Final thoughts

I would like to end the my blogs on greed by saying a little prayer for all of us. No matter how much we are greed stricken , no matter how much the world has changed and how much the whole humanity has been infested with this pest ,there is always a cure and always a bright side. The world has a complete capability to change for the better . There  are still people who work for humanity, who does not know Angelina Jolie, there are still examples of pollution free countries like Bhutan , and there are still divine spirits who are  just working selflessly. So there is still hope.  Hope of betterment , hope for mutual happiness, long lasting relationships , platonic love ,friends without benefits  and above all have time for one another. This world bears popular figures like Bill Gates who give away most of their possessions to charity and humanitarians like Abdul Sattar Edhi who spend their whole lives helping the needy and the poor . Life comes once and one should make it worth living. What is the fun in living if if you are only living it for urself, but if people benefit from your life or when people gather happiness from your deeds what could be a better way to live. One has to choose, choose what to do in a situation where there is a choice between giving and getting, when you can choose between comfort or satisfaction, when you can decide between the truth and falsehood. All you have to do is choose , you can choose , I can choose.

I can choose my selflessness over my selfishness to accumulate and in the process just walk over a million hearts that I have broken, I can choose not to lie and face the consequences with courage over  repeated and habitual lying just for some benefits,  I can choose not to be the most powerful or most popular but be remembered by atleast hundreds of people just by my small acts of kindness and love, I can choose sensitivity over inhumanity, faith over fear ,humbleness over power and choose a life that might not be very successful or glitz and glamour but it would definitely be a life of peace , humility and softheartedness and definitely a life of dignity. If I can choose then you can choose too.
We have a recent example at our hands , a human being after being a world class champion and living a life of money and power all he wanted to do was to be remembered as a man of love and peace and equality. It's non other than Mohammad Ali, the greatest boxer of all times. He could have continued with power and fame but he let the whole world know of his desire to selflessness and his greed for love and guess what, that is what made him as a symbol of not only success but also a man of dignity.
I just hope that in this small life of just a few decades I can achieve a lot that can please my inner soul and since life only comes once we must strive to make the most of it.  

The cure for greed

Overcoming greed is not an easy task . The bigger the problem  ,the harder the solution. And the stronger the addiction the more effort required to come out of it. Since it is an addiction and a habit then one has to tame one self not to get into the flow and try restraining as much as possible since it's not a compulsion. Even when things are favouring greed ,one must step back to allow ones spiritual growth. One has to fight deeper to get to the real solution. So many questions to ask oneself. How will the success effect me?, how reliable is this success?, are my relationships going to be affected by it ?, do I have better options ?, are my craving and desires rational?. 

Facing the reality is harsh but it is the only solution to rid ones soul of this foul evil. Monetary success is just relative , and there is no such thing as enough. What is enough for one could just be the basic necessity for another. So facing the reality and knowing "enough" will never happen and that it does not exist can help one teach oneself that how much is needed and how much is shear greed . 

Next help urself identify the problems like the basic cause of greed , competitiveness, fear, gluttony,the need to be successful.

Next a bold step has to be taken in that direction ,all negative influences have to be eliminated. Fake wanna be people who have nothing better to do but hoarding and then boasting have to be eliminated. Similarly negative thoughts  also have to eradicated. Instead indulge your energies in positives activities like painting , physical activities ,swimming for example, and meditation.

Another important aspect that's actually helps avoid greed is gratitude. Being thankful and grateful for all that one has makes one wants less and ask for less unnecessarily. 

Strong faith in humanity,the divinity of God , and purity of hearts also helps reduce the extreme desire to greed. In the end it all depends on you and you alone.

