The story goes like this. An angel appears to a man walking down the street.
“Today is your lucky day,” the angel says. “You can have anything you want, in unlimited quantities. However, there is one condition: whatever you ask for, your neighbor will receive double.”
The man immediately thinks, “Oh, this is bad news. I can’t stand my neighbor.” After a moment of thought, he comes up with a solution. He turns to the angel and says, “I would like to lose sight in one eye.”
Why do we feel jealousy toward others? Why do we become envious when we see the success or possessions of those around us? Because when we are not in alignment with our own purpose, when we are disconnected from our unique life force and energy, we feel a void. This emptiness leads us to seek external fillers—things or achievements—that we believe will fill us up.
When I see someone else's success, I may feel that they’ve taken something that belongs to me, and I desire it for myself. But when I am fully aligned with my unique expression of G-d, I realize that no one can take what is truly mine. I am channeling the exact energy and life force that I am meant to at this moment, and no one can impede that.
Imagine being a ray of light emanating from the sun. Should you feel jealous of another ray? After all, another ray does not steal your light. The sun has enough light to reflect infinitely in countless rays.
In fact, the energy output of the sun in just one second is equivalent to the solar energy that reaches the Earth over the course of seventy years. If this is true for the limited creation that is the sun, how much more so is it true for Hashem, the Source of all creation?
No one can ever block your manifestation of light. Once you discover and embrace your own unique light, nothing or no one can diminish it. When I am triggered by envy, even in subtle ways, I try to pause and ask myself, with compassion, “How can I return to alignment with my Source?” Once you are aligned, you never again compare yourself to anyone.
Consider the horse that approaches a water hole. As it reaches the water, it begins to angrily paw at the surface with its hooves. It isn’t until the water is muddied that the horse drinks. Why? Because when the water is still, the horse sees its own reflection and believes another horse has come to drink its water. The horse kicks and paws, trying to chase away the “intruder.”
But once the water is muddied, the reflection disappears, and the horse is left alone to drink peacefully. What the horse doesn’t realize is that the reflection it saw was merely a reflection of its own insecurity. It also fails to understand that G-d has provided enough water for all the horses.
Our world champions competition and conflict. But as Jews, we see ourselves and one another as a candle. “Ner Hashem nishmas adam—The candle of G-d is the soul of man” (Mishlei 20:27). When one flame is lit alongside another, there is no winner or loser; only more light in the world.
