‘How much is enough?’ must be the most prominent question every person should ask themselves. It is not only important for self-inquiry and reflection but also the meaning of life.
Greed, in its nature, leads to nothing but everything that is against what makes us human. It kills every virtue and value that could make the world a better place and even heaven on earth for humankind.
Greed has destroyed relationships, communities, nations and – at the worst – the earth and its ecosystem. Everywhere greed has stepped its foot, there has always been a loss of life, despair and insurmountable devastation.
Amidst all these, there is clearly a silent message underlying the quest for more. This is to say that the underlying quest for more power to control and more possessions lies in serious unaddressed psychological and emotional turmoil.
It could also be that determination to possess great power or certain social status is mere compensation for one’s insecurities. Sometimes, the quest for greater external value is sought to make up for low self-perception and low self-worth. Hence, the search for acquisition and accumulation can also be a translation of a cry for validation.
We live in a world where ‘enough’ is subjective. There is no limit to how much is enough, and this has not only led humanity into oblivion but much more into self-destruction. Every natural value, such as happiness, peace and bliss, have been equated to the number of things one has amassed. For this reason and premise, one finds themselves in an insatiable state of mind and living.
In this trance, the notion is that one can only achieve fulfilment after acquiring a checklist of certain belongings.
This is a journey and a cycle that, even though some have taken and eventually attested to its meaninglessness, everyone seemingly prefers to experience it for themselves – only to tell the same tale of their predecessors.
This is because the temporal satisfaction becomes so addictive and gives false hope of one day finally arriving and satisfying the insatiable. Eventually, one returns to realise that the most important things have always been at their disposal and the illusion they have been sold was nothing but a trap for the gains of an invisible hand.
Besides material accumulation, the next level and probably the most destructive is man’s greed for power. This is because after amassing a great deal of material wealth, the next level of greed is power. The world over has seen how certain individuals, after taking over some leadership responsibilities, do everything to stay in power after their terms have come to an end.
Some, after realising that the accumulation of material wealth has become boring, they use the same resources to exert power and control over those who are in positions of power. As a result of their influence, through lobbying and bribing some of those in positions of power, they then also get a chance to control events to create a favourable climate for their next insatiable and sometimes destructive ventures.
Of late, it has dawned upon humanity that the freedom and access to information have finally rendered the information gatekeepers obsolete and headed civilisation towards addressing the power imbalance.
In this event, the walls of the powers that have been indispensable were shaken and compromised.
It is their panic for losing hold on power and control that the world is experiencing a desperate attempt for control through censorship, thereby going as far as encroaching on some of the basic human rights and freedoms.
By Karlos TheGreat
E-mail: karlsimbumusic@gmail.com
Uncommon Sense is published every Friday in the New Era newspaper with contributions from Karlos Naimwhaka