Being Human: Greed
I was just recalling my days when I was in Beijing and when other fellow Singaporeans were around and we were just getting used to being in the new environment. One thing that amazed us all was how cheap some things could be as compared to our home country. But there was one incident that I remembered hearing what other classmates had encountered that could be linked to the topic that I wanted to talk about today – greed.
In Beijing, there were a lot of SIM cards sellers all over the streets and some deals were so low priced that it was no wonder amateur foreigners like us would be drawn to. One of my classmates got a SIM card with a deal that was so good but I could not recall what exactly the bargain was. But the story goes when she started using the SIM card, the talk time or the SMS quantity was not as promised. Instead she needed to pay even more to get the deal that she thought she was in for.
There were even more incidents like these such as hair salons selling overpriced and underpromised services, such as 5000 Yuan worth of member card but expiry date was really short. Food that was really dirt cheap only to find out later that they used very low quality oil (they called it “地沟油”) to cook the food. Clothings that were also priced really low but only to find out the quality was like a one time disposable later. Above were just a few of the many encounters we had when staying there.
But one classmate commented after hearing the SIM card incident which our victim was telling the whole class about it. He said “It was all because of one word – Greed.” I couldn’t agree more.
Insecurity is the Basis of Greed
Greed stems from a place of lack, especially the lack of security. In yogic and energy medicine terms, basically the root chakra is imbalanced or broken, thus causing the person to feel constantly insecure and afraid, afraid that one day he/she will lose everything or has everything taken away from him/her. The person is ungrounded and always seeking for more material things to have the illusion of security.
Greed is the Cause for Poverty
We have seen in the above incidents how the greedy souls always end up at the losing end ultimately. This is at the small scale level. I have heard of gambling stories where the person could have walked away with some earnings but because of greed, they carried on with the games and lose everything at the end of the night.
If something costs $1000 and it is on sale for $750, and then you decide to buy it, you did not save $250. You spent $750.
Generosity is the antidote for Greed
Doing more grounding work and working with traditional medicines and energy medicines can help to balance out the feelings of insecurity. That is how I treated some of my patients to tackle their anxiety issues as well as their life issues.
Greed is a form of hoarding.
The psychology behind is more than seeing the person as just a miser and hoarder. But rather the suffering within them is immense.
Giving and taking baby steps in being generous are medicines to work with sense of insecurity and greed.
To the greedies, pluck up that courage to try changing the energetics directions to outward instead of inward. You will be surprised at how the world will respond to you and how much more you are capable of receiving.
