Apples and Oranges

In the interest of transparency…here goes…

(what you just heard was the sound of swallowing hard)

Have you ever caught yourself in the act of comparing yourself to others? I found myself caught in the shadow’s grip (again!) of looking at someone else’s lovely oranges, while my own lovely apple was in plain view.

I thought, it is a permutation of Little Envy, my shadow sister.  She’s quite a little monkey! And, she loves bananas.

 

 

But last night, in my dreams, Envy appeared as a man.

 

A red-haired, mustachioed Bandit.  He was trying to kidnap me…

(as Jung said, look no further than the facts of the dream)

The dream resolved with me singing to Bandit, and eventually, he softened, melted, and sang along with me.

(Dream endings aren’t always so neat and swift, by the way.)

 

 

In Cinderella and Her Sisters:  The Envied and the Envying by Ann & Barry Ulanov, they make the point that the act of envying objectifies the one being envied, and, in essence, robs them of their humanity.

I thought of it much like turning one into a sex object.  Horrors!

I have also been on the receiving end of envy.

 

 

And I can tell you, it feels CREEPY.

And, no matter how I protested my humanity to the one envying me, I could not be seen, heard, or understood for who I am.  Terribly frustrating and nonproductive, too, I can tell you.

I think the best I can do, any of us can do, is catch ourselves in the act.  

And then, seeker that I am, ask my Self about this need or deficit that I am picking on in the act of comparison?  And do so with love, and forgiveness in this business of being human.

Who was it that said:  “Nothing human is alien to me.” ?

Wiki (the ultimate source) quotes Terence, the ancient Roman Playwright”:

“Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto” or

“I am a human being, I consider nothing that is human alien to me.”

Amen.

Vox Anima, SDM