Be it in everyday life, relationships, global economic and political affairs or numerous examples from history, without exceptions all dukkha* caused and/or endured by humans can be traced back to the petty emotion of greed. It causes nothing but destruction and self-destruction.
It would be logical to therefore brand it as the devil and try to banish it from human minds. While indeed this might make for a more peaceful and harmonic world, it would also be a stagnating and meaningless one. Aside from the will to survive (which might be seen as an offspring of it as well), greed is the only thing driving humans onward, making them live their lives, if yet sometimes at the expense of the happiness of others or even their own. Stagnation is unnatural, everything must evolve and change.
Furthermore, trying to eradicate greed entirely would be a futile attempt anyway. We are human, and therefore it is an integral part of us. It is simply impossible to entirely remove it. Even if one succeeds in removing all superficially selfish desires and lives a "selfless" life "only serving others" and being helpful, this person would still be greedy. If they depend their own happiness on that of others, aiding fellow people in trouble and making them happy would be a gain for themselves as well, and in the end they would end up as nothing but hypocrites, serving their own needs under the pretext of only caring about others, whether they are aware of it or not. If yet their actions would be admirable and have positive effects, but my point is the philosophy behind it.
I once tried to eradicate all my own greed, and that was nearly as foolish as previously submitting to it in blindness. Realising the above, I came into a never-ending conflict, or rather war, with myself as my reason, my wishes, and my desires to fight and suppress all my desires (which is obviously already a hypocrisy in itself) clashed constantly and threw me into a state of internal unrest and confusion.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that neither extreme can be the real thing. Greed is an essential part of human existence, even if it is the most dangerous and vile thing within us if left to flourish freely. Thus, I decided that in order to live a harmonic life in peaceful coexistence with the world and its inhabitants, I would also have to achieve the same within me. My solution was the acceptance of my wishes, but with the constant knowledge and realisation that they must not under any circumstances be allowed to do as they please, and require the constant surveillance and control of my reason and morals.
And indeed, the very moment I came to accept that I have desires that cannot be simply purged from existence, I immediately became more harmonic and collected.
My only problem however is that I still do not have full control over myself. On occasions, I repeat past mistakes without noticing and accidentally give my greed too much freedom. I have yet to find a way as to how I can achieve absolute hegemony over my mind, sadly.
Yet while underlying wishes are indeed necessary and required if I want to go somewhere with my life, at the same time I still consider it a highly important thing to be content with the present. Being grateful and happy for what I experience and possess without clinging to and obsessing with it in the desire to make it last, while at the same time avoiding to long for anything that I was not already gifted with or what I lost; based on the position that I "deserve" nothing and that everything positive I receive is a blessing that I am required to cherish and be grateful for (due to it being an additional and kind gift) while everything negative I must accept without grudges as I simply am not entitled to demand something better.
I work to achieve this state of mind and hope that every part of me will eventually fully accept these terms, that while my greed might subtly continue to move me towards more distant goals it will not disturb the flow of the present.
*"dukkha" is a term derived from Buddhism, which can be translated to bear various meanings ranging from "suffering", over "sorrow", or "disturbance", to "disharmony". I value it for this variety and considered it a very accurate expression for what intended to say.
It would be logical to therefore brand it as the devil and try to banish it from human minds. While indeed this might make for a more peaceful and harmonic world, it would also be a stagnating and meaningless one. Aside from the will to survive (which might be seen as an offspring of it as well), greed is the only thing driving humans onward, making them live their lives, if yet sometimes at the expense of the happiness of others or even their own. Stagnation is unnatural, everything must evolve and change.
Furthermore, trying to eradicate greed entirely would be a futile attempt anyway. We are human, and therefore it is an integral part of us. It is simply impossible to entirely remove it. Even if one succeeds in removing all superficially selfish desires and lives a "selfless" life "only serving others" and being helpful, this person would still be greedy. If they depend their own happiness on that of others, aiding fellow people in trouble and making them happy would be a gain for themselves as well, and in the end they would end up as nothing but hypocrites, serving their own needs under the pretext of only caring about others, whether they are aware of it or not. If yet their actions would be admirable and have positive effects, but my point is the philosophy behind it.
I once tried to eradicate all my own greed, and that was nearly as foolish as previously submitting to it in blindness. Realising the above, I came into a never-ending conflict, or rather war, with myself as my reason, my wishes, and my desires to fight and suppress all my desires (which is obviously already a hypocrisy in itself) clashed constantly and threw me into a state of internal unrest and confusion.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that neither extreme can be the real thing. Greed is an essential part of human existence, even if it is the most dangerous and vile thing within us if left to flourish freely. Thus, I decided that in order to live a harmonic life in peaceful coexistence with the world and its inhabitants, I would also have to achieve the same within me. My solution was the acceptance of my wishes, but with the constant knowledge and realisation that they must not under any circumstances be allowed to do as they please, and require the constant surveillance and control of my reason and morals.
And indeed, the very moment I came to accept that I have desires that cannot be simply purged from existence, I immediately became more harmonic and collected.
My only problem however is that I still do not have full control over myself. On occasions, I repeat past mistakes without noticing and accidentally give my greed too much freedom. I have yet to find a way as to how I can achieve absolute hegemony over my mind, sadly.
Yet while underlying wishes are indeed necessary and required if I want to go somewhere with my life, at the same time I still consider it a highly important thing to be content with the present. Being grateful and happy for what I experience and possess without clinging to and obsessing with it in the desire to make it last, while at the same time avoiding to long for anything that I was not already gifted with or what I lost; based on the position that I "deserve" nothing and that everything positive I receive is a blessing that I am required to cherish and be grateful for (due to it being an additional and kind gift) while everything negative I must accept without grudges as I simply am not entitled to demand something better.
I work to achieve this state of mind and hope that every part of me will eventually fully accept these terms, that while my greed might subtly continue to move me towards more distant goals it will not disturb the flow of the present.
*"dukkha" is a term derived from Buddhism, which can be translated to bear various meanings ranging from "suffering", over "sorrow", or "disturbance", to "disharmony". I value it for this variety and considered it a very accurate expression for what intended to say.
