MEDITATIONS: DOKKODO; THE WAY OF ALONENESS VII.
Principle Seven
Never be jealous. (Miyamoto, Musashi)
Jealousy, and its more prevalent counterpart, envy, are two sides of the same vengeful expression stemming from the denial of our true selves in favor of an affirmation of our projected ideals. We cannot accept who or what we are, so the frustration and hatred vent outward onto others:—others who possess what we don’t, who are more deserving of what we’ve obtained by way of subterfuge or luck.
But are we not human? What can we do when faced with the arbitrary injustices of outrageous fortune? “Never be jealous,” Musashi warns us, because envy and jealousy are not emotions but attitudes. They are choices about how we view ourselves and the world.
Jealousy and envy are ingratitude.
The grateful man cannot be made jealous. He does not fear loss of what he has, for he does not believe he is entitled to things beyond his control. The world does not belong to him; he belongs to the world. And so he thankfully receives each transient pleasantry and happy moment to grace him over the course of his life. They are gifts and blessings, none of which he is owed.
On the other hand, the ungrateful man can let nothing go. He wants to control every exchange and interaction. Thus, he cannot bring himself to trust. Trust requires faith, which requires affirmation in the face of uncertainty. The man who demands his way over the Way necessarily cannot affirm anything beyond his immediate grasp—thence cometh his fear: if a thing one day drifts away from his influence it loses all value; therefore, he feels compelled to lie, bully, or brutalize, whatever seems necessary to keep his “possessions” in line.
Envy shares much the same story. He who is grateful takes joy in what he has. He does not see his possession and relationships as insufficient but—as mentioned—a gift and a blessing. He does not hate the man with more, even if that more seems undeserved. He has no reason to hate, because his gratitude negates any inklings of injustice. If we are each fortunate to have what talents and happiness are granted to us, then by what measure can we judge the worthiness of others? If anything, the grateful man sees success with admiration.
It is only he who views what he has as insufficient who succumbs to envy’s taunt. In all his arrogance, he self-determines what constitutes fairness and justice—and always his determination places the blame somewhere outside himself. Always does he stand to be the beneficiary of his redefinition of the moral landscape, redistributing goods and talents in the name of balance when it is really for the sake of getting what he wants. That is why actions fueled by envy only ever result in death and destruction, because they are out of accord with the Way and the world. They are Towers of Babel built on insubstantial, subjective grounds and not solid facts. Without a true foundation, they are doomed to fall—which was the goal in the first place: for he who believes that life ought to be different necessarily believes that life as-it-is ought not to be at all.
That is why Musashi’s advice cannot be repeated enough. “Do not be jealous,” Do not be envious. If you detect these dispositions during action, speech, or thought—stop. Whatever you are engaged in can wait until your aim is toward gratitude, admiration, and inspiration, because if it is not targeting these things, it can only be the motivation toward revenge, destruction, and negation of what is.
“Do not be jealous,” but grateful instead.
Miyamoto, Musashi. Dokkodo, translator unknown, 1645.
