Yes to envy because we hate to even think we envy. Milton agreed. In Paradise Lost the archangel Lucifer causes a war in heaven (and all subsequent suffering on Earth) due to his envy of God’s elevation of another (Jesus) to high divine status. The three worst villains in Shakespeare, Edmund in Lear, Iago in Othello, and Richard the Third, were pure enviers. The best analysis of Envy is Helmut Schoeck’s book of that name. The most classic remedy is Buddha’s fourth virtue mudita. And William James was the first teacher of the ‘act as if’ principle of positive psychology.
I was going to say that Blaise Pascal is the first notable advocate of “act as if”, in his Wager, though it was narrowly focused on belief in God:
“But at least learn your inability to believe, since reason brings you to this, and yet you cannot believe. Endeavor then to convince yourself, not by increase of proofs of God, but by the abatement of your passions. You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc. Even this will naturally make you believe, and deaden your acuteness.”
On reflection, it goes back at least to Aristotle, who said the best way to become courageous, for example, is to act that way deliberately, until you don’t have to think about it any more.
William James mentioned the wager of Pascal indeed. And I appreciate your helpful nod to Aristotle. Thinking further back, are there other ‘as ifers’ in myth if not in philosophy?
I spent the first few paragraphs trying to guess what your Bad Sin would be.
I agree that Pride is usually good. You should feel proud of a job well done. Just don't rub it in people’s faces.
Anger? That’s always bad. I always try to avoid it and sometimes it sneaks out. But it's always bad.
Greed? Always bad. Those greedy guys in the movie… they were not nice.
Sloth? Relaxing after a hard day's work is nice, but that's not sloth. Sloth is always avoiding the work that needs to be done. Bad.
Gluttony? Bad. Maybe eating heartily occasionally is not too bad, but gluttony is more than that. Gluttony is greed, but for food.
Sexual desire for your wife is not lust. Lust is sexual desire for your next door neighbour’s wife. Always bad.
But envy? I wish I knew as much about psychology as my professor. I’ll work hard to learn that. Envy can be harmful if it is out of control, but like pride, it doesn’t have to be.
Thanks for the article. I have a couple of these sins that were fairly pronounced and probably have eperienced the others here and there over the years but I can't imagine what envy would even feel like. I don't ever remember feeling envious of anyone. I'm fairly certain of that. Like the parrents you cite who could never feel envy towards their children. Same thing. Further I can't imagine thinking, well he has a bigger house but my kids are better athletes. Maybe I'm on the spectrum or something...
Really enjoyed that essay. Its so refreshing to read something that is not about what is happening "just today" as opposed to what is happening every day.
Damn why didn't I think of writing this article before you did! (Just kidding). Thanks to @mattgrawitch for luring me in here, and thank you Paul for a thought-provoking piece.
Thanks so much for this. I like to distinguish between jealousy and envy. Whereas envy is wanting others to have less, jealousy is wanting yourself to have more (of what others have). They both feel bad, but envy is more likely to promote bad behaviour. I think it’s possible to turn envy into jealousy and jealousy into a stronger work ethic. I like how you are emphasizing concrete anti-envy actions rather than Jedi Mind tricks. The default state is that our actions are in synch with our spirit. A tantruming two year old is so sincere! The idea of bringing your spirit into synch with your actions over time is a nice way to think of moral development.
Yes to envy because we hate to even think we envy. Milton agreed. In Paradise Lost the archangel Lucifer causes a war in heaven (and all subsequent suffering on Earth) due to his envy of God’s elevation of another (Jesus) to high divine status. The three worst villains in Shakespeare, Edmund in Lear, Iago in Othello, and Richard the Third, were pure enviers. The best analysis of Envy is Helmut Schoeck’s book of that name. The most classic remedy is Buddha’s fourth virtue mudita. And William James was the first teacher of the ‘act as if’ principle of positive psychology.
I was going to say that Blaise Pascal is the first notable advocate of “act as if”, in his Wager, though it was narrowly focused on belief in God:
“But at least learn your inability to believe, since reason brings you to this, and yet you cannot believe. Endeavor then to convince yourself, not by increase of proofs of God, but by the abatement of your passions. You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc. Even this will naturally make you believe, and deaden your acuteness.”
On reflection, it goes back at least to Aristotle, who said the best way to become courageous, for example, is to act that way deliberately, until you don’t have to think about it any more.
William James mentioned the wager of Pascal indeed. And I appreciate your helpful nod to Aristotle. Thinking further back, are there other ‘as ifers’ in myth if not in philosophy?
I spent the first few paragraphs trying to guess what your Bad Sin would be.
I agree that Pride is usually good. You should feel proud of a job well done. Just don't rub it in people’s faces.
Anger? That’s always bad. I always try to avoid it and sometimes it sneaks out. But it's always bad.
Greed? Always bad. Those greedy guys in the movie… they were not nice.
Sloth? Relaxing after a hard day's work is nice, but that's not sloth. Sloth is always avoiding the work that needs to be done. Bad.
Gluttony? Bad. Maybe eating heartily occasionally is not too bad, but gluttony is more than that. Gluttony is greed, but for food.
Sexual desire for your wife is not lust. Lust is sexual desire for your next door neighbour’s wife. Always bad.
But envy? I wish I knew as much about psychology as my professor. I’ll work hard to learn that. Envy can be harmful if it is out of control, but like pride, it doesn’t have to be.
I only agreed with you on one sin, pride.
Thanks for the article. I have a couple of these sins that were fairly pronounced and probably have eperienced the others here and there over the years but I can't imagine what envy would even feel like. I don't ever remember feeling envious of anyone. I'm fairly certain of that. Like the parrents you cite who could never feel envy towards their children. Same thing. Further I can't imagine thinking, well he has a bigger house but my kids are better athletes. Maybe I'm on the spectrum or something...
Thanks for that Halloween photo of you. It enriched the essay with a splendidly obscure humanity.
Really enjoyed that essay. Its so refreshing to read something that is not about what is happening "just today" as opposed to what is happening every day.
Damn why didn't I think of writing this article before you did! (Just kidding). Thanks to @mattgrawitch for luring me in here, and thank you Paul for a thought-provoking piece.
Thanks so much for this. I like to distinguish between jealousy and envy. Whereas envy is wanting others to have less, jealousy is wanting yourself to have more (of what others have). They both feel bad, but envy is more likely to promote bad behaviour. I think it’s possible to turn envy into jealousy and jealousy into a stronger work ethic. I like how you are emphasizing concrete anti-envy actions rather than Jedi Mind tricks. The default state is that our actions are in synch with our spirit. A tantruming two year old is so sincere! The idea of bringing your spirit into synch with your actions over time is a nice way to think of moral development.
Dr. Bloom, this piece on envy is fantastic. It is so built into our evolutionary heritage that it is really hard to recognize, let alone let go of.
The Oppy bits remind me of The Simpsons where Lisa explained to Homer that there was an inverse relationship between intelligence and happiness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k3f2KKS4jE&ab_channel=ThingsICantFindOtherwise
I envy your writing skill.
I suggest envy is OK when it's not a non-rivalrous good that you're covetting. So maybe it's the rivalry that's the sin?