Envy

The desire to have what someone else has.

In Western traditions, envy is one of the seven capital sins. In Buddhism (Tibetan: phrag-dog; Sanskrit: irsa), envy is one of the five poisons (dug-lhga).

Spiritual development requires that envy be transmuted into its pure form: philanthropy or happiness for others, which is related to Jupiter (Zachariel).

Aristotle was asked, "Why is it that the envious are always sorrowing?" Aristotle replied, "Because they sorrow not only at any adversity that befalls them, they sorrow equally at any good that is granted to other people."

"...envy is one of the most powerful triggers of social machinery. Why do so many people want to progress? Why do so many people want to have beautiful residences and very elegant cars? The entire world envies what belongs to others. Envy is regret for others’ well-being. Elegant women are envied by other less elegant women and this serves to intensify their struggle and pain. Those who do not have, want to have, and will choose to not eat in order to buy all types of clothes and adornments. They do this with the sole objective of not being less than anyone else. Every paladin of a great cause is mortally hated by the envious. The envy of the impotent, of the vanquished, of the mean person, is disguised with the judge’s toga, or with the robe of sanctity and of mastery, or with the sophism of applause, or with the beauty of humility. If we integrally comprehend that we are envious, it is logical that envy will then end and in its place will appear the star that rejoices and shines for others’ well-being." - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic

"Those individuals who want to base all their life’s actions on ideals, theories, and all various, accumulated recollections in their memory’s warehouses, always go around from comparison to comparison, and where there is comparison, there is also envy. They compare themselves with their neighbors; they compare their children and relatives with the children and relatives of their neighbors. They compare their house, furniture, clothes, and all their possessions with the possessions of their neighbors. They compare their ideas, the intelligence of their children with the ideas and intelligence of other people, and so on and so forth; thus, this is how envy appears, which then is transformed into the hidden, twisted source of action. For the disgrace of this world, the whole mechanism of society is based on envy and the spirit of acquisition. Everyone envies everyone else. We envy ideas, things, people, and we want to acquire more and more money, new theories, new ideas that we accumulate in our memory, new things in order to dazzle our neighbors, etc." - Samael Aun Weor, Fundamentals of Gnostic Education

Envy is studied thoroughly in Fundamentals of Gnostic Education.