Little has changed since this article was first published in 2011. People will always be driven by the Stone Age Trinity. In short, socialism is atavism. Thankfully, we have the capacity to do better.
Good article. If you can rise above envy (and resentment), and it IS possible to do this by regularly fostering an attitude of gratitude, life becomes better and easier. Resentment is poison, although as you say, its an evolved emotion. Which is why its pervasive.
I resolve the issue of destructive envy in my book _The Constitution of Non-State Government_ (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947660853), pages 76ff. I do so thanks to the definitive work on the subject by Helmut Schoeck (Der Neid, 1966).
As you note, "the emotional response [of envy is] a reflex." As Schoeck explained, envy is a directed emotion with a familiar, or at least proximate, person as its target; it seeks to acquire neither a material good nor a personal advantage – it seeks the injury of the superiority of that person, whom the envier falsely evaluates as an equal and whom he perceives as the cause of his own inferiority.
A keyboard and monitor today makes everyone proximate to the superior wealth, talent, and achievements of others. Further, the architectonic restraints formerly offered by religion against the mortal sin of envy are gone, replaced by the ideology of equality that inflames that sin. Equality is the conjoined twin of envy, for it can never be appeased: Any attempt at leveling only sharpens the focus on the remaining differences, especially the spiritual ones. "Envy hath no rest." Thus, despite its repeated refutation by economics, socialism – the ideology of envy – flourishes.
And what were "the architectonic restraints formerly offered by religion?" Most successfully, the Mystery of the Cross of Christianity. In this mystery, the perfect – and thus perfectly enviable – man degrades himself in a humiliating, agonizing death. No one can "seek the injury of the superiority of that person" because He has inflicted it upon Himself, in giving the greatest gift of all: Eternal life. Thus to worship Him is to deny envy, and to accept the moral example of His life.
I don't compare myself, my life, to others. I am my own standard. I've had a potential legendary fortune, represented by the intellectual property, which I created, stolen remotely by some electronic means. I was driven from my home, and homeless for six years, by some electronic weapons. My Kidneys were destroyed by the same. I'm prevented from deploying my knowledge, which I created. My life principally consists of prayer and exercise, training my mind, dialysis, and grocery shopping.
I have no envy of anyone else's existence. The cost of learning the true nature of the world I inhabit was and is worth paying. I'm free of living an illusiosory life. I've learned the source of my well-being, and it's not material stuff, and it's not other people, or relationships to or with other people.
The 24/7 torture, and attempts at my destruction provide me with the incomparable satisfaction of knowing that I'm standing as a man should, against unrepressed evil, the ultimate source of which is the evil which controls the politicians, which control the world's public life.
My physical being can be destroyed in a nanosecond, and that's OK. too, because my murder will require the murderers to recognize themselves for what they are. Eternal loser parasites. Without me their lives will be nothing. My life will have been the life of a hero, a man whose mind has successfully shaped his reality, and whose reality has shaped his mind into a most Powerful instrument. I have peace, I love the life I have, and love for the SOURCE of ALL my well-being.
Good article. If you can rise above envy (and resentment), and it IS possible to do this by regularly fostering an attitude of gratitude, life becomes better and easier. Resentment is poison, although as you say, its an evolved emotion. Which is why its pervasive.
No one can be happy who compares himself to another.
Indeed. It took me 20 years of being an adult to figure that out. Many never do.
I resolve the issue of destructive envy in my book _The Constitution of Non-State Government_ (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947660853), pages 76ff. I do so thanks to the definitive work on the subject by Helmut Schoeck (Der Neid, 1966).
As you note, "the emotional response [of envy is] a reflex." As Schoeck explained, envy is a directed emotion with a familiar, or at least proximate, person as its target; it seeks to acquire neither a material good nor a personal advantage – it seeks the injury of the superiority of that person, whom the envier falsely evaluates as an equal and whom he perceives as the cause of his own inferiority.
A keyboard and monitor today makes everyone proximate to the superior wealth, talent, and achievements of others. Further, the architectonic restraints formerly offered by religion against the mortal sin of envy are gone, replaced by the ideology of equality that inflames that sin. Equality is the conjoined twin of envy, for it can never be appeased: Any attempt at leveling only sharpens the focus on the remaining differences, especially the spiritual ones. "Envy hath no rest." Thus, despite its repeated refutation by economics, socialism – the ideology of envy – flourishes.
And what were "the architectonic restraints formerly offered by religion?" Most successfully, the Mystery of the Cross of Christianity. In this mystery, the perfect – and thus perfectly enviable – man degrades himself in a humiliating, agonizing death. No one can "seek the injury of the superiority of that person" because He has inflicted it upon Himself, in giving the greatest gift of all: Eternal life. Thus to worship Him is to deny envy, and to accept the moral example of His life.
I don't compare myself, my life, to others. I am my own standard. I've had a potential legendary fortune, represented by the intellectual property, which I created, stolen remotely by some electronic means. I was driven from my home, and homeless for six years, by some electronic weapons. My Kidneys were destroyed by the same. I'm prevented from deploying my knowledge, which I created. My life principally consists of prayer and exercise, training my mind, dialysis, and grocery shopping.
I have no envy of anyone else's existence. The cost of learning the true nature of the world I inhabit was and is worth paying. I'm free of living an illusiosory life. I've learned the source of my well-being, and it's not material stuff, and it's not other people, or relationships to or with other people.
The 24/7 torture, and attempts at my destruction provide me with the incomparable satisfaction of knowing that I'm standing as a man should, against unrepressed evil, the ultimate source of which is the evil which controls the politicians, which control the world's public life.
My physical being can be destroyed in a nanosecond, and that's OK. too, because my murder will require the murderers to recognize themselves for what they are. Eternal loser parasites. Without me their lives will be nothing. My life will have been the life of a hero, a man whose mind has successfully shaped his reality, and whose reality has shaped his mind into a most Powerful instrument. I have peace, I love the life I have, and love for the SOURCE of ALL my well-being.