of the indigenous people, clear out all of the trees, and let's make some dough. Screw people, screw environments, screw everything, because there's gold in them thar hills, and we are gonna get rich. And what greed whispers in the ear of its host is "This is mine, and let someone else get theirs, but theirs is nowhere near yours." God help anyone getting near yours.
Greed finds something, anything to mine. And greed will drive someone to mine it over and over until all of the riches, and resources are taken from whatever it is being mined, and there is nothing left, destroying exactly what sustained it for some time. Desire is a great thing, and the desire to want the things that one truly needs is important for survival. That is the instinct that we all should possess. But greed trumps that, and once what one needs is fulfilled, it will continue to fuel a want. Not a want, but a burning white hot energy for conquest and possession. A want for excess, and anything else just because it's there to be taken, and just because someone isn't clever enough or strong enough to take it. The human race will eventually destroy itself and its environment all because of greed within the hands of the powerful, and if technology ever allows us to leave this planet, we will reproduce our greed elsewhere, of course causing the normal human chaos of competition for having, while destroying something else in the process.
Individual greed, corporate greed, governmental greed,etc are all tied in together, and symptomatic of man's inability to just take exactly what he needs to survive. That is precisely why the gap between the rich, the poor exist, exactly why one needs to protect their belongings from thieves, and exactly why wars are started, and lands taken over. Somewhere, someone wants something that they just don't need, but the animal of greed dictates otherwise. The animal in the mine reminds us just how destructive, how unhappy, and how disrespectful of everything man is. Man is not harmonious with anything. The greed within us all makes us want to take over, dominate, and possess, and when all is raped pillaged, or taken, look elsewhere for satisfaction.
Greed is discord, and hopefully one can avoid being possessed by the animal. You can have a wonderful life with desire. Desire to do well, and be the best you can be. Desire to leave a footprint in the world that is positive. Desire to leave others with knowledge, and receive knowledge from others. And particularly, a desire to reject an idea that happiness is aligned with man made items such as money, property, and material that you will eventually feel an urge to get more of. If one has these ideals, then one will raise children to believe that the richest individuals are the ones who have the best clarity about what's really important. A smile, a family, friends, being alive, and healthy to experience nature and the arts, and appreciation, and empathy for your fellow human beings in the world. That is being rich, and should you feel that way, you will only take what you need, and leave the rest for others. When I daydream, that philosophy is what I wish for everyone, and I imagine the world it would be if that were the case.
.But maybe I'm just being greedy.
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