Greed -- Vanity -- Pride

Before the "work", what epitomized my definition of greed was someone in business who stepped all over others in order to get rich. This definition probably resulted from movies and early church experiences.

The way I understood vanity was also gleaned from hearsay. I heard friends talk about "good looking" people who used their looks to get what they wanted, not caring that others also had feelings, needs, worries, etc.

My definition of pride was equally as nebulous. I had always heard such statements as "He takes great pride in his work".

So......... when I heard the following ideas on Tape 1 of Dr. Bob's Teachings tapes, I started observing more closely how people were using or misusing these words. That is not to say there is a "right" or "wrong" to the words, but to realize that if we, as human beings, are going to communicate with each other, we at least need a similar understanding of the words representing such concepts.

"Another idea of the school is that man has emotions of anger, guilt, fear, inferiority, insecurity and their many sub-divisions such as jealousy, envy, resentment, etc.; all of which man was never designed to have.......... and they are, therefore, STRESS to him.

There are many adaptations to stress which are disintegrating. These basic emotions and all their sub-divisions are not proper to man. They are due to his conditioning -- to his basic conclusion that the purpose of living is to be non-disturbed and to the many suggestions as to what is to blame -- or how to do, etc. These basic emotions bring into being a state of being called greed, vanity and pride.

GREED -- is defined as wanting more, better and different. No matter what one has, after a little while, even though at first delighted, one grows weary of it, and one begins to take it for granted. One begins to accept that one is entitled to it, and wants more, better and different.

VANITY -- all the "not i's" having a false picture of oneself, always being in the right, being a very wonderful person who is mistreated.

PRIDE -- is defending that false picture of self.

DO THE WORK. If you only hear the words, even if you listen to them every hour, would do nothing. If one applies and does the work, one will find many great things.

The Teachings, Tape 1
By Rhondell

Of course this is back to observing "self" without criticizing or judging what one discovers.

Yes, there is the greed for money around, but I have also observed in self and others a greed for:

I have also re-defined greed has having more than one needs at a given moment.

VANITY takes on a new meaning for me as I listen to Dr. Bob's definition. It's not the "good looks" anymore, but, I'm a wonderful person who knows what is right which can manifest in a basic statement such as:
"Well, I know what ought to be, and all those other people are stupid."

And............. now I see that PRIDE can possibly prevent us from seeing -- after the fact -- that we might not have seen the "event" and "people involved" very clearly. It can also prevent listening and actually hearing what's being said.

If, in doing the "work", you make some discoveries that you feel are relevant to fellow students, please share them with us.

Some definitions from "The Place of Language in the Teachings" By Rhondell

WHAT IS : Fact, reality

WHAT OUGHT TO BE : Fiction, a dream

NOT "I" : A mechanical product of conditioned thought which is "i" but not a part of the true I.

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