"The higher you ascend, the smaller you appear to the eye of envy. But most of all they hate those who fly." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche from Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Ah, Friedrich. Never one to mince words. :)
Ayn Rand likes to say that it's easier for people to look down. It hurts their necks to look up. Guess what? The higher you ascend, the smaller you will appear to those who have chosen (yes, it's a choice) to not fly. You hurt their neck when they must look up to see you. They hate that. This, of course, is not what they say. Rather, you're just ridiculed and made to feel foolish. ... Anything to let them look down rather than up.
...
On a similar note: One of my friends and favorite modern philosophers, Yasuhiko Genku Kimura, wrote an essay describing the difference between Envy vs. Jealousy. Powerful stuff.
The gist: I see someone who has something I want. Now, if I think I also could have it someday, I'm jealous. I just wish I had it. That's about it. On the other hand, if I see that same thing, and I don't think I could ever have it, I'm envious. Now what do I do? I don't just go on with my day. Nope. If I don't think I can ever have it, I DEMONIZE the person for having it. I make it inherently bad.
Envy is a frightening thing. If someone sees you flying and they don't think they can fly, they'll tear off your wings and/or make you feel bad for even trying.
So just ignore them. :)
On second thought: "Don't pay attention to the critics. Don't even ignore them." (Thanks, Mr. Samuel Goldwyn. :))
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