Fear or Greed

That is certainly a difficult answer, because both are such very strong influences. One could say greed, because most humans are motivated purely on self interest with no interest in the whole. Then with fear, most humans would do very backward things without the fear of law to hold them back, or the fear of their God(s). Many follow things like Christianity because they want everlasting pleasure. In other words total greed. But also, they fear what will happen if they don't, and so it's more escape, fear.

I can't honestly answer this with a one or the other decision. Both fear and greed strongly grip man.

Thank you Daniel for your response. You have raised very good points, but also consider which one (fear or greed)comes first, or rather naturally...

To me, this is a fascinating subject. For the life of me, I do not understand why my mind contemplates such things, but it does.

I have concluded that greed has a stronger hold. I will spare the readers here of my lengthy written analysis.

Again, thank you Daniel for your input.

I believe it is fear. Fear is usually at the root of most human shortcomings. In fact, greed is often a product of fear, as the greedy seek to cover with material riches that which they cannot accomplish spiritually or otherwise. Greed is, essentially, the fear of death.

The Tao Te Ching helps answer this question. I agree with Syrianeh that it is fear.

Syrianeh,

Thank you for presenting your point. You and Ivy are both right! Last night a friend answered the question in basically the same way as you did. I also agree now, because my inner voice continuously shouted "same thing" but my stubborn mind continued to travel in its own direction. I continuously asked myself, "Which one has a stronger hold on me?" My answer is fear, because what I fear the most is the continuous worldly repercussions caused by the greed of man, and yes that greed is fear.

So in the end, as FDR said,"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself...."
The full sentence of said quote is: "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Conclusion: I must learn to listen to my inner voice/ intuition more often and stop fighting it.

One thing about me, I have no problems admitting when I am wrong or being corrected. I am here to learn and challenge my thoughts.

Thank you!