This is my personal opinion of why do we buy or sell and why aren't monks counted in the census of a country.
The first investment that I made when I started to earn is buy a life insurance. Why ? Fear. I feared that I may die before my natural life expiration and needed to have an exigency for the people who are financially dependent on me. Each year, I pay the premium gripped by this "fear". Since then the world has seen two financial crisis and two major wars. And I happened to read about a new investment plan. Euphemistically, these are called life settlement-backed security. In simpler words these are known as "death bonds". Suppose an aged American is in urgent need of cash and also has a life insurance policy, say, which assures $1M on maturity or death. The smart dude at Wall Street will negotiate to buy the policy at a lesser price, say $40,000. Thereafter, he continues to pay the premium and collects the sum insured. The quicker the person dies, the lesser the premium and more the profit. So, when the policy is negotiated the mortality of the person is scrutinized. What drives the person doing it ? And thus enter "greed". My death is sold or bought for either greed or fear.
The origin of fear is debatable. However, most agree that "fear" is of the unknown. We usually fear something we cannot anticipate. When we enter a dark room, do we fear if its our bedroom. But we are afraid to enter a supposedly haunted house by the highway. In short, we fear what we cannot see. On the other hand, greed is born out of things we can see. I wish I had that nice sports sedan which Mr. X parks in his garage. I may feel amused to buy a car which runs on human urine but do not really yearn for it. Because I cannot see it yet.
Fear: I managed to frighten a young girl because she had pimples and was afraid of losing the prom-night Queen to her best friend.
Greed: You perhaps didn't know that I tempted the guy at the cosmetic company to add harmful chemicals to the skin lotion she's using.
Fear: Uggh ... ly..
Greed: It was cheaper than fruit extracts. He planned to save a lot and make good profit.
Fear: Actually he feared of losing his promotion once again !
Greed: Yup. The company promised to give him a better apartment, the ones with heated pools.
Fear: Is this the same company which was on the verge of bankruptcy a couple years back ?
Greed: I heard that too. And I had to persuade a drug mafia to invest.
Fear: Ah. I remember. The mafia wanted to elevate his social status and broaden his portfolio to white-collar business.
Greed: Now, you get the point.
(They realize that Sourajit Basak is eavesdropping and abandon their chit-chat)
In the words of a chartered accountant, fear accounts for the bottom-line and greed adds to the top-line. When real estate stocks were skyrocketing, everyone wanted a share of the pie. When the cat was out of the bag, a mad frenzy of selling plummeted those. The monthly high is pushed by greed and the monthly low pulled by fear giving us those exotic statistical curves. My tongues cannot resist the greed of that ice-cream but my heart fears cholesterol choking his arteries and persuades my legs to go for jogging. A gastrointestinal test may give wonderful insights on the dominant feeling.
We can never abandon these two for we do not wish to stop riding the roller-coaster ride of life. The world will be a rather dull place if it were filled with monks. Monks and monkeys need to co-exist to complete the tapestry of life. But its worthwhile to ponder on the other question. Why aren't monks counted in the census ? Well, small perturbations are often ignored from the main readings of an experiment. But doesn't anything drive them when they abandon mundane pleasure. Maybe they wish to make that celestial journey to the other world to see the wonderful things beyond. But one thing is certain.
They fear what they can
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