Greed

Greed is a state of conditioning where attachments to objects, beauty or handsomeness are more important than the natural experience of abundance. Greed reflects the need to get others to see us as a safe option because of our possessions or beauty. It takes two to participate in an act of Greed: the person who is acquiring possessions and the person who is acknowledging them for it. Usually the person who is most Greedy feels most unsafe without possessions and money and therefore uses their beauty or handsomeness as a currency to get what they perceive they need. Greed makes us doubt that others love us for who we are, especially when we see others compromise themselves by choosing relationships where the true issue is the degree to which others will take care of them. Overall, Greed reflects an outer attachment to possessions in order to guarantee a sense of Safety. The problem is that we are not able to manifest Safety within us, so we look to external possessions as a way to compensate for our lack of internal connection. In the study of primates, particularly chimpanzees, the female demonstrates the motive of Greed as a nesting instinct, which is why we assign Greed to the feminine hierarchy.

Individuals operating from a motive of Greed appear empty, and when we become their target we often feel as if they are trying to swallow us whole. We can validate when others are operating in Greed by their voracious, unlimited appetite for possessions and experiences. Individuals who do not operate from Greed have a balanced appreciation for the usefulness of things and recognize that with possessions come responsibilities. When we operate in a mode of Greed, we are not able to see and accept the Greediness of others, which sets in motion covert power struggles over who will decide what everyone gets. In society, business sees Greed as a motivating force that allows it to manipulate productivity. In personal relationships, with the cultural shift of masculine and feminine intellectual polarities, we see as many men operating in a motive of Greed as women. This has produced a tremendous amount of self-examination about how we want to operate in relationships but still want personal time to take care of ourselves.

In a motive of Greed, we operate in the context of scarcity. We seek endless acquisitions of possessions to minimize our lack of self-presence. Greed reflects a perspective that we may not survive and thrive without material possessions that prove our success. The underlying fear is “I may not be able to take care of myself”. Another fear is that others will reject us unless we have something material to offer. The hidden belief of scarcity is that there is not enough for everyone to exist, so we pretend to have abundance so others cannot judge us as lacking. We can see Greed in others when they look vacant, which means they are experiencing an inner emptiness and are seeking to fill their outer life with material possessions in an attempt to offset this profound void. Being able to acquire things temporarily makes us feel we can affect our outer world.

Scarcity fears can be healed by seeing that we already have what we need to survive and succeed. Anything we have not yet attracted to us is probably not necessary to fulfill our life’s contribution. Only by accepting ourselves as we are can we get in touch with the energy of abundance, which recognizes that the world serves those who serve it. Let us imagine being supported by the Universe by recognizing all the ways that it is already providing opportunities for our development. Developing an inner sense of gratitude for the gift of Life itself is also a way to get in touch with our greater abundance.

Now we will address how to heal our Greed. Imagine having all that we actually need. Consider how feeling resourceful and capable allows us to abundantly contribute to the Universe. When we support the Universe, the Universe supports us. See how this occurs when we honor our physical form and the things around us as being part of our natural contribution to the world. Take a moment to experience a sense of gratitude that we have exactly what we need, when we need it. Imagine transmuting our outer attention to appearances into an exploration of the inner emptiness of all things. Notice how easy it is to become diffuse and even feel overwhelmed by the chaos inherent in this kind of experience. Instead of being overwhelmed, let us recognize how we can get in touch with our power to be present with this emptiness until it no longer scares us. Notice that when we consciously engage the emptiness within ourselves, we expand and are more present with our Self.

Individuals operating with a motive of Greed appear empty, and when we become their target we commonly feel as if they are trying to swallow us whole. We can validate when others are operating in Greed by their voracious, unlimited appetite for possessions and experiences. Individuals who are not operating in Greed have a balanced appreciation for the usefulness of things and recognize that with possessions come responsibilities. When we operate in a mode of Greed, we are not able to see and accept the Greediness of others, which sets in motion covert power struggles over who will decide what everyone gets. 

Imagine the sea of emptiness within our self being nurtured by our ability to honor our inner space and experience. Consider how our ability to see ourselves as more than the outer form allows us to connect with what is appropriate in our lives. Let us allow ourselves to experience how even the change that is occurring in our lives supports our evolutionary growth process by asking us to examine what is necessary to continue our natural growth and contribution. Let everything else that is unnecessary flow back to the Universe, so that we no longer need to be responsible for it. This assists us in bringing in those new things that are necessary for our creative fulfillment.

