Greed is very interesting, as it's one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful motivators into action in human experience. It can also be one of the most destructive forces to both self and environment.
In this short article, I'd like to look into what fuels the greed and why there is never really enough. Greed tends to power itself up in a never ending cycle, which often becomes destructive, primarily to self. Let's think what could be the reasons behind this.
Individuals that fall into the greed cycle often experience highs and lows, when their greed is temporary satisfied, a high is experienced, and on the other spectrum, when the expectations are not met, negative emotions are born. The highs are enabled by the dopamine, an organic chemical produced in the brain and kidneys, that serves as a key player in the reward mechanism and is present in most of animal life. It's a very old molecule from evolutionary standpoint, as it's function as neurotransmitter is present in almost all multicellular animals, which means it developed together with the general nervous system. It can also be found in plants! So why is dopamine important? While it might not be the molecule that directly causes pleasure and emotional high, it enables it, and what is most importantly, it makes you remember it. It's the same molecule that might play a key role in developing addictions and the same molecule which lack of can take away your motivation to change anything and contribute to developing depression, anxiety and other psychological issues. Imbalance in dopamine can produce not only psychological and neurological issues, but also quite concrete physical problems in health.
To understand greed we really need to understand how addiction works. Making it very simple, there are two key elements to every addiction, be it drugs, alcohol, gambling or any other form of it:
- Every time a person experiences a high, it is remembered and the action can be repeated by doing the same kind of thing again.
- Next highs will have to be stronger to reach the same emotional euphoria as with the previous one.
This is the key behind all addictions, be it drugs or gambling and is the same kind of pattern that develops with greed. It's never enough and always more is needed. The bigger thrills are sought after on a periodic basis. Given enough opportunity, the greed will develop into full blown addiction and completely overtake the person's life. Sacrifices in personal and professional life will be made to satisfy the greed. If greed is fueled by professional life, everything else will slowly fall apart, and the person will corrode inside while never noticing it. Any addiction leads to pathologies and there is no difference with greed. It will destroy your health and wellbeing, and you are likely on the road to never be happy again if you let it control your life, as at some point, you will find yourself needing highs or successes that might not be reachable anymore. Greed and happiness are quite incompatible for several reasons, and fueling one, means taking away from the other.
So what makes greed possible? How is the cycle even started in the first place? There might not be a specific formula to describe all situations. Humans are complex internally, and oversimplifications will not do any justice. Each case is unique, but if we had to give one reason that would describe or at least play a key role in developing greed habits in individuals it would be connected with narcissistic individual personality traits and on the other side of the coin, low self esteem. When the image of self is imbalanced - either inflated or deflated - the person's experience of a greed feeding event will be much more amplified. To the narcissistic person it will be a confirmation of their already inflated image and will conveniently feed the ego and to the person with the low self esteem it will be rewarding for obvious reasons.
The key is to know yourself. The takeaway of this article is really to look within and try to understand what makes us tick. If we find ourselves wanting more and more and our personal life is suffering because of it, perhaps it's time to step back and look at our life from a different angle.
The image is creative commons (Thomas Nast)