If greed conquers the world

 Can you imagine what will happen if greed will takes over the world just like technology has. What if the next tsunami is named "voracity" ,the next volcano to erupt exudes the burning lava of lust and the next tornado of the hunger of power and money is unstoppable. How different the world is from what is was a few decades ago when technology has not yet reached its prime. The effects of technology are profound. And thus the analogy of greed with technology is quite correct. The world was so different a few decades ago, simpler , easier and peaceful. As soon as the technology spurt took over, the green belts transformed into high rise buildings, the simple one to one conversations have converted to communication by gadgets , letters have changed to emails, emotions have changed to emojis, swords have been replaced by nuclear weapons  and everybody knows the effects of these in the world . The change is colossal and definitely not positive . The outcomes are as expected . Violence , crime, lies,fraud , distant relationships , unemotional empty bodies, fast paced selfish life  styles are all but the natural outcome of prevalence of technology. What happened  to the simple life style, the outdoor games, the love and feelings between humans , the selflessness, the relationships , the family systems ,the abundant nature and the peace and humanity?. All vanished in thin air within a few years . Exactly similar to this situation is the after effects of greed on humanity ,the same level of degeneration , the same ill effects and the same amount of self destruction . Only if people can realize the changes within them that  greed has been cultivating . No value for honesty , no time for love and no place for humanity. Indeed man is cruel on his soul. Greed has indeed conquered the world. Just like the wifi greed seems to be the only platform that humans connect on. By the secular standards If you are success greedy then you are oriented , if you are money greedy then ur logically right and just helping your survival instincts and if if you are power greedy then I guess you are ambitious. But the truth is miles and miles away from this scale of measuring a human. Have you ever witnessed the downtown life, or the life in many busy, high technology fast paced cities of the world like maybe Beijing and Tokyo. If so then you must have realized how the people in these places have a very fast paced robotic life . This is what technology ,the hunger and greed to just gain more and more  in life has made humans. We are enslaved by our own unlawful desires and the cage is huge ,it can take in as many slaves as possible. The shackles of fear and deception makes the escape more difficult.

The flip side of greed

I have written so much about greed ,so much but all dark and negative. But dear readers, there are always two sides to a story. And thus greed has a flip side too. There is  a positive and spiritual side of greed that comes into play only when ones lusts for truth and knowledge. The craving for real beneficial and fulfilling knowledge that actually enlightens a human being of this world and beyond. What could be better than having ones nose in books than in someone's business?.The greed to learn , learn about the amazing places in the world , learn about different cultures, their way of living, know about what goes around in the other corner of the world. So many part of the world need healing . So many war stricken areas need to be recovered to their original shape. So many species of insects, reptiles and animals to know about , such a vast sea life to wonder at. We also have an Enriching  history yet to be discovered, amazing facts of the world, the mysteries of the universe,the secrets of space, the thousand and thousands of skills to be learnt , the intricacy of human body, the complexity of mind, the uncountable languages ,various religions , the existence of God, the evolution of humans ,the emotions of people , the sensitivity of relationships and  ultimately use all this fruitful knowledge to discover and unveil the truths of life and the effects of love not only towards humans but also towards  animals . Utilize these truths to maintain and cherish relationships , maintain friendships and secure place in people's hearts. What a virtue such a greed would be ?. Unbelievably spiritual, incomprehensibly selfless and extremely beneficial. Such a voracity can change the world for the better . But the sad truth is that this type of greed is hard to find , a rare entity that has been overshadowed by the Devils cape of selfishness. It is sad but it is also the truth. How many of us have actually worked towards the virtuous greed ?. But almost all of us has at one point in life practiced the vicious greed. Why can we not jail our heinous greed and nurture the urge to help people, hand away money,clothes and food to the poor and needy . Gone are the days when people would stand in the sun to give water to the thirsty and food to the hungry. But let me point out to you some cultures still have traditions that are heart touching. I'm sure living in Canada has introduced us to various cultures and one such is the Khalsa parade in which people from all walks of life celebrate by distributing water and food . This is however a day's events. Another example is the Holy month of Ramadan ,wherein Muslims are so "pious deed greedy "that they go an extra mile to help anyone anywhere they can to accumulate as many good deeds in their basket as they can . Charities are given open heartedly, food is distributed  and  small deeds of kindness are very common . My only request would be if we could make such holy trademarks common in our everyday lives instead of limiting them to a day or a month. Such examples prove the existence of the cure of greed ,the only need is to bring this practice in our everyday life.

