Everyone has heard the word “greed” at least once in their life. What does this mean and what human traits does it indicate? Greed (or acquisitiveness) in the religions of the world is This vice lies in the fact that a person does not control his desire to acquire more and more material values. At the same time, he does not receive any moral satisfaction from this. Greed is a pathological passion for obtaining profit.
Greed - what is it?
In reality, there are many vices that poison human existence. But one of the most insidious and sometimes even terrible is greed. It causes greed, anger and selfishness in a person. But at the same time, it is acquisitiveness that causes suffering from unfulfilled desires. Greed prevents a person from becoming happy. It leads away from true values. It is difficult to overcome; it takes away the will and desire for kindness. sows discord and abuse.
How does greed affect a person?
So, greed causes a person to have a burning desire to get more money. Sometimes it comes to the point that people with such a vice stop spending their savings altogether. They hoard them. At the same time, feeling unhappy, they literally languish over their wealth. They stop noticing everything around them that cannot bring them money. In addition, greed is a source of other, no less terrible vices.
What vices does greed create?
Greed - what kind of mental “illness” is this? And what other vices does it cause in humans? First of all, greed entails an insatiable desire to benefit from everything. A person does not even disdain the troubles of others. There is no place in the soul for compassion or pity, there is only the desire to gain benefit. But, as you know, happiness is when you give, not when you receive. That is why self-interest has never brought true peace to anyone.
Another vice that accompanies greed is envy. It depletes and “eats” a person from the inside. Don't forget about greed. Reluctance to share repels a greedy person. In his quest to save all his savings, he remains lonely. It is these vices that are the reason that throughout the history of mankind, blood has been shed over gold and other riches.
Symptoms of acquisitiveness
There is perhaps no more painful vice than greed. Synonyms for this word - “acquisitiveness”, “gluttony” and “greed”, completely complement the current picture. Sometimes the pettiness of such people reaches the extreme. A greedy person always carefully calculates the cost of even the most insignificant purchase. He will not leave the cash register without counting all the change. And if there is not enough money there, he will create a scandal and take it away at any cost.
Greedy people talk about money all the time. They complain about their shortage. They envy and spoil those who earn more than them. Moreover, such a person may well occupy a good position and be wealthy. Greedy people buy the cheapest clothes, food, they never spend on entertainment. Even if they have a hobby, it is always associated with the idea of saving money. For example, a person prone to money-grubbing can buy a dacha, so he can provide himself with food and not spend money, or he sews clothes, although at the same time altering old trousers and sweaters.
Greedy people will not miss the opportunity to get money illegally; they always take bribes and do not disdain blackmail and theft. Such a person will constantly demand to borrow money from his relatives, but he will not give it back. provokes scandals. At the same time, he can steal from a relative or friend who lives worse than himself. Acquisitiveness can be taken to extremes. Greedy people will not disdain to search garbage barrels, they hope to find there something that will allow them to save money, for example, old furniture, clothes or metal that can be sold for money.
Causes of "gluttony"
Greed - is it a habit or a mental illness? One thing is for sure, the problems of money-grubbing have very long roots, to be more precise, they grow from childhood. If a child grew up in a poor family and was constantly denied purchases, using the excuse of lack of money, then, most likely, this will become the determining factor in his adult life. He will rely on the experience of his parents. And to any request for a purchase he will answer: “No money!” He only gains confidence when there are bills in his wallet. But one problem remains: a greedy person does not have a feeling of satiety; he always has little money.
Another reason for the emergence of acquisitiveness in a person is a clear family pattern of behavior. If mom or dad constantly put money in the sheets, saved on everything, avoided spending and always tried to grab something for free, the child adopts this behavior, considering it the only correct one.
What's wrong with greed?
So what harm does greed bring to a person? The meaning of the word implies obsession with money. What does this mean? Any insanity is detrimental to the psyche. The personality suffers and is distorted. It is destroyed and degraded. are replaced by material ones. But as our ancestors noted, money cannot bring happiness. They are only a means to achieving what you want, but not the final goal itself. Accumulating a large amount of finances causes fears and brings worries. A person dooms himself to life “in a golden cage.” His thoughts are spinning in circles. The only thing he cares about is where to find even more money and not lose what he has saved. He is constantly afraid of being robbed.
