GLUTTONY & GREED: NATURE OR NURTURED?

A few months ago, I was surfing the net and stumbled onto the headline, “The Biggest Billionaire Blowups: Who Lost the Most in 2008.” The article proceeded to feature stories on who lost the most in 2008 among some of the richest people in the world.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/05/biggest-billionaire-blowu_n_155426.html

As I read through the above article, I became more indignant about the world as we know it. How or why is it possible that one man in India, a country known for its abject poverty, could lose as much as $30 billion in one year? As Mike Tyson would say, it’s completely ludicrous. Only the imperfections of the human condition – both gluttony and greed – could allow such insanity to exist.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

What is it that makes us want more than we need? Is it simply human nature to be greedy? Or could this be a learned behavior? Many argue the laws that Darwin proposed… survival of the fittest; kill or be killed; it’s a dog eat dog world. All of these teachings instruct, “that if we don’t go out there and get it, someone else will.” As such, people begin a lifetime of scrambling to “collect” things that they want, oftentimes at the detriment of those around them. How many of us have examples of this behavior somewhere in our lives? Certainly, all of us do, just as we are likely guilty of gluttony and greed ourselves.

Still, I believe human nature, in its purest form, is one of compassion and giving. It is only when the ego becomes involved, and through our society’s mis-education that we allow gluttony and greed to prevail. Thankfully, we have examples all around us of just how unfulfilling materialism can be. The Princess Di’s, the Michael Jacksons, and Paris Hiltons, are all people who we thought had it all, but yet they were or remain painfully unhappy. At the end of the day, taking and taking without giving back will be empty and unfulfilling. For many, the current financial crisis is a wake up call, or reminder of what is truly important. When we gain clarity, we will understand that giving, or being of service is so much more fulfilling than gluttony and greed.