Can we not be freed from greed?
Everyone wants to be recognized, loved, and paid attention to. If we look into the abyss of our hearts, we can recognize that greed is hidden in various forms.
Greed (avaritia in Latin) is one of the seven deadly or cardinal sins (pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth). Jesus says in Mark 7:21-22: "From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly."
"Gier: Auswege aus dem Streben nach immer mehr" (Greed: Ways out of striving for more and more) by Anselm Grun, a prolific German priest and writer, is an excellent spiritual guide that leads us to have inner peace.
This book is composed of five chapters. The first chapter refers to various forms of greed and presents a way to inner peace by converting destructive greed into desirable life energy. The second chapter illuminates greed from a historical and linguistic point of view and introduces the views of ancient philosophers such as Plato and fathers such as John Chrysostom and Saint Augustine on greed.
The third chapter looks at greed from a biblical point of view, and the fourth chapter talks about the various ways that Jesus showed us in 14 parables in the New Testament to break free from greed. The fifth chapter presents twelve ways to be free from greed, based on the Bible stories that reveal the various faces of greed.
Anselm Grun says that these 12 ways are not a prescription for overcoming greed, but rather a direction that we can take together and the secret to turning greed into vitality in life.
Twelve ways to be free from greed are to admit and confess that we have greed in us, to talk to greed, to relativize greed, to reach inner freedom, to turn greed into vitality, to turn greed into lust for constructive honor, to turn it into gratitude, to turn it into solidarity, to turn it into empathy and compassion, to turn it into trust, to learn the skills to enjoy and appreciate the little things in life, and to learn the composure of accepting and letting go.
These twelve alternatives to liberation from greed are aimed at replacing greed with goodness (vigor, joy, gratitude, solidarity, empathy, trust, composure) rather than suppressing and eliminating greed. For example, the five steps to inner freedom in the story of the miracle of bread (Matthew 14:13-21) present what a better value is. Better values are being compassionate, sharing food, contemplating what is inside of us, actually giving bread, and building a community.
According to Anselm Grun, greed is the driving force that brings joy, vitality, and cheerfulness to our lives, but it also causes struggles and wars, harms our health, and degenerates humans into animals and slaves. The root of this ambivalent greed is egocentrism and comparing oneself to others. Selfishness and comparison always attack others, generating envy, jealousy, obsession, rivalry, conflict, strife, and anger.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."(Matthew 5:3)
The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul (fsp.pauline.or.kr.) living and giving the Good News to the world by means of social communication.