by Young
“Is that so? Or can something that is frustrating and painful lead to positive or to better ends than its more admired counterpart?” the sheik remarked. He was alluding to his clandestine relationship with the prince. The Arab’s rib went unnoticed to our new acquaintances, but to us in the know, we smiled at his insinuation.
The scholar continued, “I must admit, not all envy is created equal. While some flavors leave nothing but a bad aftertaste, others may inspire us to reach new heights of achievement.”
He paused before he added, “Typically, envy arises from a combination of two factors. The first is relevance. This envied advantage must be meaningful to us personally. For example - a ballerina’s grace is unlikely to cause envy in a lawyer, who once had professional dance aspirations of her own. The second characteristic is a similarity. The envied person must be comparable to us.”
He glanced at Triqueros before he resumed, “Victor, even though we’re both educators, it is unlikely I will envy you. This is Aristotle’s description of envy: ‘Potter against Potter.’ When we admire someone, we do so from a distance, but when we are envious of someone, we picture ourselves in their place.”
“Admiration and envy are opposites. Admiration inspires, while envy drags one down,” the Count commented.
Van-Damme answered adversely, “This duality may not adequately capture these emotional complexities. When I examined this concept in cultures across the world, I found that the word Envy is not as clear-cut as comprehend by English speakers. In English, envy means jealousy. But in other languages, bitterness takes on a dual semblance. In Polish, it is zazdrość and zawiść. In Thai, it is ìt-chia and rít-yaa. In Dutch, there’s benijden - from the root beniden. It means to be unable to bear something and to begrudge. It also translates as benign and malicious envy.
“Malicious envy is a feeling of frustration. This experience often led to motivations to hurt another. In the hope that the person being envied would fail in his/her endeavors.
“Regarding benign envy, the situation is more inspiring; when the envier tries harder to attain more for him or herself.”
Penny opined, “Admiration sounds a lot like benign envy.”
“The difference is: while admiration feels like happy self-surrendering, envy is unhappy self-assertion. Admiration is a pleasant feeling because we think of the people we admire as being unlike ourselves. Whereas with people we benignly envy, they are like us. This realization hits close to home; hence it hurts,” Boch clarified before he expounded, “There is a stark contrast between benign and malicious envy. The two spur the envier to act in different ways. With malicious envy, the envier constantly complains about the person they envy; as opposed to the good envier, who strive to work harder to better him or herself. Benign envy is a driving change for the better, even when it is an unpleasant emotion.”
Mariam who had remained silent, opined, “I believe enviers are more likely to experience an increase in their ability to pay attention to and to commit details to memory regarding the target of their envy. They spent the time to research their target’s personal details.”
“When I was a student at the Sorbonne, I did a survey on the differences between benign envy and admiration. In a study, I handed two fake reading-comprehension exercises to my fellow students. Both tasks were biographies of fictitious scientists. Half of the written papers suggest that self-improvement is possible - if one works hard and he/she can succeed, despite obstacles. The other exegesis cogitated that success comes from luck – one is either born with it or isn’t.
“Students who were primed by the first exercise felt benign envy toward the scientists. Their comment was: ‘I could do that, too, if I tried.’ Those who were primed by the second exercise felt admiration. Their opinions were: ‘I shouldn’t even try. I’ll just admire the scientists from afar’. The students who felt benign envy pledged to study harder than they had in prior semesters, while those who felt admiration didn’t.”
Victor commented, “In one of my research, I found that students who felt benign envy; not malicious envy or admiration, performed better on a test of creativity. They could provide, on average, 11.4 correct answers, as compared to 9.8 when they felt admiration; and 8.5 when they felt malicious envy.”
Peter, Joshua’s Valet, declared, “I’m sure no one will deny that the feeling of envy is unpleasant, or that enviousness can lead down a path they wish they hadn’t taken. Envy is corrosive and destructive….”
The Belgian interjected before the Big-Brother could finish, “The right kind of envy do serve an important personal and social function. It spurs competition and improvement.”
“For your information, the research paper I mentioned was titled: ‘Inspired by Admiration and Motivated by Envy,’” Triqueros declared before trays of scrumptious Moroccan desserts arrived at our table. Little did I suspect that Kalf bore malignant envy that was already ravaging his core.
Last Week of August 2014
Andy’s Message to David, c/c to Me
Hi David,
You mentioned the envy you felt towards your Big-Brothers/Valets. I like to add my perspicacity to this emotion.
Often, envy is a secretly held emotion. If a person (I’ll name this person X) is envious of someone (let’s call him/her Y), it is unlikely that X will admit his/her enviousness to anyone; with the exception to another, who might also be envious of Y, and will share with X in denigrating Y.
The reasons in which X might be envious usually involve a social comparison or competition between X and Y. Such a match and contrast are a part of the yardstick by which X measure him or herself. In short, it is X’s self-evaluation. When X sees him/herself as coming up short, envy is elicited. Hence, this experience is typically considered a conflicting emotion.
To neutralize X’s envy, he/she must diminish the source, and/or elevate him or herself. Jealousy has a way of making X work hard, and it appears he/she will continue to measure his/her self-worth against Y.
