This was a sort of personal revelation I had years ago: Jealousy has no positive aspects. There is no way that jealousy will better your life or that of others, you can't channel it into a creative force. It's purely a destructive, disruptive emotion. If you can teach yourself not to feel that emotion, it can make you a better person.
Envy, on the other hand, can be a valuable emotion in a rational person. In a nice, bland example, we'll use the neighbor's sports car. It's shiny, and yellow, and nice. You want one. Not that one, but one just like it. In a healthy, rational person, this emotion can be channeled into the drive to WORK for one, to do the effort necessary to earn money and buy your own shiny yellow phallic symbol. If it's not possible to get such a car, you set aside or ignore the emotion, same as any other unuseful urge.
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Date: 2002-05-29 08:11 pm (UTC)Envy, on the other hand, can be a valuable emotion in a rational person. In a nice, bland example, we'll use the neighbor's sports car. It's shiny, and yellow, and nice. You want one. Not that one, but one just like it. In a healthy, rational person, this emotion can be channeled into the drive to WORK for one, to do the effort necessary to earn money and buy your own shiny yellow phallic symbol. If it's not possible to get such a car, you set aside or ignore the emotion, same as any other unuseful urge.