"Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies." -Gore Vidal
Yesterday I was pretty convicted by a message on envy. I'll be honest- it's not a topic I think about much, and I definitely don't think about how often I am envious of anyone. But yesterday I was acutely aware of my state- I do envy, and often. It can be destructive. It can harm relationships. It can steal one's joy in life. I think we talk about envy in a passive way, joking or making light of it, but are we really aware of the power it holds? I was even thinking about social media like Facebook or Instagram- could it be that these mediums channel envy, given that much of what we do is look at what other people have, are doing, or who they're with? At least for me, I see the tendency towards wanting what others have simply by tracking their life on display. Something to think about...
This morning I've looked at a few definitions for envy. Evidently envy comes from the Latin word "invidia". Wikipedia describes envy is a resentment that one feels when he or she lacks another's quality, achievement, or possession and wishes that the other lacked it. Miriam Webster has the simple definition of wanting to have what someone else has, or the complex definition of a painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another while at the same time desiring that advantage for oneself. Evidently in the 7th century B.C., the poetess Sappho described a stricken lover's face as green and so "green with envy" caught on.
I want to take a little more time to examine this in my life. What am I envious of and why? How do I replace the feeling of envy and with what? There are some philosophers who believe there are 2 kinds of envy: malevolent and beneficial- do I agree with that? And finally, I want to be joyful and content with what I have, which leaves much less room for envy.
Yesterday I was pretty convicted by a message on envy. I'll be honest- it's not a topic I think about much, and I definitely don't think about how often I am envious of anyone. But yesterday I was acutely aware of my state- I do envy, and often. It can be destructive. It can harm relationships. It can steal one's joy in life. I think we talk about envy in a passive way, joking or making light of it, but are we really aware of the power it holds? I was even thinking about social media like Facebook or Instagram- could it be that these mediums channel envy, given that much of what we do is look at what other people have, are doing, or who they're with? At least for me, I see the tendency towards wanting what others have simply by tracking their life on display. Something to think about...
This morning I've looked at a few definitions for envy. Evidently envy comes from the Latin word "invidia". Wikipedia describes envy is a resentment that one feels when he or she lacks another's quality, achievement, or possession and wishes that the other lacked it. Miriam Webster has the simple definition of wanting to have what someone else has, or the complex definition of a painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another while at the same time desiring that advantage for oneself. Evidently in the 7th century B.C., the poetess Sappho described a stricken lover's face as green and so "green with envy" caught on.
I want to take a little more time to examine this in my life. What am I envious of and why? How do I replace the feeling of envy and with what? There are some philosophers who believe there are 2 kinds of envy: malevolent and beneficial- do I agree with that? And finally, I want to be joyful and content with what I have, which leaves much less room for envy.
4 Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. 5 "Fools fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin." 6 And yet, "Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind." -Ecclesiastes 4
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1 comment:
+1 on examining why we're envious. it can point to areas of our lives where we're actually feeling unfulfilled.
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