Most people will tell you that greed is a part of human nature - that it is present at least to some extent in every single human being on the planet. In fact, certain religious traditions hold that part of our spiritual purpose on earth is to overcome this aspect of human nature. These traditions usually hold that generosity is a part of our nature too, so our purpose is really to overcome just half of our nature - by learning to express the generous half while suppressing the greedy half.

But if greed is really a part of our most basic nature, if it is even half of the essence of humanity, then what hope do we have of overcoming it? This may sound controversial, but I actually don't believe that greed itself is a part of human nature at all. I think that greed is what happens when we take human nature - specifically, the SEEKING drive in human nature - and direct it toward certain goals.

We know from the field of neuroscience that SEEKING is a definite aspect of human nature. We are built to get excited about activities that we would label "discovering" or "obtaining." The instinct is very old, present even in the reptilian brain. It is evolutionarily useful because it stirs us up when the prospect of something "good," like food for example, seems to be nearby. A signal that food is in the area will get an animal all hyped up to run around and look for it in a very excited way, thereby increasing its chances of actually finding it.

The interesting thing about these SEEKING circuits that feel so good is that they actually shut down as soon as the food is actually found. Why should an animal waste all that energy looking for something it already has? So a part of our nature is to feel really excited about SEEKING stuff, and then to want to start the SEEKING circuits up again after we've found what we were looking for. In other words, we want to get excited again about SEEKING more stuff. Sound like greed? Well, in a way it is... and then again it isn't.

SEEKING isn't greed. It's what becomes greed if our SEEKING circuits get wired primarily into the search for financial gain. You see, the human brain is made up of a whole lot of complex thinking ability built right on top of some basic animal drives. So our SEEKING circuits no longer fire just over basic necessities like food. People get excited about SEEKING all kinds of things - including flea market bargains, scientific knowledge, artistic expression, and, yes, money.

If we teach our children primarily to SEEK monetary rewards, then that is the drive they will constantly need to reactivate, unless of course they learn at some later point in life to harness this SEEKING drive in a new direction. This constant drive to accumulate more and more money lies at the heart of what we call "greed." But if we teach our children to SEEK knowledge in the fields that interest them, to SEEK self-expression, to SEEK new skills, then these are the things that will primarily hold their attention - things that have nothing to do with greed.

I believe that a reward system - even a reward system involving money or material things - won't encourage greed in our children as long as it is not the primary source of our children's happiness. The rest is common sense. Play with them, share "quality time" with them, explore the world with them, and get excited with them about each new adventure. Your children will have plenty of win-win directions for that powerful SEEKING drive.