Can We Admit the Greed in Ourselves?

I think greed gets the best of everybody.  Greed is destructive (please don't justify it by calling it Capitalism).  Greed, like the love of comfort, is based in fear.

He who is greedy is always in want.  It is an insatiable hunger.  Unquenchable.

It is one of the ugliest sides of humanity, a gate to hell, like lust and anger.

We deny it is in us, there is always someone we perceive as worse than us to point to as justification for our behavior.

I don't want to pontificate in an area where I myself am so weak.  This is truly one of those areas Buddha spoke of when he saids, "When the student is ready a teacher appears".  May the wisdom of a wide array of Greater Minds take seed in the fertile soul of a receptive mind.

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” 
― Socrates

“So the unwanting soul
sees what's hidden,
and the ever-wanting soul
sees only what it wants.” 
― Lao Tzu

“What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.
Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to get a toy?
For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?
Or what fond beggar, but to touch the crown,
Would with the sceptre straight be strucken down?” 
― William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece

Greed is not a financial issue. It's a heart issue.  ~Andy Stanley

…But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 
-1 Timothy 6:9-10

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal… You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:19 and 24).

I am going to close this out with a survey from Christianity today which gives me insight into my own behavior.  Take some time with your answers in prayer, ask our Father to breathe into us what he wants to see develop in your heart...

To help you focus your own self-examination, answer the following questions. The questionnaire is a rough measure of your generosity. The questions provide only a generous and a greedy option. The import of the answer given may vary with the circumstances of the one giving the answer. It would be wrong to quantify your responses. The point is not to rate yourself, but to position yourself better to fight the spiritual battle.

1. If I fantasize about winning a magazine sweepstakes, what most comes to mind is: (a) what I could do for others with all that money; (b) what I could buy, the vacations I could take, and the freedom to do what I want.
2. When I hear of someone with about the same talents and energy and education as I have who earns $20,000 a year more than I do, I think: (a) how nice that he or she can earn that much money; (b) it's not fair.
3. When someone outside my family gives me a significant gift "out of the blue": (a) I feel good about being the recipient of that person's generosity, and am comfortable with remaining in his or her "debt"; (b) I refuse it, or if I accept it I feel uncomfortable until I have given the giver something of equal or greater value.
4. If I express my admiration for some possession of an acquaintance (a book, a painting, a piece of pottery), and the acquaintance offers to give it to me, I tend to think: (a) "This person is very generous"; (b) "What do you suppose he or she wants from me?"
5. When I give someone a gift: (a) I am content if the person acknowledges the gift with pleasure; (b) I feel cheated if the person doesn't pretty soon do me a favor or give me a gift of equal or greater value.
6. When I give money to the church or other charitable organization, I typically: (a) think with pleasure about the good that may be done with my money; (b) think of the things I could have done with the money if I hadn't given it away.
7. If I lend $15 to someone I meet at a retreat: (a) I don't mind much if I never see the money again; (b) I get pretty upset if the person doesn't repay me.
8. When I give money to the church, I do so because: (a) I like to see the church doing well; (b) I feel it wouldn't be right to not give.
9. When I get a significant raise or come into some money: (a) it does not affect my standard of living; (b) my standard of living increases.
10. When I get a raise or switch to a higher income job: (a) my feelings about myself don't change much; (b) I tend to feel very good about myself for a while, but soon I begin to feel "poor" again.
11. When something of value is being distributed in a group—fish at the end of a fishing trip or leftover food at a picnic—if I can manage to get a bit more for myself than others without seeming greedy: (a) I will not do it; (b) I will do it.