Human Greed & Selfishness Are Not Healthy States of Being: Part 2

Greed & selfishness are, undoubtedly, a form of violence--not only against Humanity, but also against Nature, our Home Earth and our companion residents & species.

This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion on human greed. I posted Part 1 last week.

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“Whenever you see another person holding office, set over against this the fact that you possess the ability to get along without office; whenever you see another person wealthy, see what you have instead. For if you have nothing instead, you are wretched; but if you are capable of feeling no need of wealth, know that you are better off, and have something worth far more than wealth. Another has a comely wife, you the ability not to yearn for a comely wife. Is all this small in your eyes? Yet how much would these men give, who are rich and hold office, and live with beautiful women, to be able to despise wealth and offices, and these very same women whom they passionately love and win? Do you not know what kind of thing the thirst of a man in fever is? It is quite unlike that of a man in health. The latter drinks and his thirst is gone, but the other gets a momentary satisfaction, and then becomes nauseated, turns the water into bile, throws up, has a pain in his bowels, and suffers more violent thirst than before. A similar thing it is to be rich and have strong desire, to hold office and have strong desire, to sleep by the side of a beautiful woman and have strong desire; jealousy is added to one's lot, fear of loss, disgraceful words, disgraceful thoughts, unseemly deeds.”
—Epictetus¹, The Discourses of Epictetus, Book IV, Chapter 9

“It has always seemed strange to me,” said Doc. “The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”
― John Steinbeck, Cannery Row (1945)

We continue here our discussion about Greed with a capital G and selfishness with a capital S. Humans have been under the influence of Greed and Selfishness for far too long. It is as if we have been under some sort of spell. Have we? Maybe not in the classical otherworldly sense of the term. Or perhaps we have. Who can really tell? What we can say is that we are living in unsettling times. Anxious times, both economically and socially.

Humans, especially living with greater societal complexity and modernization, have been trapped by the increasing and insatiable desires and forces of greed, driven in large part by selfishness. It is my view that Humans have learned to be greedy, primarily through education and social or environmental conditioning. It is not necessarily built into our genetic code that humans have to be greedy for survival; it is not necessary to respond to the Siren Song² of wealth and riches, to be consumed by such desires in order to be a successful human being. It is the lie of lies, one that says untold riches leads to happiness. That we live in a competitive world, and that only the fool cooperates. That only the fool is kind and giving. That only the fool is generous and loving.

Total nonsense. For most of our existence as a species, we were cooperative, sharing and giving, forming close bonds with our communities; and we were close and intimate with our natural world. ³ Consider this. The greater the distance humans are from Nature, the greater the desire for more, the greater the appetites, the greater the Greed. Under such conditions, joy is harder to find. You see, greed destroys everything good and leads to most everything bad. Yes, it is really that simple. As is our desire for the simple life. Complexity in human affairs is an obstacle to joy. Now, in our complex world, we humans have to work to find joy. When we do, we tend to see that it is found in the simple acts of giving, of generosity and of kindness

This is an unpleasant topic, an unpleasant post, an unpleasant discussion. So, why am I writing about this when I can just enjoy the natural world? Simply put, because the natural world has always been threatened by Greed & Selfishness. This continues today. I write about it, although it is unpleasant and distasteful, because I find the human appetite for Greed unpleasant and distasteful and want to help change such ways of thinking and of being. I find in Greed a destructive aspect, one that will, if left unchecked, destroy everything good, beautiful and wondrous on Planet Earth. I write about such unpleasant things with the idea that it will engender thought, which is necessary for the type of action to change our ways.

Adam Smith wrote in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), in a chapter called “Of Sympathy,” the following words, which might surprise some of you dear readers:

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it. Of this kind is pity or compassion, the emotion which we feel for the misery of others, when we either see it, or are made to conceive it in a very lively manner. That we often derive sorrow from the sorrow of others, is a matter of fact too obvious to require any instances to prove it; for this sentiment, like all the other original passions of human nature, is by no means confined to the virtuous and humane, though they perhaps may feel it with the most exquisite sensibility. The greatest ruffian, the most hardened violator of the laws of society, is not altogether without it.

Smith did not adore the wealthy, as so many today do. Nor did Smith view humans as being so greedy and selfish that we could not call up feelings of compassion. You might be surprised by this view, coming from the very same person that hyper-capitalists venerate, yet likely have never read, let alone understand his thinking or theories. While it is true that Adam Smith favoured capitalism and saw nothing wrong with a wealthy class, he would never subscribe to the heartless, selfish and inane view that “greed is good.” Or that the wealthy ought be worshipped. That merely making money for its own sake is a worthy or a virtuous endeavor. That amassing a fortune while destroying our home planet is considered exceptionally good. No, the individual who wrote The Wealth of Nations would not agree with any of these ideas. Not at all. But there are people, like economic libertarians, who point to Smith to justify their Greed, to appease their conscience and to exonerate themselves. What does this say about the people who do? I think you know the answer. It is neither good nor healthy.