Such people are not able to give. In addition, they show greed in sales, making money even on this. A greedy person takes loans. He falls into financial slavery. Oddly enough, he doesn't initially think about percentages. For him, a loan is a way to make a purchase without spending what he has already saved. But tragedy strikes when bills have to be paid. The paradox of greed is that a person does not become richer, on the contrary, he becomes poorer. After all, poverty is not when there is little money, it is when there is constantly not enough money.
Is greed a mental disorder?
The problem of greed always lies in a mental disorder. It occurs under the influence of external factors. In the world around us, material values are imposed on us, which push the spiritual sphere of life into the background. People are being sold products that they don't really need. Greed does not lead to the satisfaction of needs, on the contrary, it leads to insatiable need. This makes a person unable to experience happiness; it destroys the psyche and aggravates the condition.
Consequences of money-grubbing
Greed and greed are addictions. Of course, money-grubbing cannot but affect family relationships. A greedy person always tries to cut costs. He saves on everything and everyone. Trying to accumulate as much money as possible, he deprives his children of clothing and food. But it’s one thing to save money for a new home, cutting the family budget, and quite another thing to save money just for the sake of its quantity. People suffering from acquisitiveness do not have specific goals. They simply keep their finances, denying themselves and their loved ones everything.
Greedy people almost always have problems in relationships with others. Nobody wants to deal with them. Such a person has no friends. The team doesn't like him. A person suffering from greed will never chip in on gifts for colleagues. But at the same time, he will always attend dinners that others have dumped on. And he will be offended if they don’t let him in. After all, it is profitable to celebrate, as they say, for nothing.
How to overcome greed?
Is it possible to overcome greed? The meaning of this vice makes it clear that a person has false values and guidelines. Money is everything to him! But in reality, people begin their pursuit of material values when they cannot find happiness. Therefore, in order to free yourself from acquisitiveness, you need to understand that true wealth is spiritual. Happiness is within us, and a person can only know it by sharing. It does not depend on the amount of money in the account and gold on the neck, ears and fingers. Generosity has always been a counterbalance to greed. Only by giving something can you make your life easier.
To get rid of money-grubbing, you need to stop collecting bills and coins. Money should be spent on things that truly bring you pleasure. Only by finding your purpose in life can you experience peace. In order to feel truly happy, you don’t need money at all.
GREEDY, greedy, greedy; greedy, greedy, greedy. Greedy, selfish. Greedy man. Greedy for money or for money. || Passionately wishing (poet.). Hungry for knowledge. || Hungry; insatiable, gluttonous (bookish obsolete). Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary.... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
greedy- greedy; briefly the form is greedy, greedy... Russian spelling dictionary
greedy- greedy, briefly. f. greedy, greedy (wrongly greedy), greedy, greedy... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language
greedy- This adjective belongs to the high style and is rarely used in colloquial speech. And the word greedy was formed from the common Slavic verb to hunger, which originally meant to want to eat. In modern language the word greedy is rare... ... Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Krylov
greedy- Old Russian - greedy, greedy. Old Slavonic - lachn, alchn. The word “greedy” was already known in the ancient Russian language and became widespread during the advent of writing in Rus' (IX century). The word came into the Old Russian language from... ... Semenov Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language
greedy- to what, to what and for what. Greedy for money (for money, for money) ... Control Dictionary
greedy- very greedy... Dictionary of Russian Idioms
greedy- oh, oh; a/lchen, a/lchna, a/lchny Showing an uncontrollable desire to obtain something. in larger quantities than necessary; selfish, selfish. Greedy for money. Synonyms: greedy, insatiable Related words: a/personally, a/personality... ... Popular dictionary of the Russian language
Cslav. borrowed from Art. glory alchn (Supr., etc.) along with lachn. To the dainty, hunger. Wed. still Slovenian. lačǝn, Czech. lačny, other Prussian alkīns sober, lit. alkanas sober, hungry; Wed Trautman, BSW 6 et seq. [Wed. also Hüttl Worth 80. – T.] ... Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Vasmer
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When reading the definition of the word “greed,” which is given in dry dictionary language, a person interested in this issue may become confused, since the concept of “acquisitiveness” is often interpreted as stinginess. In context, the meanings of these two terms are actually equated, which is not entirely correct.
