We tend to think of greed and gluttony in financial and caloric terms respectively. And yet, it is possible to be greedy and gluttonous for just about anything in life. Paradoxically, one can even become greedy to not be greedy.

Goethe's Faust marked a turning point in literature as the play showed how previous sins like wealth, drunkenness, and debauchery, had lost their appeal to modern humans. And yet, these same "vices" simply assumed new form in the lusting for bookish knowledge, for Enlightenment, and even to live in the moment.

If we are greedy for the moment, we will remain just as unsatisfied as if we are greedy for some future state of happiness.

Achieving the moment does not happen overnight but through regular practice and cultivation.

The Torah provides a helpful tip on how to break out of the cycle of craving: leaving some of the harvest for the gleaners and leaving some bread on the Shabbat dinner table.

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Music: Eduoard Lalo - "Puisqu'on ne peut fléchir ... Vainement, ma bien aimée"