Everyone has varied material possessions but the majority feel a sense of dissatisfaction towards them and wish to get more and more worldly items. The wish to get more of anything is called a desire. Everybody has his/her own set of desires and he/she is very eager to fulfill/achieve them. Generally, the unnecessary desire for something is called greed. Greed is an extreme appetite of desires and that desire is acute craving for more wealth and/or power. Furthermore, a greedy person realizes those desires by behaving impatiently and unjustly. These people may learn from Abu Bakr's saying: "It is difficult to be patient but to waste the rewards for patience is worse." Therefore, although patience is difficult and hard, its sufferings can never be compared with the joys of rewards attained after patience i.e. they are wonderful. Both of these methodologies; difficulty during patience and rewards after patience are entirely opposite with respect to human struggle but they are linked dynamically.

An individual is a combination of three basic entities; body, mind and soul. Greed disturbs all these entities. First, when a person fulfills his physical demands, disproportionately, it disturbs the physical balance. Second, when a person realizes his psychological desires, immodestly, it disturbs the wisdom of mind. Third, when a person fulfills his spiritual demands, impatiently, it disturbs the serenity of soul. Implementing patience maintains physical health, reduces mental greed and improves spiritual wellness.

Jealousy also directs a person towards greedy behavior. It is basically feeling of hatred and bitterness against someone because of that person's possession or power. Jealousy is an inappropriate and wrong approach. Ali said: "Jealousy is the worst disease." Jealousy is indeed the most horrible and awful malady because it destroys friendships and kinships. It makes the person miserable and affect his/her health, physically, mentally and spiritually. For this reason, one should never follow its path. Guard yourself against jealousy to stay safe from greed.

When people act greedily to realize their unnecessary desires, they wrongly assume that they are attaining, rather, they are on the way of devastation; physically, mentally and spiritually. This is why greed is referred as a curse. This can be understood more profoundly by the words of Rusty Eric: "As long as greed is stronger than compassion, there will always be suffering." This is a misunderstanding that greed is a way of gaining, instead, it causes sufferings on affected people because greed destroys compassionate feelings among friends and kin. In addition, it makes the greedy person depress and lonely because people avoid him/her.

Self-interest, which is the lowest level of greed, had some rational justifications among economic intellectuals but Game Theory (or Prisoner's Dilemma) proved that the results of self-interest are generally not good.

Greed can never be satisfied but it can be controlled. Greed is dominantly a mental phenomenon, so that, when one acts greedily, his/her peace of mind is disturbed at the first stage. L.M. Aldrich also pointed out: "Greed causes brain damage." Therefore, greed should never get a hold of a person's mind. The best way to control undue desires is developing patience in the mental framework. As a deduction, controlling mind is controlling our greed level. Ali also motivated us that: "If you cannot get things as much as you desire then be contented with what you have." 

I have a few suggestions towards greed: overcome your unnecessary desires, adopt patience and stay away from jealousy. These practices will help you to live a happy life with a peaceful mind. I would like to conclude my article with the nice words of Mr. Vikrant: "He who wants everything every time will lose everything anytime."