Greed isn’t as bad as people say. At its heart is a key to happiness.
You’re greedy.
I can say that with confidence because I’ve used these blogs to hack into your bank accounts and track you’re spending patterns. Really? $350? On tim-tams?
But I also know that you’re greedy because if you’re reading it this you’re probably human, and all humans are greedy. We all have that impulse to be greedy – to take more than we need and stash it in a hole in a tree for winter where the other squirrels can’t get it.
It’s part of the basic operating software. It’s a default setting.
What defines us as people and productive members of society though is the way we work with our competing drives and express ourselves in the world.
And the most generous and selfless among us – the Mother Teresa’s and the Johnnie Depp’s – are just those people who have made the drive to give, to share and to nurture so dominant that we think they’re not capable of anything else.
But every i-phone has the capacity to run Angry Birds. Every human has the capacity to be greedy.
But society has also evolved in a way that we don’t think of greed as a piece of software that sometimes hogs a bit too much operating memory.
We tend to think of greed as a disease. A malfunction. Something’s gone wrong. The devil’s hacked your brain and now the operating drives are corrupt.
If you had kept your heart and mind pure, you could have stayed content in your natural state of chastity and generosity. But no. You had to go looking at women’s ankles in church and now the devil’s got the remote access code to your brain.
And now you’re greedy. Shame on you.
And I can understand why society as a whole has developed a greed-shaming strategy. Things flow a lot better if we at least pretend to be all generous and righteous – if we keep our greed and our gimme gimme hidden away.
It’d be chaos if greed and gimme gimme were totally off the leash. I’ve been to Vegas. It isn’t pretty.
So we shame greed.
But shame is always a work-around, a patch. There is a difference between shaming something like greed back into the shadows, and confronting it head on and shirtfronting it.
When we face up to greed (or jealousy or anger or lust or any one of the seven deadly dwarves) we have the opportunity to grow and mature. We become more integrated. We are not at war with part of ourselves.
That means less struggle. That means more energy for other things – like property investment seminars to name just one example.
And that means more success.
Let me say that again. The less time you spend fighting yourself, the more time you can spend fighting battles that actually matter and you can actually win. The more energy you have for success.
But back to greed. The trouble with shaming greed is that unless we’re particularly careful, we end up shaming desire.
Now I’m not here to tell you that greed is good. But I am here to tell you that desire is good. It’s fantastic.
Desire is one of the sweetest things in life. It excites and drives you.
You desire a kiss from that beautiful person. You get all giddy. Your heart races. You even start writing poetry.
“Roses are red
Violets are blue
I spent $350 on tim-tams
And they’re all for you.”
Or we want to buy our son a car for his 18th birthday. We want to see the look on his face. We desire his happiness.
Or we want to take a wife on a cruise now that the kids are old enough to stay with grandma. Or we want a new boat to go fishing with the boys. Or we want to ditch the Datsun and buy a Landcruiser.
We want things for ourselves and for others. And that gives us energy and drive. And achieving our goals – for ourselves and others – gives us a sense of satisfaction.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But we’ve been taught that desire is wrong. We’ve been taught that wanting things is wrong. We’ve been taught that taking care or our interests and doing our best to be happy is wrong.
It’s greedy and it’s selfish.
Of course there is a line somewhere between wanting a new Landcruiser and wanting Jerry Seinfeld’s sports car collection. It can get a bit out of hand.
And there’s a difference between wanting a Porsche because you love the way it handles, and wanting a Porsche so you can rub your brother-in-law’s nose in it next time you see him.
“Wanting” can go rogue. It can become polluted or corrupted by other drives – like insecurity, fear and envy.
Sure. I can see that. But that is not a reason to stop wanting altogether.
Just because desire gets out of hand sometimes with some people is not a reason to give up the sweetness that comes with wanting and with getting what you want.
It’s what makes life awesome.
So my advice would be, just go with your greed. Don’t fight it. Just roll with it. Recognise that sometimes you become a panicky squirrel. That’s ok. Don’t beat yourself up about it.
