Sin of the Day: Greed

The sin of greed is too often confused or melded with that of gluttony.


Greed: as of having excessive and inexhaustible desire; especially with regard to material wealthy.


While I have a healthy disdain for all aspirations pertaining to material wealth, it is the first clause of that definition that intrigues me - of having too much desire.


Greed is usually seen to be when an individual selfishly hoards their possessions and seeks enlargement of their estates; there is little thought for their fellow men.


But what if greed meant having plentiful and bountiful desire; a term to describe not the avaricious but the ambitious and the dreamers? What if I'm greedy because I want more from life itself - it's not a comparison to what I have to other people, but against what I have right now.


Greed isn't sinful then - it's a capacity in people to attain greater knowledge, experience, passion and substance (both material and figurative).


Greed is a terrible thing when the subject in question has little imagination or conscience. For them it represents an endless and malevolent call to power wherein the needs of others are subverted. This can often been seen in the high-ranking executives of top companies who plunder their organisations resources and screw their employees for millions of dollars.

For everyone else it is having the ability to dream. It makes them want to go to see different countries or eat the mega-death chilli burger or try the kama sutra.


Greed is not good, but it's not evil either. I want more than I currently have, but the commodity I want more of is experience.