The green eyed monster

A friend recently asked me what I thought of the following quote, and so I thought I'd pen my impressions down. Baha'u'llah, in The Tabernacle of Unity, says:

"O children of understanding! If the eyelid, however delicate, can deprive man’s outer eye from beholding the world and all that is therein, consider then what would be wrought if the veil of covetousness were to descend upon his inner eye. Say: O people! The darkness of greed and envy becloudeth the radiance of the soul even as the clouds obstruct the light of the sun. Should anyone hearken unto this utterance with a discerning ear, he will unfurl the wings of detachment and soar effortlessly in the atmosphere of true understanding."

In general most of us would agree that envy/covetousness is detrimental to us, but this quote, I think conveys exactly why that is so through the most beautiful and compelling imagery. Our physical eyes enable us to look upon the world in all its glory and splendor. Yet, just one delicate, flimsy eyelid is sufficient to cover our eyes and block out every bit of our vision. Envy here is likened to an eyelid that covers the inner eye, blocking out the rays of the spiritual sun that would otherwise illumine our inner sight. To me, this image really conveys with shocking certainty how dangerous and debilitating envy and jealousy can be - even a little bit would be sufficient to turn us away from the spiritual path. And the reason this is probably so, I think, is because envy is a negative spiral - once you get started, there is no stopping. Its a slippery slope, and the more you slip down it, the harder it becomes to pull yourself back up. When we covet something, we might either get it, or we might not. If we do, that might temporarily sate us, but it engenders further greed and envy; and if we don't, that envy itself consumes us entirely. It is the doorway to unleashing our lower selves, and is the surest way to closing the door to divine virtues and opening ourselves out to the satanic. For envy and covetousness breed passion, anger, jealousy, hate and greed - and will only impel us to commit actions that deviate from the spiritual path. The soul is inherently radiant, and its natural state is one of brilliance. However envy is like a cloud, that darkens this radiance and prevents it from being perceived - both by ourselves and by others.

So how does one get out of this cycle? I think the answer lies in examining the root cause of covetousness. As Anthony Hopkins said in the Silence of the Lambs (in a different context, of course :)), "you covet that which you do not possess". So envy and covetousness arises from a very materialistic and selfish world view, where one finds oneself in the possession of certain things, and not in the possession of certain others. And so when we see others with things we ourselves wish we had, it leads to envy.

Instead, suppose we are able to develop an understanding of our underlying spiritual reality - that of the eternal nature of our soul, and all the heavenly virtues we are potentially capable of reflecting. Then we would realize that each and every one of us possesses all that we shall ever need on this eternal spiritual journey. Material possessions will come and go - but that which is our inner being, our inner potential, our inner essence, is something that we can never lose. And that is what will stay with us through all eternity. For all that belongs to the material world will be left behind at the moment of death - but the attributes of our soul, which reflect the attributes of God, are ours forever.

Another way of phrasing all the above, of course, is detachment - and that is exactly what the quote says as well. For once we achieved an understanding of how detrimental our envy can be to us - when we not just hear and understand the above quote, but actually do so with a discerning ear, and internalize it - and once we realize our true spiritual nature, then we will naturally realize that the solution is to "unfurl our wings of detachment". Once we detach ourselves from the vicissitudes and distractions of this material world, and fixate ourselves on the goal of spiritual growth, we shall be able to effortlessly rise above the clouds of envy that block the sun of truth, and fly high above them, basking in the rays of God's grace. This state here is likened to the atmosphere - one of true understanding. Just like we are now entirely immersed in the atmosphere, just like the air we breathe completely surrounds us and constantly flows through our body, detachment will enable us to reach that state where truth and understanding will completely envelop us, and become an intrinsic part of our existence.

All this is of course easier said than done, right? :)