Difference between greed and stinginess
The meaning of the word “greed” can be defined as an abnormally strong desire to obtain as much financial wealth as possible. Stinginess is the desire to spend as little money as possible to achieve some goal or make a purchase. The nature of a stingy person is significantly different from the nature of a greedy person.
The confusion between the two concepts occurs because the ultimate goal of people suffering from these vices is the same. We are talking about increasing your financial wealth.
If we talk about these concepts not as vices, but as personality traits, then psychologists tend to agree that sooner or later they unite in an individual, forming a powerful negative symbiosis. The result will be a categorical reluctance to part with accumulated wealth. The need to increase it can become an overvalued idea, leading to the destruction of a person’s moral character, since he will use any, even immoral, opportunity to satisfy his financial thirst.
In the process of communicating with a person, it is important to learn to understand when we are talking about frugality, sound prudence and economy, and when about greed and stinginess - exaggerated forms of these useful qualities.
Greed as a character trait
Greed is not just some temporary state in which a person may be under the influence of any negative factors. It is not a feeling, although it is described that way in many cultures. This is a chronic condition that can change consciousness, even if its course is not accompanied by any acute attacks.
The state of mind in which an individual suffering from greed is located to some extent affects the functioning of the autonomic nervous system, which directly affects the “behavior” of the heart, respiratory and excretory systems. This has a negative impact on health: often exposed to such moods, a person faces such a problem as arterial hypertension.
Psychological origins of greed
Despite the fact that the history of money as a means of exchanging various goods, benefits and services began relatively recently, greed was familiar to primitive people. Humanity began to fall into this state en masse when it was faced with the problem of a shortage of food and other vital resources. If at this stage you try to draw some conclusion, you can involuntarily come to the conclusion that a person is prone to greed at the genetic level, so consciousness is not able to control it. If we take this into account, it becomes clear why greed can manifest itself at a very early age - from the moment a child develops self-awareness.
Adolescence is the only time when a person, being not yet fully formed, can control the feeling of greed.
This control is facilitated by purely youthful maximalism, seeing everything that happens around only in black and white. He makes the teenager understand that greed is a negative quality in a young team, where almost everyone does not stand out for their financial situation. The desire for respect from peers makes a teenager need to hide his greed, so as not to get out of the company. This effect cannot be maintained for all subsequent years of life.
Greed can be compared to the sexual instinct. Their striking similarity is that they can remain deep in the subconscious for a long time, not bother a person for many years, but then, acquiring new, sometimes very perverted forms, they can ruin his life.
The most innocent manifestation of greed is the desire for high earnings, even if this is objectively beyond one’s strength. The desire to receive more and more, under the auspices of ensuring a decent standard of living for yourself and your family, at some point can get out of control, turning into mania. Often, workaholism is also connected to this, which can literally drive a person to the grave.
Submitting to a feeling of uncontrollable greed, some people are capable of consciously committing crimes aimed at the safety of other people's property, and sometimes the life of another person. In order to supposedly improve their quality of life, especially greedy representatives of the human species enter into arranged marriages, break off relations with close relatives and friends, and refuse custody of parents who, due to circumstances, cannot fully care for themselves.
Short-term manifestations of greed
This is manifested in the reluctance with which most people who have not encountered this pathological psychological state in their lives give back money they once borrowed. One of the manifestations of greed may be refusing a loan to one of your friends or relatives, even if the necessary amount is available for this.
