Mammon. Post #3

While reading the last bit of the assignment post my brain went straight to Mammon the demon when the question “Does money create monsters?” came up. While money isn’t mentioned as much in connection to Mammon, he’s a demon literally created to represent greed and worldly possessions. Originally Mammon was simply a hebrew word to express greed or an obsession with wealth in the material world. It wasn’t until a certain passage in Matthew of the New Testament in the Bible that the word was used to represent a demon.. I’m sorry I can’t recall the passage, but to some it up; you shouldn’t steal and cheat and expect to find treasure, that is in your heart a.k.a heaven... no man can serve two masters, no man can worship Mammon and Christ, is the jist. Since that time he’s has been brought into many cultures and stories of greed. Possibly most popularly was the character Mammon in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. He’s described as constantly sort of hunched over and brooding while he walks, because he’s looking for money or jewels on the ground. He was always the one trying to influence the devil to hold onto his wealth, but to also to exploit hell and the gems that may be hiding inside of it. There’s a quote I heard a while ago that went along the lines of if Mammon were to ever make it to heaven he wouldn’t be looking for god or past familiars, he’d be looking down onto the paths paved in gold.  Mammon has been seen quite a bit in other popular cultures as well. He’s a character in Dungeons and Dragons, and is sorta played on in The Alchemist; Sir Epicure Mammon is sick with greed and constantly obsessing over objects.

I think this relates back to our texts because Mammon gives people a personification on the disgust and damages that greed can cause us. I’d say it’s pretty universal that a constant wanting leaves you feeling pretty empty and pretty disheveled. How can you avoid wanting though, there’s so many things out there? By connecting the act of greed to a demon is a excellent way to keep people on the “moral/heavenly” path. To visualize the God that had been created in people's minds versus this demon beast, and just to clarify, it’s only one demon. It’s not even the devil we’re talking about -even though in some cases Mammon has been connected to Beelzebub-  this one act of theft or corruption will get you involved with this disgusting creature. God is one entity, and yes there are the saints but nothing compared to how God is described or personified. There’s so many demons. What a better way to keep people in line if you can put so many faces to the names of so many bad acts, but you have one “righteous saviour.” So yes, I think money and greed does create monsters, but in Mammons case he was created to personify this and try to influence others to stay away from the icky toxic feelings of greed & the material world.