Since Greed reflects a sense of scarcity (because we believe others may attempt to take things we feel we need), it is important for us to begin to accept that there will be enough, particularly when we keep open and available in our interactions with others. It is not only in our interest to have what we need, but it is also in the interest of others that we have what we need so we can serve and support them as well. Instead of seeking the Adoration of others by acting as if we do not need what we do, let us endeavor to be clear and truthful about our process and our situation. When any fear of scarcity arises, let us turn this fear around and act generously with others, so that the contraction we were experiencing becomes an expansion that uplifts us all. As giving naturally increases our true inner wealth, let us discover how to connect with the Universe through our ability to give. When we withhold our giving, it effectively sets us up to seek to fill the inner emptiness with possessions. When we connect through giving, it neutralizes any fears of scarcity and affirms that we are learning how to give more completely.

The three belief structures of Romance, Motives and Love assert their power whenever we are not conscious of our true choices. Greed and the acquisition of possessions and experiences, becomes the default option whenever others dump us (in a romantic sense) or consume us in their embrace of us. Unconscious merging promotes the premise that whatever our friends have they should share freely yet our experience of this is, most of the time, is diametrically opposite to this. These frameworks reflect a lack of personal boundaries, which becomes greatly amplified whenever something threatens the Safety of our relationships or our life circumstances. Some of us distance our “self” from our own neediness and deny it. Others embrace it and use it to get what we want in life. Wherever we do not honor our power to manifest our reality it becomes a blockage to our overall expression. In both situations it becomes the primary motivating force to the degree that we are unwilling to accept responsibility for taking care of our self.

Awareness of Greed teaches us how to go beyond our fears and desires around material possessions or lack of them. The goal is to be neutral as much as possible about the status of material possessions in our life. The more we can affirm that we have what we need to engage the lessons of our life, the less conflict and turmoil we will experience in our life. The more we deny our own material existence, the harder it is to be a conduit for the expression of material abundance around us. There are two important beliefs that we need to confront to heal our self-denial. First, we need to envision our self as a loving expression of the Universe and, therefore, an abundant connection to whatever is truly on our path to our self-development and growth. Second, we need to clear out the negative associations that others will only want us for what we have otherwise we never really allow others to connect with us as we are.

Greed in this way not only shuts down our connection with the Universe but it dramatically limits our connection with others. The more we believe that we need to have something to be loved and accepted by others, the more this creates obstacles to being seen by others as we truly are. How can others love us if we do not love ourselves enough to express our own truth about our material situation or lack of it. Sometimes we actually need to simplify our life and reexamine how our acquisition of things keeps us from growing in the ways that we would like. Material goods also impose responsibilities for upkeep and maintenance that, many times, become a burden when these items are not truly required for our growth and development. We discover how much of our beliefs about home and car ownership and the possession of other entertainment items such as motor homes, boats, even airplanes are actually a direct reflection of our parents’ fears about Safety and Security.

When we acquire something that is not on our path we have no on-going sense of satisfaction and well-being and it actually stimulates us to acquire more.  This is the core issue of consumerism. Whenever we are dissatisfied with what we have we believe the answer is to acquire more to somehow get the satisfaction we lack within us. Greed distracts us from what would truly support us in our life expression. Our Greed focuses us on things when what we actually seek are experiences of inner well-being. We do not realize that we could create these experiences within us using our imagination and visualization powers. We seek, instead, to have an outer reminder of these qualities we seek to possess. Unfortunately possessing them physically and not internalizing them directly just makes our self-denial worse.

To release our attachments to greed we need to shift our perspective and not be identified with what we own. This shift means we have to transcend our fixation on physical form so we can see ourselves as energetic beings that transcend our outer presentation. For some of us it is helpful to affirm the abundance of beauty and experience in our life. Instead of coveting material possessions, we need to find ways to release ourselves from the possessions we currently have that are not truly serving us. From this new framework it becomes a gift to us to give to others, particularly when we see they might have a better use for something than we do. This perspective opens us up to greater energetic flow and it becomes possible to grow faster because we are Transmuting the conditioning and beliefs of our past.