There are situations in which an individual cannot afford to make some expensive purchase, even if he needs it. This is a natural situation for almost every member of the middle class, and some kind of temporary savings can be a solution. If we are talking about regular refusals to purchase some pleasant and useful little things for yourself and your loved ones, the person has crossed the border of economy and frugality.
Strategies for behavior towards money
Every adult individual sooner or later determines for himself some strategy for earning and spending money. Basically, it is formed based on the attitude towards material wealth that was instilled in the child in childhood by his parents. It is not uncommon for a behavioral strategy to be deliberately incorrect, because at an early age a person faced some financial problems that affected the quality of life of his family:
- Greed is an unhealthy desire to increase one's income by any possible means.
- Stinginess is both a similar and different state from the previous one, in which a person avoids any financial expenses, even the most insignificant ones, in order to preserve his capital.
- Greed is a combination of the first two states that is formed in a person in the presence of one of them.
- "Big Game" is a very abstract term that can be interpreted in many ways, but it can be used in the context of entrepreneurship. When we are talking about a person who has a healthy desire to increase his capital in order to be able to further allocate from it the funds necessary for investing in new projects that can generate profit.
- Prudence is a borderline state between frugality, thriftiness and stinginess, greed.
- Generosity is the ability to easily part with earned money. This is a quality that is directed largely not at oneself, but at other people surrounding a person in one or another area of his life.
- Wastefulness is the total inability to save what has been earned. Spendthrift people part with money so easily that almost all income from their work tends to disappear on the very first day after payday.
Conclusions
The ability to spend money wisely is an art that is not given to everyone. If a person was not endowed with it due to some life circumstances, he should learn to recognize the borderline states of frugality, so as not to get bogged down in greed and stinginess.
Greed people- this is the love of money, acquisitiveness, greed, in other words, this is an immoderate desire to receive money or other material benefits. In Catholic theology, human greed is considered one of the main flaws, fundamental vices, mortal sins, since it leads to an increase in troubles and worries, internal bitterness, and unsociability. In addition, the described vice tirelessly provokes fear of loss and anger.
The word greed is associated with greed (covetousness), which is condemned by all peoples. Often this sin serves as a motive for committing a serious illegal act or is the cause of a tragedy.
Feeling of greed
Acquisitiveness or greed is a vice that consists in a person’s lack of control over his own desire to obtain material wealth. At the same time, as these same benefits accumulate, a feeling of satisfaction does not appear; on the contrary, greed becomes more and more inflamed. In other words, greed, avarice meaning is an abnormal attraction, a pathological craving for profit, easy money.
This vice is an extreme manifestation of the desire to acquire something exorbitantly. Every feeling of greed is condemned as idolatry.
Acquisitiveness gives rise to a burning thirst in an individual to get a lot of money. Often this desire leads people to stop spending any money. However, at the same time, greedy individuals do not feel happy; they behave like the well-known fairy-tale character Koschey - they languish over the “gold”. Stingy people stop noticing people and the world around them. They only see what can bring them profit or income.
The greed of people is dangerous because it gives rise to many other equally serious vices. For example, greed and are inseparable. Envy seems to eat a person from the inside, draining his soul. In addition, greed awakens self-interest in the individual, which consists in an irrepressible desire to benefit from everything. Such a person stops at nothing and does not shun the troubles of others. In his soul, the desire to gain profit left no room for compassion or pity.
A greedy subject deprives himself of happiness. After all, happiness does not live in selfish and greedy hearts. He is fueled by kindness, a sincere desire to give and help. That is why greed, avarice, and selfishness cannot bring true peace, joy and prosperity.
Another vice that accompanies greed is greed, which repels the people of a selfish person. The desire to save all your profits for yourself turns into loneliness for a greedy person.
The reason for people's greed lies in the substitution of the concepts of moral, ethical and cultural life values. A person insatiable for money mistakes material goods for happiness.
