namely, a detriment, an obstacle to one's own success. It is not
necessary that another's prosperity really work injury to our own; it
is sufficient that the evil eye, through its discolored vision,
perceive a prejudice therein. "Ah!" says envy, "he is happy,
prosperous, esteemed! My chances are spoiled. I am overshadowed. I am
nothing, he is everything. I am nothing because he is everything."

Remember that competition, emulation, rivalry are not necessarily envy.
I dread to see my rival succeed. I am pained if he does succeed. But
the cause of this annoyance and vexation is less his superiority than
my inferiority. I regret my failure more than his success. There is no
evil eye. 'Tis the sting of defeat that causes me pain. If I regret
this or that man's elevation because I fear he will abuse his power; if
I become indignant at the success of an unworthy person; I am not
envious, because this superiority of another does not appear to me to
be a prejudice to my standing. Whatever sin there is, there is no sin
of envy.

We may safely assume that a person who would be saddened by the success
of another, would not fail to rejoice at that other's misfortune. This
is a grievous offense against charity, but it is not, properly
speaking, envy, for envy is always sad; it is rather an effect of envy,
a natural product thereof and a form of hatred.

This unnatural view of things which we qualify as the evil eye, is not
a sin until it reaches the dignity of a sober judgment, for only then
does it become a human act. Envy like pride, anger, and the other
vicious inclinations, may and often does crop out in our nature,
momentarily, without our incurring guilt, if it is checked before it
receives the acquiescence of the will, it is void of wrong, and only