Famous quotes about greed

I thought of sharing some very interesting quotes by famous people or/ in popular books . The point to be noticed here is the peculiar way how greed has a negative impact on people.

1.For greed all nature is too little. - Seneca

2.Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul. - Little Richard

3.Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. - Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom

4.Greed is the inventor of injustice as well as the current enforcer. - Julian Casablancas

5.The greed of gain has no time or limit to its capaciousness. Its one object is to produce and consume. It has pity neither for beautiful nature nor for living human beings. It is ruthlessly ready without a moment's hesitation to crush beauty and life. - Rabindranath Tagore

6.The covetous man is always in want. - Horace

7.Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?" - Brian Tracy

8.There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it. - Maya Angelou

9.There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed. - Siddhartha Gautama

10.In his love for the world, the greedy is like the silkworm: the more it wraps in its cocoon, the less it has of escaping from it, until it dies of grief. - Imam Muhammad al-Baqir

11.It didn´t occur to me until later that there´s another truth, very simple: greed in a good cause is still greed. - Stephen King, Wolves of the Calla

12.This avarice Strikes deeper, grows with more pernicious root. 

- William Shakespeare, Macbeth

13.One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability to distinguish our needs from our greeds. - Don Robinson

14. Greed's worst point is its ingratitude. - Seneca

15.There are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. - Bhagavad Gita16:21

Side effects of greed

Now let us just briefly discuss how greed affects the world in general. Greed can be called as a spiritual imperfection that when let loose can actually produce profound affects on a vast scale . Voracity has brought about more harm to the connections of families and companions. Families are losing their homes in which they have lived in for quite a long time to the hunger for property distribution amongst siblings. Instead of preserving the family home as a sign of a consolidated family, it is not bizarre today to see vacant homes with "bank possessed" signs posted in the windows. This is really a presentation of voracity where the material things are more significant than individuals. The monetary discouragement has made guardians lose their employments, in this manner not able to pay their home loans. This wellspring of ravenousness genuinely exhibits that our general public, "treasures things more than individuals or connections."

There is flip side to it too . Just to avoid property and land division there is set of people especially in South Asian culture that endorses a cruel practice called polyandry where a family of men,usually three to five siblings, marry a single woman into their home in order to avoid the distribution of land and property amongst the generations thus preserving it. So a single woman acts as a wife to many grooms although she is legally married to only one. She has to serve all the men in the house and carry on all the duties including sex. This practice was very common in the past ,although less prevalent now ,in parts of  India ,Nepal and even China but it still exists. This form of greed , although lets the families stay put but is highly unacceptable and unhealthy .

A lot of greed stricken people have developed scams like debt relief, home modification,travel scams that portray on the surface as great deals like " making money overnight" and inviting friends and family but actually terminates the sole foundation of relationships once the scam is exposed. Both the parties are at fault ,the fraudulent and the victims. Both of them have tongues hanging out and dollar signs in the eyes resulting in daydreaming and ending in deception.

Fake or stolen tax identities is just another example of  heinous acts like greed. People all over the world are affected by this form of criminal greed which is also triggered by poverty. People living below the poverty line are easy preys of such sins. It is interesting to note that even a pure feeling like love has been diluted with greed . On the television program  CBS This Morning, a poll showed that when a younger woman is seen with an older man, she is considered to be 53% greedier and not necessarily in love with this older man. There have been examples in the past where people have given up their wealths and royal status for love and now we have individuals who fake love to get wealthy and in power. Politicians are driven by greed and 50  percent of the population believe that the greedier the person ,the more successful he is because greed has no soul or heart just an empty compartment that keeps filling and filling .

