Man is an atrociously savage beast. Civilization has not trained or restraint him. He has not been able to control envy. Envy is the foundation of greed, lust, rage, spite, resentment, indolence and arrogance. “Because you are unhappy, you cannot bear the sight of someone you think is happy”. It is said to be natural and inevitable. A human being at the sight of another’s pleasure or possession would feel his own deficiency and paucity with more bitterness. Envy is high with relation to nature – the inborn abilities and gifts in others – the genius (music and mathematics), beauty, and intelligence, are triggers. When a person compares and finds out the setback and unchangeable situation of his life, he is inclined to pose a very base and obvious question, ‘Why Me?” When he sees a greater good fortune in others, he questions. “Why Not Me?”
Neighbours' envy - Owners' pride:
Capitalist think that envy isn’t really such a bad thing. It stirs, incites and aspire people. Envy creating machine called the Advertisement Industry proclaims that one’s desire is within one’s reach, leaving little room to realize that day dreaming leads to envy. Society categorizes what you don’t have, can’t have, or shouldn’t have.
When you tell what you envy, you reveal a lot about yourself. You are demeaned, diminished and disqualified as a person. Hence people do not readily confess their envy. The Oxford English Dictionary describes envy very correctly, [1] “Malignant or hostile feeling; ill-will, malice, enmity.” [2] “ Active evil, harm, mischief; [3] The feeling of mortification and ill will occasioned by the contemplation of superior advantages possessed by another.”
The 3 levels of existence :
We have three levels of existence: [1] The person as he appears in public. [2] Person as he is known to his intimates. [3] And deep down where he only knows himself with all his aspirations, resentments, fantasies, desires and much else not for the public knowledge. This is also where the envy resides.
Envy is not jealousy. Envy is not general yearning. What you don’t have, you start by admiring. Then it leads to emulation and you begin to imitate the qualities you began by envying. You soon end up scorning what you don’t have or cannot have. Little is good about envying, except shaking it off. The dilemma is, when you have feel envy, you know it is not easily shaken off. Envy is a self poisoning of the mind. It is usually less about what you lack than about what other people have.
What the Hell?
One pretends to crave for something – but deep down inside he may want something else. For e.g. an artist gives up power, money and his love for beautiful women for his ‘art’ – through which he hope to acquire power, money and beautiful women. Envy makes the world go around.
Men takes to get put off, (envious is the precise word) by offensively good looking men. What offend them are actually not the good looks but what he can get with those looks – Women! “Women Chasing” is perhaps the oldest male sport, and when a person has the looks to get those gorgeous women – men are engulfed with envy. Male envy is generally linked to sexual success. Men peculiarly do not envy women with money, beauty or power. They envy other men who are able to attract the attention of women.
Wealth, beauty, power, talent, skill, knowledge, wisdom and those killing good looks sort of completes the list of reasons to court envy. Some comes with Nature, others you Nurture. Now here is the crisis: If you have any one or two (you would be extremely lucky to have all the above) of the reasons to get envious, you would notice that you would never be satisfied with what you have. For e.g. an extremely beautiful and attractive woman would find some flaws in her body part (oh my god, look at my wrists, I can’ bear to look at them); most handsome man would be dull-headed since their handsomeness has made it easier for them not to work hard or cultivate knowledge; the rich want to be beautiful or wish they were wise; and the wise (and if they are really wise) acknowledges they know nothing! WHAT THE HELL?
Didn’t you get your break?
Everybody looks for a break. The “break” that one day they will ‘make it.’ The problem is that envy does not let you stop even after you had that ‘break’ of yours. For e.g. people would agree to make less sum of money so long as they make more than their friends, i.e. they would rather earn Rs. 40L per annum where non of their friends are earning more than Rs. 30L p.a., rather than earn Rs 1C p.a. where everyone else is making Rs 1.25c p.a. It’s a case of better to be envied than to be pitied. People do not find life worthwhile without arousing a sense of hopelessness and helplessness in their friends, families & everyone around them. But people pretend to show humbleness and you will find them saying, (“touchwood”, “I am doing quite OK”.)