Greed is a problem, not only as it operates between humans—and this alone has been shown to be a cause of so much of our human conflict, human aggression, human violence and human wars. But the problem of Greed extends beyond inter-human conflict; it extends to our environment, which humans in our folly have learned to believe that we are outside of Nature. Human Greed is chiefly responsible for deforestation, for habitat loss, for species loss, for ecosystem degradation, for climate change and, truly, when you think about it, for pretty much every single destructive act that homo sapiens have done and continue to do to our Earth and to the million of species that reside on it, within it and in its seas. And, here is the kicker. There are humans who are keenly aware of all this and yet continue to be greedy. And, moreover, to defend it. With violence, if deemed necessary.

Here is another kicker. Humans are not born selfish or greedy. There is a wealth of scientific studies and research that shows that humans want to cooperate and our long evolutionary development as human beings involved a lot of cooperation. It seems that Greed is an anomaly and not as normal as some who advocate for it would like to think.

We all need to know what our core and unchanging values are, what we can and cannot do for money. We need to know what and where our boundaries are, in keeping with who we are. Such are called convictions, an old-fashioned word, yet this will become essential knowledge in the face of tempation.

I sense that part of the answer is childhood trauma of some sort, often from emotionally or physically abusive parents. Where such people grew up in a home with a lack of acceptance, validation and love. The film, Citizen Kane, touches on this theme. So, instead of developing the inner self (intrinsic values), which takes a thought life, evaluation and hard work, they focus all of their energies on extrinsic values. This is far easier to do.

In other words, on material goods. It is never satisfying, because all individuals require self-love, and in the case of the abused individual, inner healing. I would also add that all of us also requires harmony with the greater natural world.

Such are my thoughts. I am sure others with more expertise can add to them. And improve upon them. So, no Greed is not the norm, and I view it as an unhealthy appetite, a mental illness, similar to hoarding, but with more severe social and economic consequences. Even the most ardent capitalists in pursuit of wealth might think that greed has gone too far (at least, I hope so), that we have as a species taken greed to its upper limits; and it is time to move in the other direction. Sharing and cooperation is the norm. Do not allow false ideas about wealth acquisition and happiness lead you astray from your long-held ethical beliefs and feelings. That your authentic self is not tied in to consumerism and materialism.

I will end here with a song by The Original Caste, who sing “One Tin Soldier,” which the Canadian band released in November 1969 on the album of the same name. I remember listening to the song around 1970, and its powerful words resonate today, more than 50 years later. Listen to it, either for the first time or the 100th. The human condition remains the same as it was then, if not more greedy and more selfish. Yet, the treasure is the same.

Final point: You are not your job; and your job is not you. Your value, if you want to use this word, is so much greater than what you do to “make money.”

Merci et à bientôt
Born at 315 ppm
Now at 425 ppm

1. Epictetus: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “A Greek philosopher of 1^st and early 2^nd centuries C.E., and an exponent of Stoic ethics notable for the consistency and power of his ethical thought and for effective methods of teaching. Epictetus’s chief concerns are with integrity, self-management, and personal freedom, which he advocates by demanding of his students a thorough examination of two central ideas, the capacity he terms ‘volition’ (prohairesis) and the correct use of impressions (chrēsis tōn phantasiōn), Heartfelt and satirical by turns, Epictetus has had significant influence on the popular moralistic tradition, but he is more than a moralizer; his lucid resystematization and challenging application of Stoic ethics qualify him as an important philosopher in his own right.”

2. The Sirens of Ancient Greece: Audubon: “In the wine-dark expanse of the Aegean Sea, far from the halls of civilization, there was once a small island—or so Homer, the famed poet of Ancient Greece, wrote in his epic The Odyssey. No buildings occupied its flowery meadows; no fisherman worked its shores. Those who passed in their black ships heard only voices, twining over the windless waves, singing a song that promised knowledge of all things. Once they heard it, they were enchanted; they had no choice but to land and seek out the singers. Those who did never left the island; their bodies remained, rotting amid the flowers, for none who heard the Sirens’ song could escape it.

“The story of the Sirens has inspired writers, poets, and artists for millennia. But somewhere along the way their form was confused. Today, Sirens are almost always represented as voluptuous mermaids, whose beauty and sexuality lure men to their deaths. But the Classical Greeks understood the Sirens differently: as bird-women, creatures that Mediterranean cultures traditionally associated with hidden knowledge.”

3. Human Cooperation: Science Direct: The evolution of human cooperation (2019): “Our species, Homo sapiens¸ first appeared about 200,000 years ago in Africa, and rapidly spread and diversified across the globe — a success, that has, in part, been attributed to our capacity for cooperation. Until the advent of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, all humans made a living by hunting game and gathering wild plant foods. Today, there is a rich array of human populations with diverse modes of subsistence, languages, religions and forms of cooperation. Because much of this diversity originated very recently in evolutionary terms, the puzzle of human cooperation is best understood within the context of the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers (also referred to as ‘foragers’) and the adaptive problems that it solves. Unique aspects of human diet, life-history and reproduction made cooperation a necessary element of human life.”