THE SPIRITUAL LAWS

(avery) #1

Greed and attachment are overcome by sharing what we have with
others, on a material and spiritual level.


Covetousness - Absorbency
Covetousness is the excessive desire to want to own more and more,
that which is coveted being as likely to be material possessions as any
other entity, even when it can harm others. Covetous people are those
who are never satisfied with what they have and always want what
they do not have, as well as what others have, and do not stop until
they obtain it. Covetous people are wasteful spirits, because they do
not appreciate what they have, and are envious because they always
long to own what others have. When the spirit passes from primary to
advanced vanity, material covetousness transforms into spiritual
covetousness or absorbency. What we call absorbency is when
people try, consciously or unconsciously, to attract the attention of
other people for their own satisfaction, by manipulating their feelings,
so that others are attentive and obliging towards them for the
maximum possible time, without worrying whether in this way they are
harming or forcing the free will of the people whom they wish to
absorb. For this reason, the person dominated by absorbency has
great difficulty in respecting others, since they usually only think about
themselves. Absorbing people seek to draw attention at all costs,
tending to see themselves as victims, in order to achieve this.
Absorbency is closely related to attachment and what usually
happens is that both forms of egoism occur at the same time with
similar intensity, in other words, the one suffering from attachment is
normally absorbent. Jealousy tends to be a mixture of attachment and
absorbency. In covetous-absorbent people envy is usually aroused, or
a feeling of antagonism towards those who own what they want and
do not have, the object of desire being a material possession in the
covetous person or spiritual in the absorbing person.


So is it wrong to ask someone to pay attention to us because we need
to be loved, because we run the risk of being absorbing?

On the contrary, we all need to be loved. It is good to admit it and to
ask for what we need, as this forms part of the expression of our
feelings.


So, what is the border line between asking to be loved and being
absorbing?

When we ask in a sincere way without obligation, without deceit,
without manipulation it is not being absorbing. It is being absorbing
when we oblige, deceive and manipulate, in short, when the free will

Free download pdf