“Jealousy is comparison. And we have been taught to compare, we have been conditioned to compare, always compare. Somebody else has a better house, somebody else has a more beautiful body, somebody else has more money, somebody else has a more charismatic personality. Compare, go on comparing yourself with everybody else you pass by, and great jealousy will be the outcome; it is the by-product of the conditioning for comparison.
Otherwise, if you drop comparing, jealousy disappears. Then you simply know you are you, and you are nobody else, and there is no need. It is good that you don’t compare yourself with trees, otherwise you will start feeling very jealous: why are you not green? And why has existence been so hard on you – and no flowers? It is better that you don’t compare with birds, with rivers, with mountains; otherwise you will suffer. You only compare with human beings, because you have been conditioned to compare only with human beings; you don’t compare with peacocks and with parrots. Otherwise, your jealousy would be more and more: you would be so burdened by jealousy that you would not be able to live at all.
Comparison is a very foolish attitude, because each person is unique and incomparable. Once this understanding settles in you, jealousy disappears. Each is unique and incomparable. You are just yourself: nobody has ever been like you, and nobody will ever be like you. And you need not be like anybody else, either.
Existence creates only originals; it does not believe in carbon copies.
There is an ancient Sufi story:
A man was very much burdened by his suffering. He used to pray every day to God, ‘Why me? Everybody seems to be so happy, why am only I in such suffering?’ One day, out of great desperation, he prayed to God, ‘You can give me anybody else’s suffering and I am ready to accept it. But take mine, I cannot bear it any more.’
That night he had a beautiful dream and very revealing dream. In the dream that night, God appeared in the sky and he said to everybody, ‘Bring all your sufferings into the temple.’ Everybody was tired of his suffering – in fact everybody has prayed some time or other, ‘I am ready to accept anybody else’s suffering, but take mine away; this is too much, it is unbearable.’
So everybody gathered his own sufferings into bags, and they reached the temple, and they were looking very happy; the day has come, their prayer has been heard. And this man also rushed to the temple.
And then God said, ‘Put your bags by the walls.’ All the bags were put by the walls, and then God declared: ‘Now you can choose. Anybody can take any bag.’
And the most surprising thing was this: that this man who had been praying always, rushed towards his bag before anybody else could choose it! But he was in for a surprise, because everybody rushed to his own bag, and everybody was happy to choose it again. What was the matter? For the first time, everybody had seen others’ miseries, others’ sufferings – their bags were as big, or even bigger!
And the second problem was, one had become accustomed to one’s own sufferings. Now to choose somebody else’s – who knows what kind of sufferings will be inside the bag? Why bother? At least you are familiar with your own sufferings, and you have become accustomed to them, and they are tolerable. For so many years you have tolerated them – why choose the unknown?
And everybody went home happy. Nothing had changed, they were bringing the same suffering back, but everybody was happy and smiling and joyous that he could get his own bag back.
In the morning he prayed to God and he said, ‘Thank you for the dream; I will never ask again. Whatsoever you have given me is good for me, must be good for me; that’s why you have given it to me.’ ” osho.com