Lies and greed

Lies and greed go hand in hand. People lie because of fear, hate and greed and the lust for more makes one lie again and again making lies and greed run in a self sustainable cycle. So the fear of losing something or the greed to accumulate more and more makes an individual lie fearlessly. A lie is like a key in an envelops of initial hesitation, once the hesitation is given up you begin to use the key to open the doors to all kinds of imaginable demons without any shame or boundaries. Once that phenomenon comes into effect, greed that has been behind the curtain comes into action and further aggravates the situation to become endless. In no time we are lying every few minutes during the day. A study shows habitual liars will atleast lie 10 times a day. They are the "compulsive liars ".   Most of the times the person does not even realize the whirlpool he's in. He deceives himself and without his conscious knowledge, he is lying like anything resulting in a personality disorder. Thus this trait is also linked to psychopathology of mind.He has a lie for every statement, practically every statement where he has to protect himself or where it better suits him to lie and also where it is necessary to come out clean. And the worst part is that habitual liars tend to believe themselves. It is not a part of an act, it is their personality, and this is what they have become. It takes courage ,stamina and integrity to face the practical world honestly and of course resistance is inevitable. Lying is the easy way out of a situation and represents a cowardly side of ones personality. Confessing and apologizing are not "ego friendly". Have you ever thought that we lie when we do not want to explain ourselves, we lie to get something we would not get otherwise, we also lie to prove ourselves right and we lie in every profitable situation.

Lying is an innate quality. Behavioral researcher Wendy Gamble, associate professor at the University of Arizona's School of Family and Consumer Sciences, has considered lying among school kids, finding that youngsters demonstrate a shockingly advanced comprehension of lying as a correspondence and relationship apparatus. “Children are very savvy in using deceit to preserve and maintain relationships. They learn that this behavior helps avoid conflict.” The greed to become physically attractive, power and famous allures the person to lie conveniently. Lies also come into play when one cannot handle the truth and rather live in a life of deception or denial. Having said all this there is type of lying called social or white lies, which is so common that they hardly considered lies because they are not intended to cheat but to respect the other person’s sensitivity. Socially and culturally we should be concerned about the fact that lies are becoming increasingly popular as an admirable survival skill. Long gone are the days when "honesty was the best policy". Now in this era of deception, dishonesty is the latest trend especially if ends up benefitting you.

Returning favours in turns of favours bestowed

Yet another very sophisticated facet of greed is expecting or demanding favors in return for the favors bestowed. Superficially it seems to be very logical, you help me and I will help you. However deep inside the motives are very selfish.

Firstly unreciprocated generosity even exists? Yes it does. But not for greedy people. For selfless individuals the world has a way of returning favors called "karma ". "Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” Princess Diana. Everybody’s has heard of what goes around comes around . Doing good will ultimately bring good in your favor without any expectation. But if you are expecting a return from the very beginning than that trait is not virtue but a vice all dressed up to deceive. If one does a favor and expects something in return than it is not humility but business. So one should be very clear in one’s mind if he's working towards generosity or is it just quid pro quo. There are shrewd people in the world who will only be in your good books when they know they can expect something in return ,you scratch my back ,I will scratch yours kind of phenomenon. There is no harm being a little street smart so you are not taken advantage of, but there is definitely a huge issue when you only extend your helping hands to those whom you know will ‘return the favors’. This last situation has been branded legal socially and it is called networking and not generosity. Generosity is when you know you’re helping someone who can probably not help you back or maybe he can but you are a strong enough individual not to expect anything in return and keep your heart clean. So it's one thing to be generous and another thing to develop a mutually beneficial relationship.
This was another simple example how greed affects us without us even being aware of it. How convenient for us to help someone whom we know can return the favor tomorrow, and how difficult for us to just be on the giving end. This affect is most commonly observed in the western culture especially affecting the new immigrants. In my experience I have actually observed a few angels who continue helping people without “getting paid for it”. And I have also witnessed sugar coated devils who will help you once and make you return the favor  atleast  five times ,or worse will only appear in scene when they know they will actually benefit from it . And as soon as they discover that there is nothing in it for them, they disappear like a poltergeist. One can actually categorize ones self just by thinking deep right into our motives before extending a helping hand. This world is in shortage of selfless people and by diagnosing this issue and mere restricting ourselves to taking advantage of the other individual ,we can help create more friendly environment.