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- Go to ENVY - is it better to be envied or to envy?
You’re not the only one who attaches a negative connotation
to the word envy; on the other hand, the word has a negative meaning: the admiration of the envious carries always some kind of discontent. Your desire to improve yourself, doesn’t start maybe from as dissatisfaction? You want to change to better yourself; maybe you have in mind a condition or a person that you are admiring and trying emulate; at least you would like to have a different condition. So there must be some kind of envy somewhere for that person or condition. But you are positively moved, as you try to do better instead of taking away the condition from. The fact that there is plenty around doesn’t mean that you want to have something which at that moment somebody else already has. So at the end of the day, we have to learn how to cope with “envy”. Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting.
posted by
Luxbring
on July 9, 2005 at 7:55 AM
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Horus
I guess it's all semantics - it would be admiration that I would think of, in the case of healthy competition like you speak of...but I just attach such a negative connotation to the word envy....my hang-up! I admire a characteristic and want to emulate it, not beat it...I am not a competitive person so competition in terms of beating another is not something I think in terms of. I know, I'm weird! If I were to enter a competition, it would only be to learn from, to test my own limitations. It drives my mother nuts to play cards with me because I really do not care whether I win or lose; she is a Bridge player and very adept at counting cards - I do not count cards, could care less about that, play for sheer pleasure and am very lucky...I win more often than she and don't care when I lose. She is very competitive and it drives her crazy that I am not...I just am not....I don't have time in my life to worry about "beating" other people...I am too busy trying to improve myself...trying to do what I want to do, enjoy my time on earth. Again, I come from a mentality of there is plenty to go around....I do not win at someone elses' expense or loss. I'm just weird.
posted by
Krisles
on July 7, 2005 at 11:22 PM
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Krisles,
more than the ethical judgment about envy, my post - and those that will follow about the same subject - is concerned with envy as a mobile - a trigger to human acting (speech acts included). So thank you for your comment.
Envy can explain a lot of evil around the world. Now, to say that envy does not have a positive or negative side, it is too much. Healthy envy - for example in healthy competition - can be the origin of great achievements: in this case the other become a model, a goal to reach and so on; on the other hand, destructive envy pushes to the simple destruction of the object of it.
posted by
Luxbring
on July 7, 2005 at 11:07 PM
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Horus
I do not believe envy is a good/positive/beneficial/desired thing in either way - to have or to be. I think envy springs from a consciousness of limitation versus a consiousness of plenty. I have a consiousness of plenty and someone else having something or being something does not limit my ability to have it or be it so there is no reason for me to envy that person having it or being it. I believe people with a consiousness of limitation or the only ones who experience feeling envy or thinking that they are envied.
posted by
Krisles
on July 7, 2005 at 5:32 PM
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Horus...I clicked you again.Yes, I understood exactly your point about envy
It was well-written.
posted by
MedusaNextDoor
on July 7, 2005 at 1:28 PM
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MedusaNextDoor
as your first comment on a blog of mine, I must say that you point to the same direction than mine (me me me ...oh yeah) I mean I point to the same direction than yours. Cheers./
posted by
Luxbring
on July 7, 2005 at 1:25 PM
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mmm-w, fist of all let me thank you for another comment of yours on
my blog. Let me also tell you that sometimes it is harder, more painful and debilitating to be envied than to envy; my first explanation is that it might generate in yourself a fake but powerful sense of guilt. Have a nice evening...
posted by
Luxbring
on July 7, 2005 at 1:23 PM
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Horus....I would rather be envied, but it hurts to be on that side.....
I don't like to envy others. It's a waste of much energy. But envy, in all its forms, is very human, unfortunately.
posted by
MedusaNextDoor
on July 7, 2005 at 1:14 PM
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great post... i had to read it a couple of times to really think about it... (i like posts like that, even though i seldom write them! )
posted by
mmm-w
on July 7, 2005 at 1:08 PM
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mysteria
I see you are a creative; maybe you would look at my creative photos with interest (me me me me, I know...); you the update I ma waiting for on your web... anyway, thanks a lot for reading.
posted by
Luxbring
on July 7, 2005 at 12:22 PM
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good advice
i like to learn a lot...
posted by
mysteria
on July 7, 2005 at 12:16 PM
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