You cannot put brains in people. When by the time, you have most of the reasons that people envy (Wealth, beauty, power, talent, skill, knowledge, wisdom and those killing good looks) you begin to lose your youth. A person whose youth has all but vanished and now envy the youths around him can never explain how precious youth was, and is. The youth do not envy other youths. They have other things to envy: wealth, position, experience, power, love. The young have energy, health, solid well-formed flesh and usually very diminutive perception that life has a finish line. It is pointless to remind them that, when last calculated, the mortality rate remains at 100%. Youth is wasted on the young. Envy, doused with regret and anger, for not getting enough or more in their lifetime, breeds this generation gap.
Capitalist and Socialist:
Whether greed leads to envy or vice versa can only be settled once and for all when that brilliant visionary psychological philosopher comes around. If greed drives the capitalist world then surely envy drives the socialist world, (where no one is supposed to have more than anyone else.) How else do you explain the Marxist core idea, the everlasting class struggle, ending in the defeat and obliteration of the aristocrat life? It is less of economic theory and more of communal vengeance. In a Capitalist world man envies man and in the Socialist world, its vice-versa.
The 3rd world envies America, (perhaps America is where you make those mountain of monies) so we have Anti-American hysteria. The Americas envy the Europeans (perhaps of their way of life) so they have Anti-European frenzy. I am not on familiar terms with the Europeans to know whether they envy us.
Why them? Why not me?
So we are again back with the same question: Why them? Why did they have the outrageous good luck to be born athletes, beautiful, talented and wealthy? What entitle them to all that money, attention, love, power, easy living? Why them? Why not me? Maybe all these started, when personal things and possessions were personal, and not for public knowledge, became everybody’s business.
Today everybody knows how much an actor earns per movie, how much certain writers are paid per book, how much does a top model gets per assignment, how much does a cricketer earns from ads per year, how much does a CEO take home. We now intimately know the rich and the famous. So now we feel injustice has been done on us, and we inwardly start despising them, emulating them, envy them. The more you know about the rich and the famous, the more envious you become. And nothing gives us more satisfaction or happiness to see the high and mighty, fall.
Talking about fall, it even seems that immense pleasure and enjoyment is derived by defeat or fall of our own friends, acquaintances or even family members. We have enough strength to bear the misfortune of others. We are consoled by the misfortunes of our friends. We are satisfied when our friends fail to rise or succeed in their endevour. We are delighted to see the educational plans of our cousins going haywire. We are at joy to see our brothers’ elegant way being squeezed out. Oh yes we are happy!
Why not me?
We are happy like the fox in “The Fox and the Grapes” story. When we cannot alter a situation that we do not like, we say, ”What the hell!”
Life and desire:
There is no life without desire and there is no such thing called life without desire. You enter a grand house and you want to possess it. You see a dazzling car and you fancy driving it along the Ocean. You witness a guy getting a stash of prize money and you think you were worthier than him to receive the money. But with desire there is the reality check. You also consider the maintenance cost of the grand house, the tax, and the other bills. You think of the inconvenience of the convertible during rainy season. You stumble on the fact that some low down character won that stash of prize money. It sort of deflates your envy. You start resigning to your life. You find that you can carry on well without the customary supply of tributes, kudos, awards and accolades. You find out that you have not accumulated all that wisdom, but the world isn’t better enough. You ascertain that all those chisel cut good looks were essentially curved out by a surgeon.
Mental Hygiene:
Too much emphasize is being put on the physical aspect of hygiene. What about some mental hygiene? How about cleaning the mind of envy? How about sanitizing the mind? Do an exercise - just unleash the list of envy: Envy people who speak foreign languages so easily; envy people who travel with a single piece of luggage; envy people who have good postures; envy people who live their lives day by day- hour by hour – minute by minute; go on – compile a long list of envy! You may discover that envy, fritters away your mental energy.
While I cannot prove or disprove, whether or not, envy is a part of human nature, but it surely stresses you. It shrinks you. It belittles you. You start having a very poor opinion of yourself.
Carry on - Envy – if it is the way of life.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
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