The hidden denied belief is the default assumption that we operate from when we are unconscious. This reflects the worst-case scenario where we are self-identified with every possession and cannot see beyond our ownership rights. The distancing belief is how we learn to live with our self after falling into the hidden belief. It reflects that we are not really as bad as we think ourselves to be and provides the justification not to confront the hidden belief. Who we present our self to be is the outer belief that distracts us from looking at the truth whenever things become confrontive or difficult with others. In this case it reflects our view of how we are superficially abundant in our scarcity. In effect, we want to look like we have handled things when, in fact, it is still an ongoing conflict within us. Primarily we use this belief to reassure our self without actually neutralizing the ongoing issue so we could grow and develop in a natural way.

Ultimately we want to transcend these beliefs and embody a consciousness that goes beyond superficial presentations of who we are. Money has become the center of our sense of self worth and contribution in business. It is now becoming obvious that our perpetual search for Safety and Security in possessions does not actually work. This does not keep us from continuing the “rat race” mentality of acquisition because we typically do not see any alternative. Never before in our recorded history have we defined our value as much in terms of time and money. What this does is erode our true sense of value, which is Self Presence. We no longer create time to be who we are and enjoy life without external distractions and stimulation. When we get caught up in always having to pay attention to what we think we need it drains us and limits our natural creative responsiveness because we are exhausted.

Our sense of Presence expands dramatically when we no longer use material possessions as a way to prove we are valuable or important in the world. The cultural framework has made it more difficult to relate to others without the presence of possessions overwhelming our presence with each other. Our connections tend to be defined in terms of the values that reflect our possessiveness or lack of it. It is easy to believe there is no other way to show up as an empowered person without some pre-established relationship to our possessions. The opposite is also true.  Spiritual seekers can be identified with their lack of possessions, which makes them “better” than others in some cultural environments. We do not need to be aesthetic monks with a vow of poverty to either prove our importance and value or lack of it. Spiritual Materialism is when we believe we are a better person because we do not have things. As we become more enlightened, we discover that outer possessions are primarily a tool for serving the acquisition and transcendence of specific experiences on our path of self-realization. Who we are is actually not limited by possessions or the lack of them.

The irony is that we not only have to get clear about who we are in our evolutionary process in terms of possessions, we have to be present about our relationship to material possessions and communicate this congruently to keep others from misinterpreting us. It is directly dealing with the perceptual beliefs of scarcity and the attachments to Greed that will assist us in our quest for inner harmony. This means we have to be clear and unambiguous in our truth that we do not define our self in terms of material possessions. For individuals who are attached to Greed, this will create a fearful disconnect because they will not know whether they can count on us to support them when, in fact, it is our detachment from possessions that makes it more possible to effectively serve others using possessions appropriately.

The cost of Greed is that we may find ourselves living in a world of superficial luxury. Luxury that distances us for others closes us down to our evolutionary growth. Luxury keeps us from engaging life fully because our physical attachments to comfort and the caretaking of others keep us from an expansive, inspirational, ordinary life. Luxury is also a curse because it attracts others with lower motives that will attempt to take advantage of us. Only when we know ourselves beyond our possessions and do not flaunt our possessions around others will be truly build conscious relationships that can sustain us. It is also important to distinguish that luxury connotes an ability to distinguish ourselves from others by what we own. As long as we perpetuate a social class structure, we will not see and support the inherent creativity in others openly. Our perspective will be colored by our beliefs that wealth indicates superior breeding and intelligence.

It is not luxury to be operating in a balanced way with people we love. Hopefully those we most interact with and those to whom we most contribute will help us to establish an appropriate the level of consumption. They can best do this by reflecting back to us how we are distancing our self from them using things. Keeping the relationship honest regarding the use of resources permits us to more abundantly share our Self. Personal dignity is greatly enhanced to the degree we align to Universal Intent and focus on what we need to fulfill our contributions. The more we use our authentic creativity to connect and cease to operate from social-economic, gender identity or defensive roles, the easier it will be to engage authentically. Others operating from a creative alignment will greatly appreciate our humanity, vulnerability and openness.   

To accomplish this, we need to know the difference between our wants and needs. Wants reflect our constant insecurity about material possessions. Needs reflect what is in alignment with our contribution and our growth. We are most fulfilled by honoring our authentic needs and we are diminished to the degree we get caught up in pursuing our wishes and personality wants. These wishes typically distract us from the greater satisfaction and joy that comes from creatively contributing. It affirms our self-esteem when we contribute and are honored in the contributions we make. Greed negates our self-esteem by asserting that we deserve things that we have not worked for. We come into a greater sense of power when we request, and even demand, what is in alignment with Universal Intent. This is completely different than fulfilling our wishes and wants that reflect scarcity of our personality perspective.