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Greed versus Abundance

People confuse greed and abundance. Abundance is your natural birth right and there is nothing wrong with having your needs met. Suffering and lack come from misaligned egos, not spirituality. Greed is not being satisfied with abundance, seeking happiness through material goods, and using material wealth to influence others.

But before you sharpen that stick to beat your fellow man for his perceived greed, take a look at your own inventory. You may praise yourself for not being greedy, but how many pairs of shoes do you have? How many pieces of clothing? Where is the line between abundance and greed and who can judge where each of us fit between the two? Who can call another person greedy when we live in a society where 90% of us live beyond "abundance". Before the white man came along, Native Americans lived in abundance because they were in harmony with their higher selves and earth. They had shelter, food, and clothing and owned just enough to pack on their horse and go. Aborigines lived in abundance. Eskimos lived in abundance.

We assess each other on what we drive, wear, and live in. To live in abundance, without the greed, is hard is today's age and would require a full on battle with the ego. Some people even spend their whole lives in the pursuit of objects. Spouses are selected off this basis, we work in jobs we don't like for the money.

This is only food for thought. Believe me, Ị exceed my "abundance" quota. Sometimes I wish for a change and realize that I have accumulated so much stuff now that it has become an albatross around my neck. A once perceived asset is now a self created chain. Sadly though, even if we wanted to live the life of a pioneer, that isn't possible, or at least not easily. You can't live on the land like cultures of old, and taxes will always be due. Indians lived freely on the land and lived off food they foraged but in modern terms, we scathingly call this a bum or vagrant.