Greed
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 11:35 am
“The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
What is greed? Why do people always have that urge to gain more than what they already have? Greed is absolutely dangerous for the spiritual development and as Socrates said “Are you not ashamed of caring so much for the making of money and for fame and prestige, when you neither think nor care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of your soul?”
But what is the reason beyond of a man's being so greedy?
An example: a person is born to a poor or an average or not so rich but somehow a wealthy family or very wealth family. It is a family who belongs to one of the Abrahamic religions. A family who believes in that god in a blindfold and biased way and has no real spiritual devotion. They want their child to go to best schools, they want their child to get the best education that s/he can get and better than others, they want their child to get the best jobs and best salaries and they want their child to get married with the best person that they can get married with. They teach their so called morals to their children during their childhood and teenage times. But actually are those families ever aware of one thing? They are raising future's individuals (in an unconscious way) who are as greedy as themselves or even greedier than themselves. They want more than what they have without caring about others and live their life fully in a materialistic way. They are not being developed It is the way I see the things and it goes like the pieces of a chain, connected to each other. Abrahamic religions have been used as a tool by businessmen and politics for their own debates for centuries (I will definitely not talk about politics.) There is nothing wrong about living a good life but I do not see it as a moral world. Of course, there can be exceptions of families / people.
This was just an example. This topic can be discussed in many ways. This was just a view of me from one angle. What are your ideas / thoughts about this topic?
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
What is greed? Why do people always have that urge to gain more than what they already have? Greed is absolutely dangerous for the spiritual development and as Socrates said “Are you not ashamed of caring so much for the making of money and for fame and prestige, when you neither think nor care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of your soul?”
But what is the reason beyond of a man's being so greedy?
An example: a person is born to a poor or an average or not so rich but somehow a wealthy family or very wealth family. It is a family who belongs to one of the Abrahamic religions. A family who believes in that god in a blindfold and biased way and has no real spiritual devotion. They want their child to go to best schools, they want their child to get the best education that s/he can get and better than others, they want their child to get the best jobs and best salaries and they want their child to get married with the best person that they can get married with. They teach their so called morals to their children during their childhood and teenage times. But actually are those families ever aware of one thing? They are raising future's individuals (in an unconscious way) who are as greedy as themselves or even greedier than themselves. They want more than what they have without caring about others and live their life fully in a materialistic way. They are not being developed It is the way I see the things and it goes like the pieces of a chain, connected to each other. Abrahamic religions have been used as a tool by businessmen and politics for their own debates for centuries (I will definitely not talk about politics.) There is nothing wrong about living a good life but I do not see it as a moral world. Of course, there can be exceptions of families / people.
This was just an example. This topic can be discussed in many ways. This was just a view of me from one angle. What are your ideas / thoughts about this topic?