Envy is a great power. Creative, if generated by the desire to surpass the opponent with talents, or destructive, if it is based on a banal hatred of the more successful.
Universal feeling
White, black, corrosive and even creative … It's all about her, about envy. It affects the mighty of this world and commoners, rich and poor, world stars and unknown inhabitants of different continents. And the brothers of the biblical Joseph, and the disgusting old woman with the tongue in the form of a snake in Giotto's painting of 1300, and the heroes of Yuri Olesha's novel about the Soviet era "Envy" - all of them are representatives of an ineradicable tribe of envious people that exists in all historical eras.
Sociologists and psychologists agree that envy is a timeless universal feeling. It is as old as humanity itself, and is like a cancerous tumor that devours the body from the inside, not suspecting that it will die with it. According to American publicist Joseph Epstein, envy is the only deadly sin that does not bring pleasure.
Envy is a mixture of feelings of inadequacy, hostility, and resentment. It is enough to realize that someone has an undeniable advantage over you, and you begin to be swallowed up by the feeling of injustice on the part of fate.
Psychologists at Yale University found that 60% of all conversations between adults are based on envy. Most likely, the percentage is higher among children and adolescents: at this age it is especially prestigious to be the best of the best - the strongest, smartest, most beautiful, successful.
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Male and female …
Envy has been called a mortal sin by Catholic theologians. The number of sins and their gradation depend on the assessment of religious authorities in different historical periods. For example, since the 6th century, envy has been recognized as a mortal sin in the Catholic Church, says German theologian professor Heribert Niederschlag.
In the list of the ten commandments that Moses brought from Sinai, envy is tenth. By the way, the tenth commandment is addressed exclusively to men: “Do not covet your neighbor’s house: do not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his field, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his cattle, nor anything that has your neighbor. Simply put, the husband's wife is considered to be part of the property. The woman remembered the humiliating equating of her with a donkey through the mouth of the Creator. She takes revenge using her tried and tested weapon of beauty and intuition. But she herself does not cease to be a victim of envy. Experts say: modern women are jealous of fashionable clothes, new hairstyles, elegant shoes, the color of nail polish, the attention of men to other ladies. The main object of envy for them is husband, lover, friend, and then social status, salary, dacha, car. Men, on the other hand, are sensitive to career takeoff, the prestige of a car brand or the size of a cottage.
Envy certainly claims a leading role in the list of moral defeats. She is the foremother of our sins.
From time immemorial to the present day
Envy was the reason for the first murder in the world. The elder brother, the farmer Cain, killed the younger, the cattle-breeder Abel, as you know, for a reason related to his occupation. The Almighty preferred meat as a sacrifice. Why is not very clear. It is believed that the Creator has nothing to do with it, although, as is known from the same Holy Scripture, even a hair from a person's head will not fall without His will. One way or another, but the first criminal situations in human history - murder and fratricide - were provoked by envy.
Bible stories of envy are numerous. Joseph's father, Jacob, always distinguished him from his other sons from different wives. Joseph became proud and began to tell the brothers a dream where "the sun and moon and eleven stars worship me." The number of heavenly bodies designated the inhabitants of the house of Jacob. Obviously, the brothers couldn't like it. It was decided to put an end to the hated upstart at once. By sheer coincidence, they did not kill Joseph, but sold him into slavery to merchants on their way to Egypt.
Classics and contemporaries
Aristotle was one of the first to emphasize the connection between envy and the unequal distribution of wealth. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer called it a poisonous toad, William Shakespeare called it a green-eyed monster. This monster forces people to commit socially unacceptable actions, prompting the justice to intervene in conflicts, most often of a domestic nature.
The presence of a bright spatula in a neighbor's child who is swarming in the sandbox; higher marks from a recognized excellent student in the class; muscles on the torso of a comrade who is engaged in the martial arts section; a trip to the Seychelles, where you have dreamed of visiting all your life … Anything can become a reason for a jealous attitude: from a bag of chips that are quite accessible to anyone to a 2012 Rolex watch for a "modest" 350 thousand rubles.
Who are we offended at?
The origins of jealousy are in the awareness of the characteristics that the other has and which you do not. And I would like to have them, but it was not there. A feeling of inferiority arises, disappointment sets in, and sometimes anger takes over. A person takes offense, in fact, not at the lucky one, but at himself. He does not have a voice, like the Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, and a yacht, like the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. No and never will be. But you want to both sing and go on a cruise …
In principle, you can sing with your family and ride a bike. The world will not become less interesting from this. And others will be able to appreciate our talents. There will be fame too. True, on a different scale. But you want to surprise the world.
How to resist it?
She is like a plague, says Ludwig-Georg Braun, former president of the German Chamber of Commerce. If envy is a kind of disease, is there an antidote? Sure. Own heart. But since human nature is still imperfect and there is simply nowhere to draw kindness, we must look for other means.
For example, a ritual practice. This experience is confirmed both by the ancient history of mankind, when people sought to calm the envy of the gods, carrying the first fruits of the new harvest to the altars, and by the realities of today.
In the Olonets region of Russia, in Karelia, the local shungite stone has become a universal remedy. A ball from it is used as a Viagra, a pyramid is used as protection from negative energy, a cube is used as a guarantee of business success. The role of shungite in feng shui practice is played, for example, by a figurine of a frog with a coin in its mouth. It is believed that this is how material well-being is attracted to the house. To this day, in a number of cultures, amulets are practiced against the evil eye - the envy of the closest relative and the first comer. In Tuva, for example, people are increasingly turning to shamans, lamas and various grandmothers to get rid of the corruption and evil eye, which, as they believe, are caused by someone's magic spells, curses, or just an evil look. - In fact, there is no mysticism here, - notes Tatyana Ondar, candidate of psychological sciences,Senior Lecturer of the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Tuva State University. - Only psychology. Depending on the profession, lifestyle, social circle, people are in one way or another constantly under the sight of many eyes, are subject to discussion, criticism, and backbiting. The more successful a person is, the more he risks being targeted by the envy of the environment.
German sociologist Helmut Schöck is convinced that envy can be defeated by being in a group of benevolent people. Knowing her destructive disposition, people are able to resist her, exchanging, for example, property, those objects that cause envy.
However, for an intelligent, enterprising and talented person, someone else's success is a wonderful reason to intensify their own efforts. Why was he able to, and I was not? Yes, I'm not worse, but much better. This is the line of thought of very many representatives of high society. According to the sociologist Sieghard Nekel, who conducted the relevant research, this explains many of the successes among the national elites. The luxurious life of others does not have to be envied - you have to create it yourself.
Envy as a reason for creativity, self-improvement, original projects is the most productive way. For this reason, the international advertising agency Young & Rubicam has invented the slogan: "All you need to be successful is envy."
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №38. Author: Alexander Melamed