It's Cool in the Pool (Column)

Eckhart Tolle writes: "The most important thing is to see it in yourself, in your thoughts and actions." By 'it' he is referring to that dysfunctional state where one is never in the present moment. I know it quite well, and I have to say, writing is one habit that cultivates this sort of dysfunctional dislocation.

So I consider my current circumstances something of a blessing. It allows me an opportunity to dive deep within myself, to glance again at those things I deem important, and to evaluate whether they still are - and whether they still ought to be.

Tolle also says that at times the 'present moment is confused with content'. I think a blog is a great example. By simply going to the trouble to record a thought, to reproduce news, to render some epithet, you immediately dissociate from the reality, particularly where you are not the originator of the original content. Are we all purveyors of second hand, second rate ideas?

Capitalism for example. And Globalisation. And Free Markets. Christianity. I don't know about you but when I was at university we discussed whether market liberalisation was a good thing. It was, if markets were allowed to be free. Then again, would greedy individuals really permit those freedoms? The current massive fine Sasol has suffered, and much corporate corruption and massive collusion besides, suggests otherwise.

It occurs to me now that the reason behind the collapses in Wall Street are not so far from the reasons that govern every human being, anywhere. Greed. We are greedy to keep our jobs, greedy to get what we can. We don't think much beyond this. We would rather be greedy than compassionate. This 'neediness' is interesting to observe, because there are many people from loving families who have no reason to want for more. It turns out, it has nothing to do with reason and everything to do with simple greed.

The good news is that even if the whole world operates as one greedy conundrum, you don't have to. You might think it is difficult to function contrary to this scenario. Maybe it is. Try being a vegetarian for a few weeks. Visit a restaurant and you will notice the poor selection of vegetarian meals. Greed is behind this too - there is more money to be made from selling fattier, tastier and unhealthier food.

There is a thing that destroys greed and it is this: the truth. Show a person the sum of their gluttony and they no have any interest in pursuing their addictive, selfish pursuits with quite so much rapaciousness. Show a motorist greedy to get to work a man with a mashed head in a car wreck, and that greedy sense of feeling entitled to cut in may seem less of a priority.

There is also the greed for revenge. This is motivated by anger and hate. What did Yoda say: Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. Greed is seated in the sense that either we do not have enough (because we do not know how to simply have, and enjoy, what we have), or that there isn't enough. This leads to hoarding behaviour. Anger is an emotion associated with pain. The pain that our wishes and desires are being frustrated. Hatred is a blind emotion, a driving force that clouds judgement. There is greed that demands we show our breasts at every conceivable opportunity (no matter how appropriate), or to sleep with your best friend's (or the bosses) wife. What is it that makes some people less greedy?

Greed is the reason for misplaced loyalties. Where an adulterous pair may make brittle commitments, one may decide to do away with a spouse (through divorce or worse) in service of greedy me-myself-and-I ambitions.

What has taught us to be this greedy?

In part, having so much stuff around. If you want to incite violence amongst animals, throw them more food than they could possibly consume, and they will find a way to fight about it. Part of the trouble is seeing a fluctuation in 'stuff'. You get more, you want more.

Can we be blamed for being greedy? Yes and no. If you look at the urban whales that visit malls around the world, you realise that something Wall-e-esque went wrong. So on the one hand, it is obvious that we're heading down the wrong road and we should know better. On the other, we live in a world where control is necessary to thrive, even to survive. This control begins at a young age where children are taught language, discipline, shovelled into decades long education, then served into some vocation. Control is vital to maintain oneself on this tightrope walk. Failure to maintain control (of what one says, how one spends, how one peacocks with the opposite sex) can spell disaster. The need for control though has mutated into an addictive compulsive disorder, and the basis for this is greed. Greed is what the market wants, and so to respond seems 'only natural'. It turns out not to be so simple, or easy, as any person who has used a credit card will know. There is no free lunch, even if that's what they're advertising.

What is the antidote to greed? One word: gratitude. Being grateful for what you have. As soon as you want not, you begin to slow down into the moment. Rather than running after what you don't have or missing what someone else has, enjoy the joy not only of having, but of being. I tell you this, if you drive a car, you are one of the gods of this world. You are one of the very richest people EVER to walk the world.

So what am I grateful for? Seriously - for the new bed upon which I will be sleeping tonight. Honestly, for over a year I have been sleeping on a cheap, back breaking rib poking excuse for a bed. I am grateful to simply sleep on something soft, and something that I have the ability to walk away from without wincing.

I am also grateful to be where I am, knowing some of the people I know right now. And it is in this place of gratitude that the next, longer term step begins. Gratitude allows us to begin to let go and accept. It is only in letting go that we are doing what being greedy doesn't (which is taking, and having). By letting go we begin to offer ourselves up to others, to give of ourselves, we begin ourselves to connect to the world.

Gratitude in the end is an attitude of acceptance, whereas greed is an attitude of deprivation. It is a choice, even if it doesn't seem so, and it is a choice that can make a world of difference.