"Avarice manifests as the accumulation and conservation of resources - often knowledge, information, understanding, time, energy, or a sense of rationality. Taking direct action, putting oneself out there in the world on purpose, is often avoided or done sparingly because it may deplete the resources. (Direct application of knowledge or ideas in a realm that might render them useless or invalid might be an example of this.) Imagine a canoeist who, deeply frightened of being up the creek without a paddle, collects paddles, or perhaps makes some paddles from collected parts, stores them, but does not want to use them indiscriminately in case they break or get lost in the rushing stream.
Basic Fear: ‘Of being incompetent or useless’
In the canoe metaphor above, this would correspond to the dreaded proverbial situation of “being up the creek without a paddle.” The Five fears the possibility of being utterly broken and destroyed by the world, of not being able to cope, and believes that the hoarded, protected resources can prevent this and provide the capacity to cope.
Basic Desire: ‘To be capable’
Or, in the spirit of the canoe metaphor, “to always have a paddle” (and/or other ways of coping with the “up the creek” situation). The Five attempts to achieve the sense of being able to face whatever life brings him or her through the avarice/hoarding fixation of accumulating and conserving resources (”paddles”)."
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