“In a consumer society, there are
inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of
envy.”
Ivan Illich
(Philosopher
& activist)
Why did Illich
think that the above is the case? Let us think about the intensity we envy
(things and people). Henry Fielding (English
novelist) says that the reason why some folks rail against other folks, is
because other folks have what some folks would be glad of having (or are what
other folks would be glad of being – I may add). Stop for a moment and think
about these points of view! Is envy healthy, especially in this consumerist age
we find ourselves in?
It is true,
envy is about desiring something you don’t have. If you envy another person, it
implies that a person possesses what you want. The more unfair you think the
situation is, the more you will find ways to degrade the person you envy. Here
comes the problem! Instead of getting up and start working to achieve what you
envy, you rather stay in that inferior situation and ponder illicit ways to get
(or become) what the other person has (or is).
There are,
however, some who consider envy not to be a negative trait at all. There is a
proverb saying that to be envied is far better than to be pitied; and even
though many will do a lot of things to get themselves loved, they will do much
more to get themselves envied. William Hazlitt (English essayist) tells us that envy has a mixture of the love of
justice in it because we are angrier at undeserved good fortune than we are at
deserved good-fortune.
I have
come to learn that many people tend to feel something dying in them whenever
someone else succeeds in something. Why should it be like this? Now think about
the following. It is said that an envious heart makes a treacherous ear;
according to David Hume (Philosopher),
grief give rise to anger, anger to envy, envy to malice, and malice back to
grief, until the whole circle is completed.
It is
not wrong to be envious, envy may be a healthy driving force to reach your
goals. When you envy something or someone, it is better to go over into action
and pursue what you envy, in an honourable fashion.
I think everybody will once envy
something they want or someone they wish to be.
But destructive envy, as a reminder between you and
me,
is something I’d much rather not entertain, don’t you
agree?
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