Could Envy Be More Than Just Wanting What Others Have?
In The Psychology of Human Misjudgment, Charlie Munger said:
“It’s not greed that drives the world, but envy.”
What Is Envy?
Most people think envy is about possessions. It isn’t.
At its core, envy is about identity.
It starts small with a quiet comparison.
Someone’s work takes off, or their life moves faster, and the mind begins to measure.
If the gap feels too wide, that simple thought—good for them—turns into something heavier.
A quiet voice whispers, Maybe I’ll never get there.
To protect itself, the mind rewrites the story:
They were lucky. It comes naturally to them.
That’s how envy changes shape.
It’s rarely about what someone has achieved.
It’s more likely about what their success seems to say about us.
How Envy Builds
Projection. The unease gets pushed outward. What can’t be faced within is pinned on the other.
Devaluation. To steady the balance, the person being envied is quietly pulled down through gossip or dismissal.
Rationalization. A new story forms—They’ve changed, or They care too much about appearances.
By then, envy has stopped being a feeling.
It becomes a way of keeping the self intact.
What Envy Reflects
Another’s success works like a mirror.
It reflects the choices not taken, the talents left idle, the goals abandoned.
That’s why envy bites hardest among equals - the similarities are just too hard to ignore.
The person being envied isn’t the cause; they’re just the proof of what’s possible, and perhaps, what’s been avoided.
In the End
Envy isn’t about the other person at all.
It begins and ends in the one who feels it.
Trying to fix it through indifference or pretense only deepens the illusion that the problem lies outside.
Seeing the pattern is the only way to break it.
Once seen clearly, understanding replaces drama.
Awareness, not reaction, becomes the real release.
Envy reveals where the self still feels incomplete, and what work remains to be done.
And maybe that’s why envy drives the world:
we keep trying to fix things outside us instead of within.