Greed is one of those emotions that have the ability to creep in and control not only your life but your heart. Greed has the power to blind you.

You can see that the presence of greed, hatred or ignorance leads to people taking life, committing adultery, stealing, and telling lies, as well as encouraging others to do likewise. All these activities lead to harm and sorrow.

When freedom from greed, hatred and ignorance is achieved by the presence of Love, compassion, joy and equanimity then people do not take life, steal, commit adultery and tell lies, as well as encouraging others to do likewise.

The absence of all these blameful activities will lead to lasting benefit and happiness. Such behaviour is praised by the wise.

If one is psychologically poor, one seeks satisfaction in things; therefore, property, name, family, become urgent and important, resulting in social chaos.

As long as one has not solved this conflict of greed, mere limitation of things cannot bring about either social order or that tranquillity of freedom from craving.

Through social legislation, greed can not be destroyed; you may limit its expression in certain directions but even those limitations are overcome if craving is still the motive for man’s action.

Compensations that are offered by religions for giving up worldly things are still forms of craving. Be free from craving, one must patiently, tactfully, understand its complex process.

Mammon is an evil spirit that opposes everything God says, and it tempts us to trust money instead of God.

You can live in a state of need, a state of greed or a state of freedom. These three levels are called dependence, independence and interdependence.

When you make choices based on dependence, you are not taking any responsibility for what happens.

If you base your choices on independence you are focussing on personal interest and personal interest only.

Finally in interdependence you try to reconcile both the personal interests and the the interests of the other.