Greed Part 3
November 12, 2025
Greed Part 3
Greed is the reluctance to relinquish what we hold dear. In its worst form, it includes holding on to what other people hold dear even if we do not value it. Greed can also mean the desire for what belongs to another. What one person treasures may seem worthless to someone else. Greed is deeply personal. And it can be weaponized.
Take Enneagram Fives, for example. They often prize solitude, time to process, and information. Yet, like all types, each has their own “brand” of greed. Many Fives collect or hoard things that symbolize their interests—totems of their inner life. To them, these objects stand for power, security, and a sense of preservation of what they value.
I know a wonderful Five who has saved every bus and train ticket sold to everyone during his thirty-five years working for the Long Island Department of Transportation. His vast collection fills a storage unit, and he is proud of it as a historical record of his service. Though most would not value or collect these tickets, for Bob it carries deep meaning. He is conscious of its value and explicit that the tickets are not who he is. In his move to a new living arrangement, he had to let go of his tickets.
Dear Nancy, on the other hand, is unconscious in her hoarding. She fills her car and apartment with bags, clothing, shoes, and scraps she continuously collects. Her attachment is so deep that any attempt to clear space feels like a personal violation. For her, every pile represents a piece of herself. She cannot separate herself from the bags that now block her hallways and are a hazard. Even when her landlord orders her to take out the litter in her apartment, she takes it away temporarily for the inspection, then carefully replaces every shred of it. Nancy is unaware of how severe that attachment is.
The difference is striking: Bob is aware and contained in his collecting, while Nancy is overwhelmed by hers. Yet both show how greed ties us to things outside ourselves. This begins in childhood when we are taught to identify with what we own. But after we grow, we hopefully develop a healthy detachment from our identification with our possessions. This leads us toward individuation and higher consciousness.
When we feel incomplete unless we have what another person has, we fall into greed. But in awareness, we recognize that no possession, rank, talent, or person defines us. Our soul’s essence is beyond the material and psychological. In this truth, there is no need for greed. It is the egos attempt to imitate the abundance of heaven. But it misses the boat, and its imitation is a feeble and sometimes destructive one.
Spiritual practice: Notice something someone else has that you might also desire. What part of yourself might this thing symbolize? Could it be pointing to a deeper quality of your soul that is already there?
Self-inquiry: What about greed unsettles you, and why?
Prayer:
Dear God, Keep me so rooted in your overflowing love that I never act from scarcity. Amen.