But then try and distil out the fear and insecurity and jealousy in your wanting. Come back to your pure wanting. The wanting you have for the things that make you truly happy.
Recognise that wanting is a beautiful thing.
Then go out and get ‘em tiger.
How do you stop ‘want’ slipping into greed or any of the other less-awesome expressions?
What do you think?
Bill says
Surely the source of the anti-greed rhetoric would be religious doctrine, not the media? Are you trying to resurrect the ‘greed is good’ philosophy of the eighties? Remember what that brought us?
Of course, desire works very effectively for people trying to achieve something, whether good or bad, but greed is a different animal and difficult to justify on any level. More for me and less for everyone else isn’t a wholesome attitude. I agree with your point that we are all capable of being greedy, (mean, selfish, intolerant, aggressive etc. etc.) but there’s no need to throw more fuel on that fire.
aussiesquid says
Rubbish. All of us are not greedy!! Some understand the need to share resources! The majority just simply blocks it out and refuses to think about it!!
Clinton Lane says
Allow yourself to get more so you can share more. Really it’s o.k. It wont make you a bad person.Change your perception of what wealth represents and you will see it is ok. to be wealthy. If you see wealthy people as disciplined, kind, generous and able to share instead of selfish and pretentious you may remove some blockage that will allow to you have more.
Antichrist says
Clinton..sadly, i do not see most wealthy people acting disciplined, kind or generous Typically in fact the opposite. This trickle down economic perspective is but a sham to self legitimise excess. The rich do not get rich by servicing , nor to service, the disadvantaged. What a load of self serving codwallops. I recall when young and hitchhiking. It wasnt even worth while throwing your thumb out at passing mercs or bmws. The drivers always became very intent on driving, and the wives clad in the front with layers of crap makeup, suddenly pretended they were deeply engrossed in the refidex..(more likely the latest david jones brochures). He he…The rich dont pay tax..the rich dont like equality, the rich dont like the poor. And they certainly dont pick em up hitchhiking. Lets be real here.
geo says
I don’t know about this. I don’t have a Merc or BMW but if I did I don’t think I’d be picking up hitchhikers in a car that can cost almost as much as a house. I’d happily buy you a bus ticket though 😉
Antichrist says
Hitching is a fantastic way to travel Geo. Done it all around europe and australia many years back. You typically get to meet wonderful caring sharing people….who dont care about the value of their transport vs the utility of a spare seat and helping someone along. I dont really see your point regarding an expensive car and having a hitchhiker in it…but then again..thats perhaps exactly my point.
Clinton Lane says
Hi Antichrist or is it anti everything.
I am wondering why you are even reading a blog written by a wealth contrarian type of author. People are usually down on what they are not up on. By most peoples standards i may be called rich. I paid $136k in tax last year so my reference is that the rich do psy tax. $136k from my labor enables the government to “share” the resources quite abit. So how much did you contribute to the sharing of resources.
You cant even give someone a lift by the sonds of it I am not putting myself above anyone in any way other than how muchof my resource i have shared over the years.
Antichrist says
Hey Clinton. I enjoy reading. I enjoy trying to get in the heads of others. I like to expand my consciousness. I like also to try to open the minds of others to different and challenging concepts…hence i read and contribute(?) to quite a variety of sites. Fun really. Good on you for paying your share. Although i am sure you employ a creative accountant to minimise your tax burden. I do. I have to..(thru bad management perhaps) put in tax returns in 3 continents, and i know that gets confusing and i probably pay a lot more than i ” have to” due to my duffedness and reliance upon my tax accountants say so. The true wealthy..the rich..as you i am sure know, dont pay naff all.. Remember the “great” Packers display and how he manipulated the system…he is not rare and his strategies are not unique. I suppose it depends on what you think rich is?. To many 130k is a trifling amount, and they are happy to pay that to keep the tax man off their backs… And also i suppose Clinton, “how” you perceive you pay it on. Paying a proportion of your income is but part of what to be a truly contributing member of a democratic society entails.Luckily, those with the ability to amass silly levels of wealth are also endowed with higher levels of intellect. They are blessed. Most of the population sadly do not have the drive, ambition, opportunity, position, breeding, social status, nor intellectual capabilities to make it in this dog eat dog society. However, my experience has been, it is these peeps who understand, and develop, truer forms of community, cooperation, respect, and sharing of resources. I give back, by living in these environments..i love to learn and understand , (to me), the truer meaning of life that money just doesnt buy…cannot buy…and using my meagre wealth in an almost exponential way by sharing that directly with those around me..a wonderful win win …my life is sooo much richer from these experiences. I would love to share some of these ways..but time and space here ….
