Today we ask that you look at the ways in which you are jealous of other people.

Perhaps you are jealous of people who are richer than you.

You might be jealous of people who are more conventionally successful than you, achieving recognition.

You might be jealous of someone who lives in a bigger house.

You might be jealous of someone who is more physically attractive than you, by conventional standards.

You might be jealous of someone who is very well-liked, and has many friends.

You might be jealous of someone who has better health than you.

You might be jealous of someone who appears to be very lucky in life.

You might be jealous of other people with children.  If you do not have children, you might envy someone who does.  If you do have children, you might envy someone whose children seem smarter, or better-behaved, or somehow more “normal” than yours.

If you have children, you might be jealous of the freedom people who do not have children possess.

You might envy someone else’s artistic talent.

You might envy someone else’s intelligence.

You might envy someone else’s happy relationship, or marriage.

You might envy someone else’s happy childhood, or supportive parents. 

Freelance workers envy salaried employees, and salaried employees envy freelance workers.

Women might envy men.  Men might envy women.

Black people might envy white people.  White people might envy black people.

Children envy grown-ups, and adults envy children.

It goes on and on and on.  There is no end to all the ways in which people envy other people.

Always, it is better to be someone else.  Always someone else gets all the breaks, and you never do.

Often, it is said that “Money is the root of all evil.”

This is not so.  Money is neutral.  It is neither good nor bad.

Jealousy is the root of all human “evil.”

If you look to the root of all wars, all genocide, as well as individual murders and, in truth, almost all crimes committed, you will always find that the seeds of jealousy were sown at some point.

There is nothing more destructive and insidious than jealousy.  Jealousy drives otherwise sane people to do terrible, unthinkable things.

There is no circumstance in which jealousy is healthy.  It is a purely destructive force: one that destroys friendships and relationships, and sows enmity and discord between all people.

Knowing this, we encourage you to pay attention to those times when you are feeling jealous.

It is very good to identify this thought pattern as toxic, and destructive.

Once you are conscious of this, you can begin to examine the objects of your jealousy.  Always you will discover that what you envy is not based on reality, but rather a mental projection.

For example, you might be jealous of some celebrity.  In reality, you do not know this person at all, and have no idea what their day-to-day life really is.  You might be quite miserable if you switched places with them.

If you look carefully, you will always see that other people do not have all the breaks.  You will perceive that every living human struggles in different ways.  Rich people are no happier than people with much less money.  Conventionally beautiful people are no happier than “average” people.

Envy is always based on a lie.  If you become clear in your mind, you can perceive this.

Whenever you feel jealous, that is a sign that it is time to carefully examine your thoughts.

Above all, do not act on jealous impulses.  This will always lead to greater suffering.  

Please know that there is nothing healthy or useful about envy.  Jealousy is a purely destructive force.