7 Comments
Jul 22Liked by Ethical Skeptic ☀

We can also provide a more secular description of the various ways people respond to feelings of inferiority.

The path you describe here as envy or loosh, can derive from a fixation on the material and a lack of self-reflection. Notably, there is a belief that their self cannot be improved or should not be changed, and thus the only way to resolve their feelings is to drag others down or destroy the offensive object completely.

It is a desire not to fix problems, but to conceal them to avoid pain.

Whereas a more positive version of the response is self-improvement. This, however, is also problematic: It won't always be possible, and it's likely that there will always be someone better.

So, in my view, the most appropriate spiritual response is an acceptance of one's actual ability, an undertaking to improve but with the willingness to endure being inferior.

From a practical and evolutionary perspective, killing people who are better than you at things can save your life. Killing the villages best hunters might reduce the risk of starvation by increasing the amount of game available to the murderers.

In a world with finite resources, it makes sense to eliminate competition pre-emptively.

This is the underlying logic which leads to highly competent people being bullied and ostracised by morons.

Expand full comment
author

"In a world with finite resources, it makes sense to eliminate competition pre-emptively. This is the underlying logic which leads to highly competent people being bullied and ostracized by morons."

Well put.

Expand full comment
Jul 24·edited Jul 25Liked by Ethical Skeptic ☀

My experience is midwits don't realize they are midwits. I like to pick the brains of people who are smarter than I. Most very smart people are more than willing to offer their insights if asked. On the other hand midwits generally resist learning anything from those much smarter than themselves. I think it might be the resentment or their envy.

Expand full comment
Jul 22Liked by Ethical Skeptic ☀

Thought provoking and needs much longer consideration than a simple read through once.

My initial reaction is that Loosh is self-evident - without it, nothing can survive - making it an instinct that by definition is present in all living things (those without are extinct).

In my view, the cast majority of people may have been motivated by a few of the deadly sins during their younger and middle-aged lives. The emotional influence of others and self is a consequence of breathing, eating and pro-creating. Once your most productive years have passed, motivations change. The motivation for most is to enjoy the most comfortable path to death for as long as possible.

It is not jealousy and envy that motivates the vast majority who have worked all their lives for this "right to demise". It is resentment that others seek to take this pathway ("right to demise") away or diminish it with actions that reduce this path. The frustration from lack of opportunity to fight back in a weakened state is another stressful emotion.

Anyway. much to ponder - as I said, thought provoking and requiring the services of "Deep Thought"!.

Expand full comment
Jul 22Liked by Ethical Skeptic ☀

If you're interested in a deep dive on envy, the ultimate text is "Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior" by Helmut Schoeck. He cover an enormous amount of ground. He doesn't cite Poe (I agree with your assessment) but he does cite Melville's "Billy Budd" as a key example of envy in literature.

An interesting insight from Schoeck: "Envy is above all a phenomenon of social proximity... Envy is always between neighbors. The envious man thinks that if his neighbor breaks a leg, he will be able to walk better himself."

Expand full comment
author
Jul 22·edited Jul 22Author

Awesome recitation and quote. Thanks! I hope you do not mind if I use that quote in the article itself?

Expand full comment
Jul 22Liked by Ethical Skeptic ☀

Please do!

Expand full comment