I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, when she used a saying “Jealousy is for the weak”. It’s a strong statement, but not in the way you think. Jealousy is a powerful emotion, as are many others, but to say it’s for the weak is, I feel, to miss the point.
Emotions simply are, there’s no point denying them, but the statement above makes that implication along with a more subtle one. It implies that the speaker considers themselves to be “strong” and denigrates the jealousy, imbuing it with more power. Thus, the speaker now has an investment, an attachment to, a position of strength.
If we’re being honest now, the Jealousy is caused by grasping and controlling behaviour. We must realise that this sort of thing is a trap, we may desire to control someone else, but in reality we have lost more freedom than them because we HAVE to control them.
By realising the true impermanence of all things we can let go of Jealousy, this is not the same as fighting/suppressing/ignoring it, as these are simply more subtle forms of attachment. Our desire to be strong is also interesting, what is strong must eventually change and become that which is weak, this simply lines us up for suffering.
Although I feel I should point out that strength and weakness are both fairly subjective terms, they can mean different things to different people, they don’t always take the form we traditionally expect them to.
