Doug Jones was good enough to reply to my recent post on envy, and his reply showed up the necessity of making a couple of additional points. The basic point remains unchanged, although if I want the board to stay up I will have to put a couple more nails in it.
First, the mere fact of conflict does not enable us to say that every party in the conflict is gripped by envy. The goal of the envious is to make the conflict look like it was caused by the object of his envy. Envy specializes in false flag operations. The passages I cited showed that Jesus and the apostles found themselves in conflicts, and found themselves there because of envy. But the envy was located in their adversaries, not in them. So the formula is not: conflict > envy in all combatants, but rather conflict > envy here somewhere.
Reading the story means that you have to have the ability to look at the conflict, know that envy is a likely driver, and then successfully identify the protagonist and antagonist. If you read Beowulf and find yourself sympathizing with Grendel, that should be a danger sign.
Second, to identify the dark impulses of envy is to describe the human heart as Scripture describes it. If you were to walk up to a stranger on the street, stop him, and tell him about his specific dark impulses, then that would be an ungodly attempt to read hearts. But if you saw the apostle Paul drawing bigger crowds than the scribal ditherers ever could, and then saw those same scribes stirring up a mob, “dark impulses” is a good way to describe what is happening. When this is preached and declared (as the Bible does), the hope is that the Spirit will cause the declared Word to penetrate the hearts of the envious so that they will admit to themselves what has been kind of plain to them for a while — that they are consumed with envy. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). An effective preacher unleashes the Word in a situation that looks like this, but it is the Word that does the discerning of the thoughts and intents of the heart. When that is done, it is done for the person afflicted by it, and the result is repentance. But repentance for envy is not going to happen without the sinfulness of envy being declared. And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Third, it is worth noting that the envious do not just act out their envy — they also speak. And Scripture tells us that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45). The evil of envy — a great evil — is no exception to this rule. When envy has moved from a smoldering state in the heart to flaming action — throwing rocks at an apostle, say — it is very hard for the envious to keep their words from catching on fire also. “Why should he . . .?” “Who does he think he is . . .?” “I can’t believe that she . . .”
And this leads to another point, my last. The examples I used were from the political left. This is not because those on the right are unafflicted with this universal human failing, but rather because it is located in a different place. Different groups value different things (which is what makes them different groups). This means that they will envy different things. Teen-aged Amish girls struggle with bonnet envy, and other girls don’t.
The left has institutionalized their envy, and made it an essential part of their economic platform. Just look at the wildly inaccurate snark that surrounds their discussions of the one percent, and the evils of income inequality generally. Conservatives rightly object to this kind of economic envy. But this does not mean they are free from envy — it just means that their envy does not shape their economic proposals. All you have to do is simply move your search to other areas of human behavior, and your search will be richly rewarded. Envy on the right is on full display in the rivalry of candidates in primary campaigns, in the staff in-fighting over access to a rising star, and over book sales and invitations to speak at CPAC. Scratch a human being and you find . . . a human being. So, while Tea Partiers don’t play the game of “more egalitarian than thou,” they do play the game of “more constitutional than thou.”
But I will say this in defense of conservatives, wherever their envy might be located — it is far easier to make them ashamed of their behavior. They are guilty of it, but unlike the left, have not yet made a virtue out of it. And being ashamed of this most shameful sin is the foundation of being able to repent of it, and turn away — looking to Christ crucified on the cross, the blood substitute who was the death of all envy. And that is something that all of us need to do — left, right, and center. All of us are called to look at the twisted serpent on the cross, that impaled envy, and be set free as a result.
I suppose if the left has institutionalized its envy, then the right has institutionalized its pride. How else to explain “take back the country”, “makers and takers”, “real Americans”, and so on? But the gospel according to von Mises says nothing about pride, so who cares about any of that?
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Jones’ comment (delete this Doug if inappropriate or incorrect link). Douglas Wilson replied to my recent jab – “Envy is the easiest accusation because the rich can read hearts” by supplying two public criteria for identifying envy: (a) “Conflict is the smoke, but envy the fire” and (b) “that dark impulse to hurt anyone who seems to have a superior capacity for happiness.” Of course, a “dark impulse” is still heart reading, but go with it. And even though, “for those who have eyes to see, [envy] is everywhere,” his examples only show up in socialists, civil rights leaders, and… Read more »
Progressives certainly display envy for material wealth all over the place — but a whole lot of conservatives can be seen envying the power and respectability of those progressives.
Matt, I must be thick, so I have to ask: what has von Mises to do with The Right?
You must indeed be.
@Lara,
You are not thick and you asked a fair question.
Grace and Peace
t
Matt makes the fairly mistake in discussions of politics of confusing the right with free-market advocacy, as well as the mistake in discussions of economics of confusing free-market advocacy with Austrian thought.
And I made the mistake of omitting the word “common”.
I think it would be helpful to differentiate between envy and greed for the purposes of this discussion. Both the conservatives/free market types and the progressives/interventionist types both want more stuff and in that sense they can both be greedy. However, a man might always be wanting more but it doesn’t necessarily follow that he wants to take it away from a particular group of people. A free market type can be just as happy if a one percenter contributes to his bottom line than if it is a low income earner. In fact, he is likely to prefer the… Read more »
I am not of the right and I agree generally with von Mises’ treatise on economics. I especially enjoy chewing the vocabulary therein. His free market principles have almost nothing in common with the principles currently practiced by the political Right (“abandon free market principles to save the free market”) though they imagine themselves to “believe in” the free market. Seems like a category error to call Human Action a “gospel” and try to tie it to people who rely upon the coercive tax and spend and imprison and regulate economy.
dan glover, most helpful, thank you.
Was reading the First Epistle of Clement today (mid 1st century) and came across this fantastic exploration of envy’s role in the travails of the godly in the OT. (link is to a photo of the text)
We’re struggling to show fairness by identifying envy on the right?
I feel the envy seeping out the radio when I hear some Fox NeoConIsta hosts seethe about the popularity of their targets.