Leading Wisely

7Greed

This avarice,

Strikes deeper, grows with more pernicious root.

—William Shakespeare

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.

—Henry Thoreau

Lesson 4: Greed

While envy is a resentful emotion reflecting the need to possess a perceived superior quality, achievement or possession that someone else has, greed is an insatiable longing for wealth, status and power. Like envy, greed has to do with human beings’ insecurities, so no wonder it has been with us forever. It is yet another dark side of human nature and has little to do with wisdom. In fact, wisdom and greed may be positioned at the opposite ends of a spectrum.

A wise man was passing through the capital city of a famous king. While he was walking, he noticed a diamond necklace lying on the road. He picked it up, but as he was satisfied with living a humble life, he had no use for the necklace so planned to give it to someone in need. However, as he strolled around the streets throughout the day, he could not find any such person. Finally, he reached a small inn where he decided to spend the night.

The next morning, he woke up to a lot of noise. Walking onto the street, he realized that the ruling king was gathering his troops to invade the neighboring state.

When the king saw the wise man standing at the side of the road, he ordered his army to stop. He got off his horse, walked up to the wise man, and said, ‘Oh Great Sage, I am going ...