One may ask: “What is the purpose of envy?”
In my vocabulary, envy is an emotion that enables our species survival. It is related to competition and the social comparisons between the self and others; a kind of self-evaluation.
First, let us consider the thoughts and feelings this emotion creates. It is to desire what someone else has, that you don’t have. This accord the envied advantage and/or power.
Secondly, the self-assessments and predicaments that this emotion evokes create enmity toward the envied and anguish within the self. One might either defer this negativity to the envied or militate to eliminate him or her. Or, to ascertain to possess the coveted desired quality.
Envy is the unhappy feeling of the self as compared to the successes, possessions, and/or talents of another. It is an inferiority complex of the self. Instead of improving and attaining victories, the envier craves what the envied person has and wish that he/she would lose that quality or possession for the circumstance to appear fair.
Envy appears in a variety of manifestations. For example, it is possible to mistake attraction for another as envy. In this instance, the envious competitive hostility is amiss because the envier expects to obtain the envied attributes by association. Thereby, the envier can “fall in love“ with the coveted to procure his/her qualities and possessions - such as wealth, status, power, connections, or intelligence; instead of loving the coveted for who he or she is. Disappointment often follows this fate of idealization.
Envy can also originate from one’s parents. If the envier’s parents struggled financially and longed for affluence; he/she might envy those who have this quality. On the other hand, parents might idealize a higher education that to them was impossible to obtain; in which case their children might envy those with intellectual superiorities.
The envier idealizes what is unobtainable for him or her. They imagine the envied qualities or possessions could bring them happiness and fulfillment. It’s a fantasy of having what the envier lacks. Often t
he ‘lack’ is admiration for the envied attributes and/or possessions.
An exceptional way for an envier to define him or herself are his/her ideals, ambitions, and the things valued. The envier’s ideal self derives from social comparisons, and self-worth and is continuously measured to his/her models. When a person’s pride measures up, he or she feel enlivened. Shame and depression set in when it doesn’t. A significant degree of a person’s morale is one’s comparison of his/her ideal self. It is often easier to project that ideal onto another in the form of envy.
When a person matures, the values against which him/herself has measured, changes, as they learn to evaluate their potentialities and limitations. If a person can live up to his/her realistic ideals, their self-esteem will not be threatened.
If the person’s ideals are exaggerated and unattainable, his/her successes will be short-lived, as it will never feel like it is good enough. The dream for the impossible will continue to haunt, whereby envy will take root. The way to protect one’s dignity from experiencing disappointment and jealousy is to embrace one’s realistic ne plus ultra.
I too had envious thoughts, like most. Thus far, I’ve managed to trounce this unappealing emotion by giving myself a reality check.
Well, guys, I’ve spoken, and I await your feedback. ??
Yours sincerely,
Andy
Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing (Chapter Twenty-Five)
“Outside the open window, the morning air is all awash with angels.”
Richard Wilbur
(Love Calls Us to the Wings of This World)
Second Week of July 1968
Saint Michael’s Mount, Mount’s Bay, Cornwall
During our walk towards St Michael’s Mount, Andy and Albert were busy taking snapshots of one another. I had a chance to speak with Dr. Augustin.
Olivier remarked cheerily, “Young man, you are very perspicacious.”
I did not respond. I pulled out the feather in my trouser pocket and held it to the professor. He burst into jollity and jested, “Me Oh My! You saw through me, you little devil.”
We laughed before he resumed solemnly, “This mount is steep in history. Between 400 BC to 400 AD, it was a major export center for tin and copper to Europe. In classical literature, the island of Ictis is thought to be located here.”
Olivier pointed to the church on a rocky peak and said, “You see over there. That church is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel before a Celtic monastery was established on that site. It was Edward the Confessor who built the chapel before he handed the abbey to the Benedictine Mont-St-Michel in France.
“The present-day church was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1144. During the Middle Ages, it was a major pilgrimage destination; thanks to the legendary sightings of St. Michael, the archangel.
“Disguised as pilgrims, Henry de la Pomeray, and his coterie, seized the Abbey in 1193. In fear that Richard the Lionheart would return from the Crusades to appropriate the island, he built a castle to fend off the invaders.”
I interjected, “You must be whom I believe you are, to know the history of the Mount in such detail.”
He burst out in laughter and ruffled my hair before he resumed, “In the fourth and fifth centuries the appearance of St. Michael the Archangel at this locus was one of many reported across southern Britain and northern France. Tales of this heavenly warrior slaying dragons abound. Some theorize that the archangel’s victories over dragons are expressions of the struggle between the then-new Christian faith and native paganism in this part of England.”
I queried, “What has the slaying of dragons to do with native paganism? I thought Angels belong to the Judeo-Christian and Islamic faith?”
“You see Young. Angels are also significant entities in Buddhism, Hinduism, Celtic, Norse mythology, and in many Shamanistic legends; even though they are not referred to as angels. Similarly, not everyone denotes a prayer as a mantra or a spell of protection as a prayer. There is a profusion of labels to what is fundamentally the same thing.
