StackExchange Friday: Attachment leads to jealousy, the shadow of greed, that is

Excerpts from:

SW prequel Yoda: “Attachment leads to jealousy, the shadow of greed, that is”. What does this line mean?

This is essentially a question about the nature of attachment. A set of quotes from the movie are presented and the person asking the question wants to know how they relate to attachment, and to just generally make some sense of this philosophy.

Yoda: "These visions you have ..."
Anakin: "They are of pain, suffering ... death."
...
Yoda: "Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin! The fear of loss is a path to the Dark Side."
Anakin: "I won't let my visions come true, Master Yoda."
Yoda: "Rejoice for those around us who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy, the shadow of greed, that is."
Anakin: "What must I do, Master Yoda?"
Yoda: "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose."

This is an important theme to the prequels. It is at the root of why Anakin turned to the dark side. It's fiction, but we learn from stories, true or made up, and this is an important lesson. Some would argue that it is THE lesson we are here to learn. Don't just read my excerpts because they aren't a good summary. Have a look at the post and learn for yourself.

Some answers:

"Yoda is talking about avarice and greed. Attachment, in this case, means a desire to hold onto or own something, which can lead to jealousy when someone else has what we want. It's a "shadow of greed", the root of those feelings of attachment and jealousy."

"how is fearing for a loved one a path to evil?
This was answered with the ultimate canon example: the main reason Anakin succumbed to Sidious' pull to the Dark Side was his fear of losing Padme, and his belief that Dark Side and Sidious held the only way to save her life.
As an extra benefit, the reason he rejected the person most likely to be able to pull him back (Obi-Wan) was at least in part being jealous of Padme."

and a good comment:

"This is about the level of emotional attachment to anything: person, item, or feeling. Jedi forswear all relationships. The clinging to Padme doesn't make him greedy or jealous in itself, but attachment can be a symptom of greed. His emotional attachment to Padme is strong enough to cause him to hold onto her, and even marry her, even though it's forbidden to do so. THAT is a sign of greed - a desire for something so strongly that you alter your ethical stance to obtain and keep it. The fact that we may sympathize with him doesn't make it less greedy."