Steve says
Greed is in the eye of the beholder. Someone with few assets (eg young people) might see those accumulating assets (eg. mature people) as greedy, while the people accumulating assets might be trying to set themselves up in retirement to be self sufficient. The latter is a perfectly valid endeavor and shouldn’t be seen as greedy once we realise that it is extremely difficult for older people to get a job to sustain themselves. Context is really important in these circumstances.
Suzsi Welch says
Greed is defined by when you want things and then secure/hold those things to the detriment of others. That’s it. So Greed is bad. However…….
It is the most natural thing in the world to desire good/better things for yourself and family. And that is actually a good thing because it propels you forward to achieve and take fiscal care. Once we have enough (and it’s the definition of ‘enough’ that is the delineation between Greed and Acquisitiveness) then we can help others and you don’t need as much $ as Johnny Depp to do that. I believe we all have a personal duty to do that – or else we eventually become a burden on others because we have not provided adequately for ourselves and our family members.
So I say, recognise your wants and requirements in order to improve your life and then Go For It. But don’t be greedy. 🙂
Suzsi Welch says
p.s. that’s not many Tim Tams! You was robbed!
Tom says
What if the brother-in-law would benefit from having his nose rubbed in It?
LOL
Clinton Lane says
A lot of stress in life comes from lack. If the transmission in my car goes and I have not got the money to fix it i get stressed. If I can catch a cab up to the nearest Ford dealership and drive off in a Demo model because I have enough cash in the bank, then not much stress. Money can allow us to seek fuller expression of ourselves through having or doing the things that reflect our personality. I might like to drive a CL 600 Mercedes, because I like that it represents precision and excellence because those are traits that I value and not just because I would need $300k to by one. So it is not always having just for the sake of it. I also like giving, so the more I can get for me, broadens my ability to give and affect other peoples lives. Having just enough for yourself is even more selfish than wanting more, so you can help others that don’t have the same ability as you to ‘get’ things. Remember the good Samaritan in the bible. Not only did he empathize with the guy in the ditch, he also had the means to put him up in the Inn and pay for his keep until he got back on his feet. Money is not the root of all evil. The bible says the ‘Love’ of money is the root of all evil. I love people and use money, instead of use people and love money. So I agree with John, having more can open up a whole lot opportunities to enrich your own life as well as those around you, as long as your heart is in the right place, then go and get as much as you can.
ron goddard says
GREED IS GOOD! for those who make greed a success. is elon musk greedy? innovation comes from greed (or necessity).? am i being ‘greedy’ if i see myself in a world of no road trauma or ‘accidents’.or drunk driving..sitting in my car drinking my favourite grog as my driverless electric car is on course to my destination? imagine..no speed cameras, multinovas, speed cops, breathalisers etc. etc. fantasy? no its the future. just one problem; motorcyclists..omg what to do with them! i am reading a book entitled ‘the last days of socrates’. one of your mob, jon. he was as close to being unneedy and ungreedy(is that a word?) as anyone could be. his world was one of philosophical endeavour and righteous living in the society provided to him by his peers and those before him (much like today..its all interconnected). a fact he recognised when faced with the choice of death or escape. he chose death even though his detractors and persecutors were blatantly wrong in their judgement. he chose to obey the law of his society. could we do this in our society? head thinking is needed here..are we hell bent on greed as a norm or when necessary? cheers,
Rectangle Square says
Greed is not good, its a negative trait.
Ambition, passion is good – these are qualities required to be a successful investor