In the story, “The Midas Touch”, King Midas is cured of his greed when his touch turns even his daughter to gold.
In “Silas Marner”, the old miser’s heart is touched by the little girl who comes to his household.
In Charles Dickens’, “A Christmas Carol”, Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened to be generous by a fear of loneliness after he is visited by three ghosts.
Greed is fueled by anger and fear and ambition.
It is a desperate kind of emptiness, which nothing can actually fill, but which is temporarily comforted by the next emotional thrill when the next greedy conquest is made.
There are so many fears, but fear of loneliness and lack and loss of prestige are the ones that come to mind in our current world.
Greed has, as usual, created an economic and political crisis.
Since it is a common historical danger, there are historical solutions.
Some solutions are personal awakenings, as in the stories of greed cited above.
Some solutions are group awakenings which create revolutions by desperate people.
Many governments have been changed this way.
Some solutions are enacted by a world threat, as in World War II.
There is a new consciousness occurring, documented in only the last twenty years.
It is a growing awareness by more and more individuals, that other beliefs and systems have a place, not just the one perpetuated by that person’s particular group.
It will be interesting to see the form this solution takes to the current greed crisis, despite its very large scale.
© 2017 Kathryn Hardage
No comments:
Post a Comment