Jealousy

Regular followers will know that much of the last year I have been working through the implications of an idea I have no simple name for. Simply as I can; there is no self. We live with an illusion that there is a little man, a homunculus inside our heads controlling us. We act as though we have free will. In reality there are just a bundle of urges and impulses. The implications are many. Chiefly we are not responsible for who we are. Life is a lottery. There is no one there to take responsibility for your actions. A chess champion, a top level businessman, a premier league footballer, a paedophile, a homeless heroin addict,  a serial killer; none of these ask to be nor can claim pride for being, who and what they are. Criminals ought to be retrained where possible. Locked away if dangerous to the public. But punish them? This is stupid. And equally we shouldn't really over respect someone their achievements. It wouldn't be difficult for mike Tyson to beat me in a fight.
What brought this back to mind has been a week that saw the ugly face of jealousy. It seems always the case that any success people have in life is always met with a response of at least some hostility. It would be easier to always fail. Often the jealous construct narratives to dodge what they are doing. To tell themselves they are not being jealous in long rationalisation. Not being used to frequent success I am not familiar with these emotions.
What was odd was that those from who the jealousy came also built parallel narratives about other people's failings. The successful often do this. Living steady lives in warm houses they ask, 'why don't homeless people just work a bit harder and buy themselves a house?'. Those with the temperament for work ask, ' why don't the poor pull themselves together?'.
People miss the simplest things. A drug addict is a drug addict because they are. There is no moral weakness. They don't become addicts because they choose to, there is no seperate little person in their heads that can choose their path for them. An addict may be able to retrain themselves but every day will be spent overcoming constant urges and impulses. Relapse is invariably unconscious. Whilst the conscious mind takes a breather, as for everyone it always must, the animal nature overcomes them. They are not like you. If they were there would be no problem. They would sail easily through life as you do. For you, taking drugs, or drink, is the positive action. The volition. For an addict the opposite is the case. The reformed addict must be in a constant state of volition not to relapse.
Often they will find that there is no reward. Their social circle may tolerate there ill behaviour. Now they begin achieving. They may even become successful. They will find they have money. Any straight friends will have constructed lives at the very tip of their earning. A family may depend on them not having any illnesses. The mortgage, bills all need keeping up with. The newly recovered addict or reformed criminal may appear an affront to their self perception.
Equally so, the serial achiever will always return to achievement. Their nature will draw them to finding ways through problems. Money and security falls in to their laps.
Essentially we fall in to rutted roads. Our paths are set. The serial achiever inspires little jealousy as the narrative of their personal responsibility for their own hard work is well established.
But this is not to say people can not change. They can and do. But this is only because they are able to. It is not through a seperate character called the self, resident behind the controls in their skulls. No body, if they are truly honest, knows why they do things. They may be able to construct narratives after the fact. This is how the brain works. Neuroscience has taught us things in the last two decades that some philosophers suspected. We are not the captains of our ships.