Greed and envy, greed and self-interest are creations of the human “Ego”. Money lovers, driven by the desire to compensate for the thirst for affirmation of their own importance, try to drown out personal dissatisfaction, internal emptiness, and loneliness by accumulating material values. Therefore, it is believed that greed is a manifestation of selfishness. It combines two sides: stinginess and greed.
Human greed, in addition to the above disadvantages, also has the following negative manifestations. It does not differentiate between one’s own and another’s, it pushes people to commit serious crimes, violations of the law, and turns a person into an envious and unprincipled being. The love of money gives rise to a persistent fear of losing material wealth. At the same time, the feeling experienced by self-interested people is much greater than the joy of owning money.
The feeling of greed invariably leads to the degradation of personality, the destruction of its internal foundations. Selfish people lose the ability to sympathize and become “soulless”, and, consequently, lose the opportunity to feel happy and loved.
A number of researchers believe that the nature of greed lies in a psychological pathology called syllogomania, pathological hoarding or Plyushkin syndrome (in accordance with the character of the same name in N. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”). This disorder is manifested in the tendency to collect and save unnecessary things. The described illness may be a consequence of a lack of material attention in childhood or a pathological feeling of uselessness to other people, worthlessness, which seeks to compensate by possessing things.
Another destructive manifestation of greed is shopaholism or oniomania. This disorder is expressed in an irrepressible passion for shopping. The pleasure that shopaholics get from shopping is akin to a drug. In addition, it causes psychological dependence, which leads to an increase in consumer loans, which results in need, decay and degradation.
The problem of greed lies not so much in the desire to accumulate material wealth, but in the desire to preserve them. Sometimes this attraction forces people to eke out a miserable existence, having substantial capital behind them. Therefore, you need to understand that being stingy and wanting more are not synonymous.
There is a special type of people who never stop there; they always want more. Such subjects enrich themselves not for the sake of their own profit, but due to the fact that they constantly set new goals for themselves.
The desire for, the craving for, the desire to remake the world for the better are the positive side of the feeling of greed.
In addition, progress is inextricably linked with human greed, which is a kind of engine of development. After all, scientists, doctors, professors, industrialists constantly want to reach great heights. A side effect of this attraction is progress. Without the thirst for knowledge, the modern world would be deprived of many discoveries, and homo sapiens would not be far from primitive man.
What does greed mean?
The term greed today often means greed. This term has two interpretations. The first is a selfish and greedy person, and the second is an individual who passionately desires something. The first interpretation is considered to be a vice, since if a subject passionately strives for new impressions, knowledge, and not for money, then it is hardly worth condemning him for this.
The sin of greed is considered the second of the seven greatest vices of humanity (deadly sins). This is due to the negative traits that greed awakens, such as anger, envy and evil deeds. Religion allows only one kind of justified greed - “happy are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (Gospel of Matthew). This phrase can be interpreted as follows: the unquenchable thirst for knowledge is justified.
Thus, greed, the importance of which for a successful and happy life is difficult to overestimate, is a path to nowhere. Many scientists consider greed to be a kind of idolatry, where money plays the role of an idol.
Greed can be represented as an unquenchable thirst for profit and material wealth. It consists of replacing spiritual values with material ones. A greedy person cannot be considered mentally healthy. The desire to live in comfort is a completely normal desire of the individual, but when such a desire combines excessive greed and stinginess, it becomes an addiction, a disease.
The origins of covetousness go back to distant times in human history, when the ancestors of modern man constantly lacked resources, such as food. From this we can assume that the beginnings of greed are inherent in the individual at the genetic level. Greed was later transformed with the advent of monetary units. Its content has changed. Now a person strives not just to survive, but is focused on the thirst for profit, on money, which allows one to purchase almost everything in the world.
You can give vivid examples of greed from literature. This vice is colorfully described in the work “The Miserly Knight” by Pushkin and in Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. These literary masterpieces show an unvarnished passion for wealth, profit, and collecting unnecessary things. The writers showed how a completely normal desire for a person is transformed into an obsession, an overvalued mania that can destroy its bearer. After all, it transforms the consciousness of the individual, replacing reason with blind passion.
