*GREED (AVARICE) - see ENVY
Typical imperfection of beginners is never having enough of hearing counsels, or learning spiritual maximums, or keeping them and reading books about them. The objects of one's interest, collected under the guise of spiritual avarice, pose a major obstacle to poverty of spirit. True devotion comes from a detached heart freed from avaricious claims on grace. We are prone to place more value on created things than on their Creator - attachment to images rather than admiration for their divine source. (Dark Night, p50-2)
Like Eve, we are greedy for life and blessing. Like the serpent, we have an inherent tendency to question and rebel. (Beginning, p30)
Why scurry about looking for the truth? Don't imagine that you'll discover it by accumulating more knowledge. Knowledge creates doubt, and doubt makes you ravenous for more knowledge. Greed for enlightenment and immortality is no different than greed for material wealth. (Taoism, Wisdom, p173)
You can't have you cake and eat it too!
Is it possible to have a sense that God, Spirit, Karma, Y*W*H, - is transcendent, without traumatizing the presentness of a person? Can we have our cake and eat it too, ontologically speaking? (Soup, p110)
"No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. (Matt )" You can not serve God and wealth. (Christianity, Wisdom, p249) But this is what we all try to do because we are greedy and want it all. (Randy)
A certain nation could only produce small potatoes because they ate the large ones and planted the small ones which only produced small ones. (Dr Maylou's Homily, 10/20/96)
One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability to distinquish our needs from our greeds. (???)
I wanted a better pair of shoes until I meet a man with no legs. (???)
Why do we never get an answer when we're knocking at the door, about a 100 million questions about hate and death and war, because when we stop to look around us there is nothing that we need, in a world of persecution that is burning in it's greed. (Question, Moody Blues)
It is not wealth itself that is condemned, but greed and envy: the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. Paul labels "greed a form of idolatry" (Eph 5:5) and Paul noted that "greed would be particularly prevalent in the last days" (2 Tim 3:1). Greed takes on subtle forms in modern life.Our search for the perfect marriage, job, or church can never meet our inflated, ego-driven expectations. It is futile because, as Augustine showed, it substitutes the love of things for the love of God. (Vanity, p24-27)