On the Feminine Aspects of Jealousy

by Chōkōdō Shujin

Chōkōdō Shujin observes that jealousy, ever insidious and scheming, drags all to the common, disguising its pettiness as intellect, while only the self-created individual stands above its clutches.

If there is anything that makes me doubt the goodness of human nature, it is the existence of jealousy in the human heart. Jealousy is, as Bacon said, the attribute most fitting for the devil, for it generally works cunningly, in darkness, and to the detriment of all that is noble and beautiful. It is jealousy that drives the modern era, and jealousy that is the greatest scourge of the good.

Jealousy is not without passion. Any passion, when manifested in its fullness, always possesses a certain beauty. Jealousy, however, is never truly romantic. Love and jealousy are similar in many ways, but in this one respect they are entirely different. Love can be pure, whereas jealousy is always insidious. This is even true of the jealousy of children. Few passions have the capacity to bring out such cunning. Especially in the modern era, jealousy has taken on a scheming, feminine aspect. It is nothing if not perverse that such a vice is not discouraged; at times, it is even praised. The scheming brought about by jealousy is often mistaken for intellect, it seems.

Love and jealousy are by far the most cunning of all passions. They are of a far more persistent nature than the other passions, and therefore the artifice of the intellect can enter into them, and conversely, the artifice of the intellect increases their persistence. No passion torments man so much as love and jealousy, for the other passions are not so persistent. From this suffering, all sorts of artifices arise. Moreover, how often does love become scheming because of the presence of jealousy? Therefore, those who are not happy except through scheming love use means to make the other person jealous. Jealousy makes even those who do not normally “think” think.

The strength of love and jealousy is based on the fact that they exercise the imagination intensely. The imagination is a magical thing. Man is jealous of the things he creates with his own imagination. The fact that love and jealousy are manipulative also comes from the fact that they stimulate the imagination and are driven by it. Moreover, in jealousy, the imagination works because of some kind of love that is mixed into it. Who knows if there is no love at the bottom of jealousy, if there is no iniquity in love?

Jealousy arises towards those who are in a higher position than oneself, who are in a happier state than oneself. It is obvious that the beautiful woman is never jealous of the homely one. But it is necessary that the difference is not absolute, and that one thinks that one could be like the object of their jealousy. The homely woman is typically jealous of the woman who is conventionally pretty, rather than a startling beauty. There must be something in common, not something completely different. Moreover, jealousy does not seek to elevate itself to the position of the envied one, but rather to lower the envied to its own position. To continue the metaphor, it is often the case that a fat woman would take greater satisfaction in seeing a beautiful woman become fat than do anything to become slender herself. It is only on the surface that jealousy appears to aim at something higher; in essence, it is aimed at reducing all to the common. In this respect it differs from love, which by its very nature always aspires to something higher. Thus jealousy, being of a nature contrary to love, constantly interferes with human love, as if it had something to supplement it.

Jealousy does not work on the basis of quality, but on the basis of quantity. The particular, the individual, is not necessarily the object of jealousy. Jealousy does not know how to recognize others as individuals, or how to understand oneself as an individual. Jealousy is against what is general. On the contrary, the object of love is not the general thing, but the particular thing, the individual thing. Jealousy always burns deep in the heart, yet it knows no interiority. Those who are prone to fits of jealousy are often conspicuously lacking in introspection.

Jealousy goes out and does not guard the house, as it were. It is one of the main causes of curiosity that does not stay within oneself, but constantly goes out. How rare is the innocent curiosity that is not tinged with jealousy! It is a general truth that one passion can be better controlled by other passions than by the intellect. If it is true that heroes are not jealous, then other passions such as ambition and rivalry are stronger than jealousy and, importantly, are a more enduring force.

Aspiration and rivalry are often mistaken for jealousy, but the difference between them is clear. First, ambition and rivalry know the public sphere, whereas jealousy does not. Jealousy considers all public affairs to be private affairs. In this respect, too, jealousy is essentially feminine. Jealousy is at the heart of much of the pettiest gossip. It is far more difficult for jealousy to be transformed into ambition and rivalry than vice versa.

Jealousy is always busy. It is a tedious thing. I know of no other emotion as busy and unproductive as jealousy. If we were to define a pure and innocent mind, a mind that is not jealous would be the most appropriate. It is correct to say that jealousy arises from a lack of self-confidence. Of course, if there is no confidence, there is no way for jealousy to arise. However, jealousy always avoids the point about which it is jealous and focuses instead on other points. Jealousy is deceptive. Those who are jealous typically regard themselves rather highly, and their egos are wounded when they see that which is clearly superior to them. Jealousy, combined with vanity, prevents such individuals from seeing their own shortcomings. It is this that drives the prevailing political atmosphere; jealousy fuels their bitter resentment, and jealousy guides their petty slander. Need I say more than quote vice presidential candidate Tim Walz? Nothing could be more demonstrative of jealous resentment than this childish jibe.

“I’ll just say it: Donald Trump and JD Vance are creepy and, yes, weird.”

This is an especially feminine criticism. The feminine seeks consensus, or rather, conformity. It seems the normal, the average, and denigrates the great. Alienation — “othering,” to use their parlance — of one’s perceived enemies is a womanly tactic employed to cut down that which is superior. It is telling that Walz did not mention any specific failings, but rather chose a vague and undefinable insult.

To eliminate jealousy, we are told to have confidence. But how does self-confidence arise? By creating things for oneself. Nothing is created out of jealousy. Man creates himself by creating things, and thus becomes an individual. The more of an individual a man is, the less jealous he is. This is the opposite of blindly seeking meaningless conformity. It can be understood from this fact that happiness does not exist apart from individuality.

Order Chōkōdō Shujin’s Finding Takashi here.