9781422287651

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Make Connections: What Religion Says About Envy • In a Hindu book of sacred writing, the man who says, “The prosperity of my cousins is burning me deeply! I cannot eat, sleep or live in the knowledge that they are better off than me!” ends up facing destruction. Hinduism says that envy causes misery by throwing our minds out of balance. • Muslims believe that Muhammad taught, “Do not envy each other, do not hate each other, do not oppose each other, and do not cut relations, rather be servants of Allah as brothers.” • Buddhists believe that envy—when a person is “highly agitated to obtain wealth and honor, but unable to bear the excellence of others”—will poison our minds and cause us to suffer. • The Jewish Torah says, “You shall not desire your neighbor’s house. You shall not desire your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” • Early Christianity considered envy to be one of the “Seven Deadly Sins.” It was something with the power to separate us from God.

What Are Envy & Jeal ousy?

Envy is usually an emotion we keep secret. If we are envious of someone, we probably won’t admit it. We might not even admit it to ourselves. We don’t like this feeling. It’s like we took a yard- stick and measured ourselves against someone else—and came up short. Now, we don’t feel like we’re good enough. The fact that someone else has something makes us feel as though we have less. My pretty friend makes me feel ugly, for example, or your athletic brother makes you feel clumsy. The rich neighbors make your parents feel poor. It’s not a very nice feeling.