The problem of greed
The sin of greed is often understood as such human attitudes as the desire to possess greater material wealth, greed for money, reluctance to part with it, the thirst for hoarding and money-grubbing. At the same time, a non-greedy individual often commits actions that can be conditionally attributed to the described vice.
For example, he spares money for loved ones or himself. Sometimes such behavior can be justified by need or prudence, but often it defies reasonable explanation.
It is believed that the problem of greed is always hidden behind a mental disorder that arises under the influence of environmental factors. Unfortunately, the modern world imposes an increased value of material goods, while the spiritual component is increasingly depreciated.
Greed cannot lead a person to satisfy his own needs. On the contrary, it leads to even greater need, as a result of which the individual cannot know joy and happiness. This has a devastating effect on the psyche.
The word greed has the following synonyms: acquisitiveness, greed, greed, insatiability.
There is no more painful flaw than greed. A money-loving individual always carefully calculates the cost of even the most insignificant acquisition. He will not leave the cash register until he has counted all the change. The lack of one penny can lead to a scandal. Greedy subjects talk exclusively about money. They are constantly missing them. They are consumed by envy of people who earn more. Money-loving individuals are capable of causing mischief to those who have more material wealth than they do. It doesn’t matter that they themselves hold a high position and earn good money. Greedy individuals buy exclusively the cheapest food and clothing. They won't spend even a penny on entertainment. Any hobby of stingy people is always associated with the desire to save money. For example, a person predisposed to covetousness may purchase a summer cottage in order to provide himself with food, which will cost several times less than the store price, or he will buy a sewing machine to sew clothes himself or alter old ones.
In addition, greedy individuals will never miss the chance to make money through illegal activities. Such people do not hesitate to blackmail, they always take bribes, and calmly go for theft. They constantly ask loved ones to borrow money, while “forgetting” to give it back. Stingy people invariably provoke scandals. They can steal from a loved one or friend, even if he lives much worse than themselves. Covetousness often drives a person to extremes. So, for example, a greedy subject will not disdain to rummage through trash cans, because he hopes to find there something that will help him save money (old furniture or clothes).
Selfish people are constantly tormented by the fear of losing their own savings and at the same time they are haunted by the desire to accumulate a huge amount of money as quickly as possible, which for them is a guarantor of psychological freedom and physical security.
However, it cannot be said that all cheapskates are the same. Each greedy individual manifests his own desire for profit in different ways. So, some may not hide their own greed inherent in them: they wear old, worn things, limit themselves in food, do not go on vacation, save on literally everything. Others, on the contrary, may hide their own greed under the guise of a generous person. Such people always boast of their immeasurable kindness and generosity, telling how much they do for their loved ones, how much money they spend on them.
Greed is comparable to disease. It is dangerous because it is often accompanied by mental breakdowns. In addition, the indefatigable thirst for money can lead to the fact that in one day a person spends everything he has earned. First they take stinginess to the point of absurdity, then they also spend money uncontrollably.
The outcome of greed is quite unfavorable, as are the consequences of any other addictions. First of all, money-grubbing has a detrimental effect on relationships within the family. After all, in striving for hoarding, he limits all his own children. If they were trying to save money in order to purchase more comfortable housing, such behavior would be understandable, but subjects with a love of money have no specific goals. They simply save their own finances by denying everything to their family.
In addition, greedy people always have problems in communicative interaction with others, since there are practically no people willing to communicate with them or do business with them. Stingy people have no friends and are not liked in the team. After all, a greedy person will never chip in on gifts for colleagues. At the same time, he will never refuse to attend a banquet for nothing, and will even be offended if they “forget” to invite him.
Examples of greed from fiction and from life show that excessive stinginess and greed only lead to sin and do not bring happiness to the owner of these qualities.
