Jealousy vs. Envy

Kurian

I think the young priest in yesterday’s Sunday mass sermon was brilliant. He was talking about the vices jealousy and envy.

I was under the impression that envy was a refined version of jealousy. Like the ‘naked’ and ‘nude’ where naked is lustful and nude artistic.

Apparently I was wrong with envy.

Jealousy is a feeling where one feels that he doesn’t have something he desires and another has got it. The ‘have not’ is jealous of the ‘have’ and that ends there.

But envy is different. Envy is jealousy but it doesn’t end there. When someone is envious, he wants to destroy the cause of envy or the person who he is envious of.

That’s why envy is one of the seven deadly sins. Apparently they are lust, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. (I have some concern with the first and the last).

The priest was clever and I have a hunch that he was explaining the reason of publicising a scandal on the church in Kerala.

In fact I was giving jealousy as the reason and now correct it to envy.

Jealousy vs. Envy

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