Envy is not always easy to separate from jealousy. Envy is behind the worst
forms of destructiveness. Envy prefers to destroy, jealousy (love mode) prefers
to control. Both envy and jealousy make the person seek social company ; but
whereas jealousy seeks social involvement, envy lets the person rest content
with being a social observer. When envy is dominant in me I like to have afternoon
tea in a tea shop and watch the world go by (however, sometimes my mood then
changes to jealousy in self-pity mode as loneliness arises).
In childhood, envy of the general character traits of a parent appears as a
lack of attachment towards that parent (envy is one of the factors that underlie
autism). The difference here between hate and envy is that hate can be considered
to be a negative attachment, whilst envy destroys and neutralises any attachment
so long as the child is in a position of inequality with the parent. [³]
