Comments on: What Exactly IS Greed?

By: DNfer

DNfer — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:03:24 +0000

most never gets satisfied from what they got. they need better things. so the Greed Continues

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:59:40 +0000

I like FFB’s definition. It could also be putting your wants ahead of other peoples’ needs. For example, if you can buy a 52″ tv you don’t need or send the money to help kids get vaccinated against malaria, buying the tv might be considered greedy even if you can totally afford it.

But that’s a matter of whether or not you believe you have a responsibility to use your possessions/money for more than just you. Many religious worldviews (and a number of humanist atheists) would say that to some extent or another you have a responsibility to help others meet their needs after you’ve met your own. The question then is how much can go to your wants and how much should go to the needs of others…

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:11:56 +0000

The why must have something to do with our tendency to identify ourselves with what we acquire. The new acquisition – whatever it is – is consciously or subconsciously seen as making us better, happier, hipper, younger, wiser – somehow adding to what we are. Of course it doesn’t do any of those things. As a friend used to say, you “need” air, food, and water: everything else is a “want.” One problem this tendency causes occurs when people don’t recognize the “why” of their desire and blindly follow it despite their lack of financial means to do so. The other is when they blindly follow it because of they can; i.e., they have so much money they can get anything they want (including more money).

By: Shawna

Shawna — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:23:07 +0000

What an enlightening article! Thank you! I think I’ll go clean out my closets now……

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:30:20 +0000

Greed to me is when you try to get money and possessions when you don’t really need them, and often it is done without regard for the methods of attaining them.

I can’t help but feel that greed is a direct result of trying to fill a hole or a lack of something in one’s life, and trying to fill it with money, things/etc. It is the lack of contentment and a lack of knowing where one’s true worth comes from.