The Insanities of Life
Every day we use throwaway words and commit actions that inflict pain on others if they are true, or even more so, if untrue.. Some are more damaging than others, but all have a negative impact on either the perpetrator or the victim or both. We do not need a scientific study to know that evil exists and operates among us on a daily basis. Mark Antony in Julius Caesar in a quote said “that the evil men do lives after them, the good is often interred with their bones” How true.
We will look at words like envy, resentments, jealousy, pride, be-grudgery, assumptions and avarice, to take just a few that impinge on all of our lives and frustrate our aims to gain happiness. Envy is the only sin to get listed twice in the Ten Commandments, presumably because it is the most destructive of all the “thou shalt nots” in its repercussions for all of society and for communities. First is the envy of the possessions of others and the second the envy of talents abilities and opportunities of others. ( the 9th and the 10th Commandment) A key point of envy is that it is never directed towards that which is bad, rather it is a hateful attack on the good. Who wants something bad? Envy is about good things that others have that somebody else desires, and is an emotion that quickly gathers speed. An envious person do not enjoy life because they always want what others own, and that’s an impossible place to be. Socrates said “envy is the ulcer of the soul”. Envy is never, and I repeat never, about the other person, it is about being your own worst enemy.
Resentments are a very close cousin of envy and they are interlinked. Resentment is like taking poison, and waiting for the other person to die. It is an internally corrosive issue and eats away at both the conscious and sub-conscious mind. It is the energy that runs that person’s life, a life of pure frustration and a springboard to anger and hatred. Resentment is a blind darkness where fear resides. It is a very negative human emotion and gathers momentum as people ferociously cling to their own sense of entitled victimhood. Resentments when deep rooted are destructive and seek to destruct the lives of others.
Jealousy and be-grudgery is reflective of a person’s feelings or attitudes towards another and often pertains to emotional rivalry. In the recent past we have seen what jealousy accompanied by bullying can do to others, especially those so young. Jealousy also expresses feelings of ill will, malice, prejudice, spite, and resentfulness and people do not like to admit to such inner feelings. Jealousy is always about “I want what you have”.
Pride can be both negative and positive. The negative is an inflated sense of personal status or accomplishments, whereas the positive is a sense of joy at another’s success. Pride when not earned will always have a fall, and is the opposite of humility.
Assumptions about people, or taking something for granted without positive proof, or a hypothesis that is taken for granted in order to provide a basis for logical thinking is a daily fault of many people and lead to erroneous decisions being made that have long term effects. People assume all kinds of thinking that are flawed and without foundation causing much upheaval in the lives of others. Arrogance is closely related and is an attitude of superiority which manifests itself in making presumptuous claims or assumptions, without checking the facts. The arrogant person always assumes his views and opinions are the truth, but like everyone else have feet of clay, no matter how well hidden.
Greed is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or other things with the intention of keeping it to one’s self, that is far beyond the need to survive or have life’s comfort. Avarice is a blanket term that describes other examples of greedy behaviour and lead to disloyalty and deliberate betrayal, all for personal gain. Dishonesty and behaving or prone to behave in an untrustworthy or fraudulent way which intend to mislead, cheat, defraud, or deceive, all stems from a marked lack of honesty that is the core of greed.
We can all make a decision not to live our lives by the human frailties listed above. Our lives would become more tranquil and peaceful and the benefits would be immediate and bring a new ray of hope for the future if we could rid ourselves of destructive feelings. People who display and have inner feelings of any of the above flaws are prone to depression, anxiety, a lack of self esteem and an internal anger that bring many unnecessary problems into everyday living for themselves and for those who suffer from their flawed and arrogant behaviour.
“ Love thy God and your neighbour as yourself” — these two commandments were hopeful of eliminating all the feelings named above and make life happy for all human beings, if what was commanded was followed. The Lord was smart in His vision for the happiness of human beings and how best to live life, but sadly He is not listened to or His powerful insight adhered to. For you, today is the beginning of the end of life’s pathway, every day is another timeframe that will never return or be lived again. So why not step back and if you have ill feelings towards another human, ask yourself who you are hurting? Write down your answers. Is it worth it? When we experience these emotions our needs are not being met and feel a constant lack of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing in our lives. Peace and the prosperity of the spirit comes from sharing, caring and being kind and have meaning in our lives. All of the “insanities” listed in this article can be got rid of from your mind if you so wish, and they are insanities, when we allow feelings to take away peace of mind and a deep happiness which we are all capable of having, it is time to rethink about a different way of living. Think about it and do something about it – today.
“Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude”