Instinct is a natural desire or tendency to
make you want to act in a particular way.
The greed instinct must be controlled or else...
Without greed fewer than ten percent of the problems humans experience would exist. Only the survival instinct is greater than the greed instinct. What is greed? What is instinct? Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behavior. The Webster's Dictionary defines instinct as "a ways of behaving, thinking or feeling that is not learned: a natural desire or tendency that makes you want to act a particular way." An example: Honeybees communicate by dancing in the direction of a food source without formal instruction.
Greed is selfish and an excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed. The Webster's Dictionary's brief definition of greed: "excessive or reprehensible acquisitiveness" Greed is likely to invovle covetousness and hoarding. To satisfy the greed instinct a person may engage in scams, schemes, bullying, violence and even murder. Greed often involves the desire for material wealth, particularly, for money which is a medium of exchange for many kinds of "stuff." It ignores the realm of the spritual and disregards respect for and the right of other people.
Greed is one of the "Seven Deadly Sins," also called the cardinal sins. They are: lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, wrath, envy and pride. This list of seven deadly sins were formulated during the middle ages and adopted by the Church. Although they are not mentioned in the Bible as stated, these seven things are mentioned in the Bible:
"There are six things the Lord hates, seven
that are detestable to him; haughty eyes, a lying
tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart
that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick
to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out
lies and a man who stirs up dissention among
brothers" Proverbs 6:16-19).
Instinct is not always the best guide. What comes natural or feels good may even be destructive rather than healthy. Humans having a soul-constituted nature are a higher species than other animals and at times have the ability and responsibility to behave contrary to their instinct or even transcend it. There are times when what comes natural can be destructive. Unlike a dog, a human may appropriately refrain from farting or defecarting in public. He may overrule his instinct to be creative and productive.
How to manager the greed instinct must be learned. Children by nature are selfish. It comes naturally. But such behavior does not enable children to live fruitful lives. They must learn how to share with others and know that permission must be granted by others in order to use are take what belongs to others.
The inability to control the greed instinct may result in a person committing crimes: murder, thivery, violent confrontation and war. Society has legalized greed, providing, in particuar, the more powerful and privileged encouragement to exploit others with immunity. Encouragement for embracing greed is expressed in pursuit of the "American Dream" and "You can become a millionaire." Howerver, instinct is valuable for humans and is sometimes sufficient.
Greed is not just one of the Seven Deadly Sins, it is the primary and most powerful of the seven deadly sins. If the greed instinct was appropriately managed the human race would live in a world where people would use no more of the resources than is necessary, live together having essential things in common and without quarreling, maintain themselves by producing the food, shelter, clothing needed, being safe from each other, having meaningful intimate and sexual relations, enjoy themselves and contribute to the enjoyment of others in art, music, literature, and games, add as little as possible to its pollution, grow spiritually, discover better ways of managing themselves effectively and practice community in such a way that they will experience "heaven on earth." We have not yet seen, but it is possible, for man to achieve all these things and use technolgy to accelerate his evolution.
Although man cannot abolish his greed instinct, i.e., change his nature, he possesses the power and has the potentiality to love - to give all to love - and in loving (agape) deny the greed instinct the opportunity to ultimately direct human behavior. While one of a person's strongest drives is greed, love is his strongest emotion. In loving instinct cannot be the governing power. When love reveals the plan of action instinct surrenders to love. Love is doing the lovely thing in every situation. When a person is loving he is in harmony with the Universe.
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