More , more and more!

Greed (n.) An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs, especially with respect to material wealth, possessions and money.

People love collecting stuff and the more stuff we have, the better. Owning lots of stuff - good. Even more stuff - very good. The most stuff - winner!! Of course we would never say this out loud because that would make us seem somewhat shallow, but our actions give us away.

Some of us have hundreds of pairs of shoes for a body that can only accommodate one pair at a time. And of course we tell ourselves we need them, but we don't need them at all; we want them. We confuse 'want' with 'need' regularly and somewhere along the way, we seem to have made the terms 'success' and 'excess' interchangeable. And if anyone should be brave enough to point our penchant for accumulating stuff that we don't actually need we become defensive and reactive, and then we criticise the observer of our behaviours. Of course we do. Clearly they are jealous of our success.


Have you ever met a truly greedy person who also happens to be happy, balanced and content? I'll take an educated guess that your answer is probably, no. Me either. The truth is that greedy people can't be genuinely happy because greed is synonymous with selfishness, ego, anxiety, fear and insecurity. Their life will always be missing one crucial 'happiness' ingredient; contentment - being happy where you are with what you have. Their greedy reality is a slippery slope because they can never have enough stuff. Sure they can find momentary enjoyment and pleasure from their prized possessions, but that feeling always fades and sooner or later (usually sooner) they will need to move on to the next (bigger, better, more desirable, more prestigious) acquisition in order to keep their 'happiness' alive.


Of course this game is ultimately an unwinnable one. Despite it's obvious popularity and endorsement of the masses, the 'Happiness Through Accumulation' model for life, is not a particularly effective one. At all. Just take a look at our emotionally, mentally, spiritually and socially bankrupt society and that should give you an insight into how we're travelling as a group. The notion of achieving some level of inner peace, fulfilment and long-term happiness via the ownership of 'stuff we don't need' is a sad reflection of popular thinking and an indicator of how disconnected we have become from what really matters.


One of the many ironies of our culture is that while we're all seeking the same things - happiness, meaning, love, fulfilment and peace - we also seem to inhabit a group mindset of greed and superficiality. In may ways, it seems that we are 'taught' greed from an early age.