Why is greed so repugnant, disgusting?

 

Greed is delusion

Greed is weakness

 

Greed is delusional faith, hope — for betterment through acquisition

Greed is weakness — when this false betterment comes at the expense of true values

 

You and I of course are reward-driven

You and I of course have goals

But besides that we have values

What are values?

It’s something immutable

 

Rewards are gained and then we seek new rewards

Goals are acquired and then we find new goals

But values are immutable

It’s that which lasts

It precedes and proceeds

It informs how we act and how we react

It informs how we perceive and what we conceive

Values is our quest for that which is TRUE, and LASTING

Those can be moral values, philosophical and scientific value, also the values of a good life, or perhaps something else entirely

 

Greed is delusional confusion of the TRANSITORY for the VALUABLE

You acquire some thing, material or immaterial

A physical object, a toy

Or perhaps an idea, a belief, a memory

Both are transitory however

Those are not values which are beyond you

Nor even values which you can perpetuate through how you live every day

Those are merely acquisitions

Their purported value is in the fact that you hoard them

And you confuse their pathetic ego gratification, comfort of having them — with the value of actual values

 

And the more you confuse the two — the more you betray your values

Its already disgusting when true values are being supplanted by fucking delusional mirages

It’s already disgusting if you think you’re better defined by your car and pictures from vacations and achievements — then by doing what you believed was RIGHT today, because it was congruent with your values

It’s disgusting, but perhaps it can yet coexist with still retaining certain values

The degree of abhorrence is thus better defined by how destitute of real values you become, and how many of your remaining values you readily betray

Out of GREED for that illusion

 

THIS is when greed is disgusting

It’s disgusting enough to be a materialist. It’s a sad existence.

We are driven to driven people, because we recognise in their passion and love something of true value.

A materialistic greedy person is repugnant because he’s in thrall of the falsehood of acquisitions

HOWEVER,

Greed gets REALLY palpably disgusting when the GREEDY person is too captivated by his greed so as to continuously betray all values: his, or even those passively inherited from the society

Think of the greedy scoundrel who will betray his own friends

Think of the greedy drip who won’t bring a gift, won’t buy a drink, won’t give a tip, ever

Think of a greedy scum politician to whom “values” are just a plaything, a tool, an illusion used to acquire non-illusionary benefits to himself

 

Greed is not great

We do get greedy

Poor get greedy because their values don’t always bring the food on the table

Rich get greedy because they became enamoured by the hope of enhancing themselves through acquisition

Successful get greedy because in success they hope they will finally have value

Losers get greedy for the same reason

You and I get greedy because we want the good to continue, to not pass — therefore we wish to perpetuate it indefinitely, we want to CAPTURE it

We do get greedy

And then we are disappointed

Again

 

And the greed strikes when you don’t see it

You don’t think of yourself as greedy

You experience a negative emotion associated with LOSING OUT on something

You feel obliged to your course of action

You feel it’s fair

Of course it would be unfair if you were to lose, if you were to be worse off

You feel a little bit dirty perhaps,

Sometimes it’s masked by pleasure of acquiring the new thing

And sometimes it feels very dirty but you fool yourself it’s necessary

 

You don’t think of yourself as greedy

Maybe you think you’re ambitious

Or maybe you think you’re pragmatic, reasonable, level-headed

Or maybe you think you’re clever

 

How do you know you’re greedy?

Look within

Examine your values

AND examine the EMOTION you experience

Does it make you uncomfortable, to NOT be greedy? To LET GO? To accept that you have had enough? Or that you don’t NEED it no more?

Examine the emotion

AND examine the values

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU VALUE MORE THAN POSSESSION ?

And you will see

 

And perhaps that will be enough to let go

To liberate oneself from this greedy state of mind

From that suffocating emotion, desire of wanting to be greedy

And from that small-mind, the thoughts which proceed from that emotion, from that schema