I'm inspired when I see something good, something done well, something beautiful, something well crafted. I want to do something as good, as well done, as beautiful, as crafted of my own. I may envy your expertise and skill, but its' a generous sort of envy. It's an appreciation for things that are a force of good: insight, craft, expertise, application, etc. It prompts us to ask ourselves, what more could I be doing or being?
This is the opposite of the envy we feel for others' possessions. Covetousness, as the King James Bible describes it. The problem with covetousness is, basically, not only do we want what the other person has, we also want them not to have it. When we talk about 'keeping up with the Joneses' but really we want to be the Joneses (or the new Joneses). Displacement is part of the aspiration.
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