Tuesday, October 13, 2009

On Envy, Revisited

If we were to ignore the cardinal mistake of blaming our woes on others, then perhaps we will view Envy in another light. Contrary to some lines of thought, Envy is not so much an indicator of insufficiency but rather a realization of injustice.

When one has Envy, one does not think "I want X (which Y possesses)". On the contrary, one believes in one or both of two things; in Envy's benign form, one believes that "I deserve X, as I am at least as deserving of X as Y"; in Envy's malign form, one simply believes that "Y does not deserve X". Hence, Envy emerges from the perception of injustice.

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