Using envy and jealousy positively for progress

Question from the Internet:

“How do I change when I’m so used to the status quo?”

We are basically “simple creatures”. We change and start acting either as a result of our present situation becoming so painful or unpleasant that it is intolerable, or we are provoked and enticed by greater, more attractive pleasures than we currently have, so we start acting to obtain them.

This is the basic, 100% self-oriented and self-serving “pleasure/pain” software that determines everything in our lives.

Human history and personal development are dictated either by intolerable pain and suffering in the present situation or some greater, more attractive reward, fulfilment pulling us ahead.

Pain does not necessarily have to be something physical; we can feel pain also when others have something I do not have. This is how marketing and the entertainment industry keep the “aggregate demand” alive to fuel the aimless and constant consumerism, the constant demand for things we do not need, we can’t afford and that are mostly harmful to us. In fact, envy and jealousy is usually the strongest motivator for changing the status quo. While we can get used to physical suffering, shame, envy, and jealousy burn us so much that we simply can’t stay put.

If we are clever, we put ourselves into a unique environment where people start provoking and enticing each other towards truly positive and “humane” goals. There we can use shame, envy and jealousy in a positive and constructive way, so the whole group of people — that are mutually committed to reaching a certain goal — can endlessly progress by each pulling and pushing one another forward.