In addition, human love of money affects health in different ways. For example, through psychosomatic connections passing between the internal organs and the cerebral cortex, through a violation of the neuroendocrine regulation of metabolic processes, through sleep disorders. After all, when the desire to get a lot of money transforms into an obsession, it does not give a person peace even at night. As a result, the individual does not get enough sleep and feels exhausted and tired in the morning. Envy and anger, which are constant companions of greed, lead to increased production of adrenaline and an increase in the level of norepinephrine in the blood, which contributes to the development of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. The physical condition is further complicated by the fact that greedy people save even on their own health.
Give him the world and he'll ask for more wrapping paper.
Greed and anger are the worst advisers.
Sometimes silently creeping greed removes the sentry-conscience. And then the soul goes into all sorts of troubles.
Why fuss, fight for power, If eternity has opened its greedy mouth. What is destined for you is what you will receive. Without the Creator, even an apple cannot fall down.
Ignorance is the mother of malice, envy, greed and all other low and gross vices, as well as sins.
Vanity, this unbearable, painful thirst for success, is a great torture for the mind and consists of envy, pride and greed
Greed (Greed) as a personality quality is a tendency to an insatiable, immoderate desire to possess some benefits.
A greedy man hid gold under a tree in the garden. Every week he dug up his treasure and spent hours admiring it. Soon the gold was stolen. When the owner did not find the gold, he began to scream loudly. Neighbors came running. When they found out what was the matter, someone asked: “Did you manage to use at least part of your gold?” “No, I was just looking at him,” answered the unfortunate man. “Well, then nothing is lost,” they answered him, “you might as well come every week and look at the hole in the ground.”
A person can only conditionally be called sincere, honest, insecure or greedy. A person, metaphorically speaking, is a bouquet of manifested qualities of the soul. There are other qualities in him little by little, but the unique flavor of individuality arises from the unique combination of qualities exhibited. However, there is one exception, which is called "Greed". If a person is greedy, then his other qualities can be neglected. In front of the gigantic dimensions of greed, all other qualities can hardly be examined under a microscope. On the grave of a hungry person, you can, without pretense, write an epitaph with the words of M. Lermontov: “I knew only the power of the Duma. One, but fiery passion: She lived in me like a worm, Gnawing my soul and burning it.”
An all-consuming desire, a manic passion for the possession of material wealth, perverts the soul and darkens the mind. The unbridled desire for unbridled hoarding destroys faith in the morality and decency of people. The soul turns to stone. There is nothing evil on earth for someone who is hungry. There are only stupid conventions that interfere with his irresistible attraction. The only thing that is of genuine interest to him is the subject of his passion. One would like to put gold or money instead of the object of passion, but this is the most common manifestation of greed.
This must be kept in mind. Greed is not limited only to the material sphere of life. It can develop in any direction. The cause of greed is the boundless desire of the soul to be happy.. If a person’s life concept of happiness is based on a strong desire for material happiness, then he also has material greed. But there is also spiritual greed, greed for listening, greed for knowledge, greed for truth, and many others. “Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied,” says the Gospel of Matthew. This can also be understood this way: only spiritual greed is justified. It's a different matter when it comes to material greed.
The burning, indomitable lust for possession, uncontrolled by consciousness, is isolated from the personality, becoming its only life goal, turning it into a slave who does not even think about freedom from his passion. This is the essence of material greed. Not every person can fall into the web of greed. Only a passionate, selfless, reckless, detached person capable of forgetting about himself can become her favorite.
Greed, like all qualities, has its opposite - extravagance or wastefulness. On the scale of Greed - Extravagance, personality traits that are intermediate in relation to them are comfortably located: stinginess, greed, thrift, prudence and generosity. The difference between them is the intensity of passions and style in relation to getting and spending money. For example, greed is the desire to increase the “currency” of one’s balance of goods. Stinginess is a “death grip” on what you have. No expenses. You can't beg for snow in winter - it's about stinginess. The biggest misfortune for stinginess is a decrease in balance sheet currency. Greed is a versatile nature - in arithmetic it loves adding and multiplying what you have and hates subtracting and dividing what you have. In other words, he strives to receive more and give less.