“The Buddhist refer to angels as devas or celestial beings. Some Buddhist sects use the label dharmapāla or Dharma protectors. Whereas devas in Tibetan Buddhism are sometimes considered as emanations of bodhisattvas or enlightened beings. On the other hand, other Buddhist paths have specific devas – usually derived from pre-Buddhist cultural religions and unrelated to the prevailing Buddhist philosophy. These paths incorporated local and regional pre-Buddhist mythology into their order,” Olivier explained before he declares, “There are numerous types of spiritual beings in Hinduism who perform tasks that are similar to angels. A good example is the minor gods or devas whom Buddhists refer to as the ‘shining ones.’ These beatified beings inhabit a higher astral plane. Hindu gods, devas, gurus, ancestors, and planets, such as Sani (Saturn) also play a protective role for humans.”
“How can one keep track of all the names bestowed on these sanctified Beings?” I expressed.
“That is not all, Young. Asuras is another component of Hinduism. These demonic spirits are fallen devas who inhabit the lower astral plane; the mental plane of existence – like fallen angels in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic faiths. If an Asura does a good deed, it reincarnates into a deva, thereby reprieved from the lower plane.
“There is more; in Hinduism, Apsaras and Lipikas are heavenly nymphs. They preside over sacrifices and regulates karma as compared to devas and asuras who can either inspire or hinder aspirants from their spiritual journey,” Dr. Augustin expounded exponentially.
“In early Norse mythology, Valkyries were evil spirits of slaughter. Like vultures, these dark angels of death soared over the battlefields. They govern a warrior’s fate in the name of Odin. They ferry the battles’ heroes to Valhalla, Odin’s celestial home for his ghostly honorary army.
“Later mythos romanticized the Valkyries as Odin’s Shield-Maidens. An everlasting feast and mead were served to the heroes by these golden-haired and snowy arms virgins in Valhalla’s great hall. As described in the Volsung Saga and Nibelungenlied, these lovely swan-maidens or splendidly mounted Amazonians soared over the battlefields. One such fallen Valkyrie was the beautiful heroine Brynhild.”
I looked blankly at the angelologist before I exclaimed, “This is bafflingly complicated!”
He chuckled and added, “As an angelologist, this is what I analysis and evaluate before presenting my findings to scholarly institutions and universities that specialize in angelology studies.”
I commented, “I’m correct. You are an angel to comprehend, document and present these kinds of complicated angelology aggregations.”
Amused by my comment, the professor supplemented, “In Celtic mythology, Faeries are helpers of humanity. They too have many correlations to their deeds as Angels. There are also some lesser Goddesses who play a functional role. Such as the goddess Sirona.
“The concepts of angels and demons are found in Pagan Metaphysics, and in non-Pagan religions. These theories and beliefs collide and overlap with others that were set in stone; where details and structures cannot be crossed.”
Before the angelologist could resume, we had arrived at the Mount’s castle.
Exploring The Mount
Surrounded by blue waters and perched atop a rocky hill, the Mount’s Abbey was a spectacular setting. It was easy to fantasize the myths and legends told of this sacred site; especially that of the dragon-slaying Saint Michael.
An impetus stirred me to query, “Angels were well documented in ancient times, but they seem to have disappeared until their recent resurgences. Why is there an increase in Angelic sightings and encounters nowadays?”
Augustin did not answer but paused to observe my Valet and Albert’s lively exchanges.
He admonished, “Young man, a word of caution. Beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing within your midst.”
“What?” I exclaimed.
“You heard me,” he stated.
I was awed by the volume of books
it contained as soon as we entered the castle’s library. Not only was this Bibliotheca impressive, but it was also framed by a couple of red velvet chairs in front of a large fireplace. In the middle of the room was an exquisite 19th-century gaming table, explicitly built for chess, drafts and card games. While Andy and Albert gravitated towards the table for a set of chess, the angelologist and I continued our conversation by the fireplace.
Olivier resumed, “Angels left the Earth only to return.”
“Why?” I questioned.
“Have you heard of the lost city of Atlantis?” he enquired.
I nodded.
“During the height of the Atlantean civil war before its ruination, angels were very much a part of that great civilization. The annihilation created a substantial karmic shift in the Universal energies. Our planet’s universal connection was segregated from the cosmos. Earth’s isolation was a Divine punishment.
“After the fall of Atlantis, some Atlantean survivors proliferated across the globe in what we entitled as the 12 Tribes of Abraham (the first children of God). Earth’s quarantine cast our wisdom and knowledge back several hundred years, thereby diminishing the guidance from the Angel Kingdom. Angelologist termed this as ‘The Veil of Forgetfulness.’ Without the leadership and direct interaction with the seraphic kingdom, humans often floundered abysmally. The old ways of spiritual communication, belief, and healing were virtually lost. Through the process of redemption, new political and religious powers strived to impose their influences on Earth.
“These past centuries the quarantine walls have shrunk from the egotistical ventures and the karma gained after the Atlantean destruction; that resulted in the Earth’s redemption. With the shrinking of the Veil, angels can once again incarnate, interact, provide guidance, and knowledge to humans,” Olivier explicated.