In this week’s blog, I will delve into the human emotion of jealousy. From an etymological standpoint, jealousy comes from the Ancient Greek word of Zelos, which refers to zeal. As times have progressed, jealousy has evolved in definition from merely an ardent interest to resentment and inadequacy.
It is highly unlikely that any human has obtained all successes. That being said, envy arises when we compare our position to someone else. We are bound to be inferior then someone else in some facets of our life. For instance, if someone else possesses greater wealth or achievements, we render our achievements or wealth inadequate. This emotion is often uncontrollable, since, our desires are often misdirected by comparison. We can always acquire more wealth, more success and still feel inadequate because our comparison to another person will comparatively
make us feel futile. A quote from the English author, Samuel Johnson describes envy in a concise manner:
Johnson, The Adventurer, no III.
Many of our miseries are merely comparative: we are often made unhappy, not by the presence of any real evil, but by the absence of some fictitious good; of something which is not required by any real want of nature, which has not in itself any power of gratification, and which neither reason nor fancy would have prompted us to wish, did we not see it in the possession of others.
This was published in Johnson’s bi-weekly newsletter, The Adventurer; his insight on jealousy demonstrates how capricious the human mind is whilst comparing others possessions to their own. The Stoic approach to this natural instinct is to redirect focus on yourself- comparing yourself to another person would not make you any better off. Take a look at yourself, the positives and negatives and work to improve yourself, without distracting yourself with others endeavours.
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