A prominent representative of greed is the moneylender Gobsek, the hero of O. Balzac. Gobsek is already nearly eighty years old. He rents two poor rooms in one of the gloomy, damp houses in Paris. He eats bread and coffee with milk, wears shabby clothes, and in his pantry there are mountains of food rotting, heaps of gold and silver are piled up, which he does not trust to the bank. The hungry Gobsek explains his philosophy of life with the words: “Of all earthly blessings,” said Gobsek, “there is only one that is reliable enough for a person to pursue it. Is this gold. My gaze is like the gaze of the Lord. I read in hearts; nothing is hidden from me, nothing is denied to the one who tightens and unties the money bag. I am rich enough to buy the conscience of those who manage ministers, from clerical servants to their mistresses. Isn't this power? I can, having the most beautiful women, enjoy their most tender caresses. Isn’t this pleasure?” Please note that greed does not need direct possession; it only needs the consciousness that it can have what it wants at any moment.
To confirm this statement, let's listen to A.S. Pushkin. The Baron, in his monologue, reveals the essence of greed so well that we reproduce it in its entirety: “Like a young rake waiting for a date with some crafty libertine or fool deceived by him, so I waited all day for minutes when I would go down to my secret basement, to the faithful chests. Happy day! Today I can pour a handful of accumulated gold into the sixth chest (the chest is still incomplete). Not much, it seems, but little by little the treasures are growing. I read somewhere that the king once ordered his soldiers to demolish the earth by the handful into a heap, and the proud hill rose up - and the king could look with joy from above both the valley covered with white tents and the sea where the ships were running. So, bringing my usual tribute here into the basement, one poor handful at a time, I raised my hill - and from its height I can look at everything that is under my control. What is beyond my control? As a certain demon, I can now rule the world; As soon as I want, palaces will be erected; Nymphs will flock to my magnificent gardens in a playful crowd; and the muses will bring me their tribute, and free genius will enslave me, and virtue and sleepless labor will humbly await my reward. I will whistle, and bloody villainy will obediently, timidly crawl towards me, and will lick my hand, and look into my eyes, reading the sign of my will in them. Everything obeys me, but I obey nothing; I am above all desires; I am calm; I know my power: this consciousness is enough for me...” Here greed, as the general of all other qualities, brings vanity to the “carpet”.
In the basements of the baron and in the poor rooms of the moneylender, greed buried the hunted stupidity, recklessness, despair, love and compassion of other people in gold and bills. Greed perceives his suppliers as actors giving a theatrical performance for him, and himself as the inexorable inevitability of fate. At the same time, greed itself hates heirs and does not want to think that someone will become the owner of his treasures.
Greed is secretive, cautious, irritable and suspicious. What kind of self-control and caution one must have in order to, like Gobsek, refuse one’s own gold coin that fell out of one’s pocket and was kindly picked up by a neighbor. For everyone he is a beggar, so secrecy is paramount.
In Christianity, greed is considered one of the seven deadly sins, because it encourages malice, anger, envy, and this leads to unpredictable consequences. A greedy soul is the beginning of all troubles. It provokes fear of loss and vents anger at possible competitors and pretenders to wealth. Greed can rightly be identified with the object of desire: a person is a bill of exchange, a person is gold, a person is money. Greed is a man with a cash register instead of a soul. An anecdote on topic. The girl is angry: “I don’t want to live with such a greedy beast like you. Here's your wedding ring! - “Where is the box?”
Greed is a vice, a disease that can begin in childhood. Listen to the tragic and instructive story from Treasure Island about the boy Bobby, who loved... yes, he loved money: “Bobby was a good boy from birth. Bobby had a hobby - he loved money. Loved and saved. All children, like children, live without worries, but Bobka doesn’t eat, Yes, he doesn’t eat or drink - he puts it in the piggy bank.” And so on until old age. What then? Then: The old man loved money very much, he lived from hand to mouth, he saved and saved. He was called to God to answer. There is money left, but grandfather is gone.
Before falling into the abyss of greed, a person would need to remember the words of Christ: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Petr Kovalev 2013
