Greed

Q: MeditationMom, what exactly is greed and why is it considered unspiritual?

MM: It is just a tension. Greed enters your heart through the eyes. You see something and you want it - or really, really don't want it - which is reverse greed - aversion and fear. There isn't anything more wrong with greed than with any other kind of tension. There are only two ways to relieve the tension of greed. One is to "get what you want", and the other is simply to relax and let go of what you think you want. You have to let go of thinking and all the attachments that feed greed. This can be surprisingly difficult even for typically non-greedy people in certain circumstances.

The first way to get rid of greed - achieving what you wanted -  is temporary and you will only want the next thing once you get what you wanted, so it doesn't really get rid of greed.  The other is in your control and can be permanent if you chose. Once you can relax greed, you can also "turn it on" at will when you need to compete with another person for resources, or just for fun and games - like any sport or game. People channel their greed and violence into sports and games and there also learn that detachment leads to better outcomes.

The first way is the way of the world and highly useful in many instances, like getting food and shelter, or winning a game. It becomes "evil"- in the sense that it makes other people afraid - depending on the lengths you are willing to go to get what you want. And it becomes plain silly when you want silly things like garden gnomes or Warhol paintings and are tempted to steal from your neighbor's house, or if you decide to cheat at golf. Greed itself is natural - how you go about relieving that tension is what makes it good or evil in your or other people's eyes. Whether you are the master, or it is master over you, is what makes it "spiritual" or "unspiritual".

Greed and fear are closely linked - and almost the same thing. Like night and day they melt into each other. Greed and fear are the tug of war of the mind, while a peaceful mind feels no such thing as fear or greed. "Spiritual" simply means "peaceful mind" - a peaceful mind is a mind grounded in the non-material. You can act on your own behalf against others in the material world with a perfectly peaceful mind. Such a person rejoices in what others gain as much as in their own gain, while the truly fearful and greedy are very much troubled by other people's good fortune.

Q: If greed enters the mind through the eyes, does that mean blind people are never greedy?

MM: No. It also enters through hearing, touching, smelling...there are many doors for greed to enter. The magic phrase to hold in one's mind to trick greed is "less is more" and "loss is gain" and then learn and know that it is true. Even when you lose your life.

Q: Even when you lose your life? How can that be a good thing?

MM: I didn't say it is a good thing. If someone steals something from you it also is not a good thing. But your distress can be instantly relieved if you remind yourself that less is more and loss is gain. Now you are free from all that worry about someone stealing from you, or your life being threatened or lost. Knowing that anything in the material world ultimately has no value at all - even your life - is the key to happiness and serenity here on this earth.

Q: Yes, but in the meantime we have to survive and often fight with others for resources.

MM: Yes and No. Jesus simply decided to stop all that and see what happens. It ended in him getting crucified, of course. He was very sure of the truth and trusted it - although with some difficulty during the crucifixion ("why have you forsaken me"). But in the end, he died a free man. ("Forgive them, for they do not know what they do.")

Q: Jesus was different and unique, though. It's not that you or I could say that, if someone were to murder us or one of our children.

MM: That is just an excuse, and not the truth. We are all able. Jesus was also "only human" when it came to being rather unhappy and uncomfortable, to say the least, at being crucified.

Q: Doesn't that kind of thinking makes many Christians just doormats for abusive people.

MM: Yes, Jesus was the ultimate doormat. As far as survival goes it is better to be the torturer than the tortured. As far as eternal life is concerned, though, you will not know it unless you are willing to give up what you have. All of it. Your possessions, you opinions, your religion, your philosophies, your loved ones, your own life.

Now, don't start giving it all away, leave your family, or kill yourself to get into heaven. That is greed in disguise. Just don't concern yourself with all these things - having and not having, getting and not getting, losing and keeping - but abide in truth and serenity. It is a choice you make, more than anything else.

Q: That makes me think of Bernie Madoff and all of his victims. Are you saying they can benefit from having everything stolen from them?

MM: We have no control over thieves and robbers. When you get robbed in life - of your money or your dignity - it is completely up to you whether you benefit from it or suffer from it. You do have control over that. The root cause of all suffering is your mind. You can turn lead into gold, suffering and pain into joy and freedom, but you cannot stop thieves.

Q: That's sounds like thieves somehow get off the hook. The thought of Bernie Madoff in his cell contemplating that he may have benefitted his victims "if they only turn it around" in their heads... I don't know...doesn't work for me. I am more the revenge type of guy who would like to see him hanging from the nearest tree.

MM: I have seen some very sweet old ladies on TV who "couldn't hurt a fly" who feel very strongly - like you - that he deserves the death penalty for the amount of suffering he has caused. It just proves that all of us are murderers if provoked. Stealing pales in comparison to murder.

What Is Evil?

Q: What exactly is evil if there are different standards in different cultures?

MM: We tend to call what we are afraid of "evil". Of course we would be afraid of someone trying to murder us. So we call murder evil. We would call a hurricane or earthquake "sent by the devil" - or by" George Bush" - but there is no inherent evil in it. We are just afraid of it. There are infinite things to be afraid of. When there is no fear there is no evil. Even in the case of the murderer. If you are not afraid of being murdered, you can not see any evil in a murderer.

So-called "evil" is mostly stupidity. Pretty mundane and boring, committed by dumb or even innocent people out of fear or greed, or misguided notions, who "do not know what they are doing". And don't be fooled by the "highly intelligent" evil. There is no greater stupidity than the superiorly intelligent who commit evil. Hitler, for example, would be called "evil" by a fearful person, or "stupid" by a scholar, or "poor" by a childhood psychologist.

Q: How about "the evil in us"? Our not so pretty selves we try to manage or hide?

MM: Greed and fear, nothing else. Don't hide it. Be greedy, be fearful and see how foolish it is. There is no need to struggle with it once you experience it directly for yourself. You will naturally give it up. Otherwise you will always think the greedy are smarter, and the fearful dumber than you, and you will lack compassion.

Q: There are times I think I am evil.

MM: You are afraid of yourself. When do you think you are evil?

Q: When I am greedy.

MM: Who is calling you greedy?

Q: I am.

MM: Then stop. If there is no one there to call you greedy you will not be needy and afraid anymore.

Q: But how do I work on myself to grow and become a better person, then?

MM: Who is there to be improved, and who is working on whom? It is all nonsense of the mind.

First the mind says "I like, want, need, or should have" and grasps for something, then it calls this greed, and then it wants to fix this greediness out of fear of being judged greedy. It is all your mind doing all this. It all starts with "I". This idea of "I" is the root cause of all fear and greed. Simply stop.

Q: But what if others call me greedy?

MM: Or "stupid", or "rude", or "fat", or "mean"...or "beautiful", or "smart", or "kind", or "enlightened"...make sure there is no "I" there to agree or disagree with "them"!