How to Read “Jealousy and envy also arise from an honest heart”
Rinki shitto mo shōjiki no kokoro yori okoru
Meaning of “Jealousy and envy also arise from an honest heart”
This proverb means that jealousy comes from sincere and serious love. When you feel jealous of someone in a romantic relationship, it doesn’t come from bad intentions or a mean spirit.
Instead, it’s a natural emotion that happens because you truly love that person.
People use this saying when a lover or spouse shows jealous behavior. Rather than blaming them, it helps us understand the serious love behind those feelings.
You can also use it when you feel jealous yourself. It reminds you that you don’t need to feel ashamed. Your jealousy just shows how much you care about that person.
Even today, this perspective matters. We shouldn’t see a partner’s jealousy as just selfishness or control. It’s often a sign of their love turned inside out.
However, too much jealousy can hurt the other person. This saying helps us understand the true nature of jealousy while reminding us to keep a healthy balance in relationships.
Origin and Etymology
The exact source of this proverb isn’t clear. But it likely appears in human interest novels and moral instruction books from the Edo period.
The word “rinki” originally came from Buddhist terminology. It meant “a heart that is stingy with things.” Over time, it came to mean jealousy in romantic relationships.
During the Edo period especially, people widely used it to describe romantic feelings between men and women.
What makes this proverb interesting is that it doesn’t reject jealousy. Most people see jealousy as negative. But this saying doesn’t deny those feelings at all.
Instead, by saying jealousy comes “from an honest heart,” it recognizes the pure love behind jealous feelings. People in the Edo period didn’t simply divide human emotions into good and bad.
They tried to see the true heart hidden beneath the surface.
The word “honest” is also important here. It doesn’t just mean being truthful. It means a heart without lies, a straight heart, genuine feelings for another person.
When you truly care about someone, you fear losing them. That fear shows up as jealousy. This proverb captures this subtle truth about the human heart perfectly.
Interesting Facts
The word “rinki” is rarely used in modern Japanese. But in the Edo period, it was a common word for romantic jealousy.
It often referred to women’s jealousy specifically. It appeared frequently in kabuki and joruri performances as an important emotional expression.
In psychology, jealousy connects deeply with “attachment theory.” The anxiety of possibly losing someone important triggers jealousy.
This shows that humans are creatures who value social bonds. In other words, the ability to feel jealous means you have the ability to love deeply.
Usage Examples
- When she gets jealous, I think it’s proof that she loves me. After all, jealousy and envy also arise from an honest heart.
- I was troubled by my wife’s jealousy. But when I learned that jealousy and envy also arise from an honest heart, I realized how deep her love was.
Universal Wisdom
Human emotions often contain contradictions. We suffer because we love. We feel anxious because we care deeply.
This proverb teaches us a truth. Behind emotions that seem negative, the most pure and sincere heart is actually hiding.
Jealousy is a universal human struggle throughout history and across cultures. Shakespeare’s “Othello” and The Tale of Genji both feature jealousy as a major theme.
This is because jealousy is an unavoidable emotion that comes from our ability to love others deeply.
The deep wisdom of this proverb lies in not judging emotions simply as good or bad. Jealousy is certainly a painful emotion.
But the emotion itself isn’t evil. The proverb sees that the real essence is the desperate feeling of “not wanting to lose” that lies at the root.
People aren’t perfect. Sometimes ugly emotions control us. But by understanding where those emotions come from, we can understand ourselves and others more deeply.
Through the emotion of jealousy, we learn the weight and preciousness of love.
Our ancestors recognized the complexity of the human heart. Yet they still believed in the purity hidden within it. That’s probably why this proverb has been passed down for so long.
When AI Hears This
In information theory, you can calculate the strength of a signal by measuring the noise level. For example, loud static on a radio actually shows that a strong signal is nearby.
The emotion of jealousy has exactly the same structure.
Jealousy is noise that occurs only because a real signal called love exists. If you had no interest in someone, you wouldn’t care who they spent time with.
In other words, the strength of jealousy functions as a detector measuring the strength of the love behind it.
In communications engineering, there are techniques to estimate the characteristics of the original signal by analyzing noise amplitude. The same thing happens in human relationships.
What’s even more interesting is that this noise also guarantees the authenticity of the signal. Real jealousy cannot come from fake love.
You can pretend to be jealous, but you cannot control emotions that well up from the bottom of your heart.
Like an “authentication system” in information theory, the reaction of jealousy itself becomes a certificate proving that person’s emotions are genuine.
Negative emotions can actually measure the depth of a relationship more accurately. This shows the sophisticated design of the human emotional system.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people the importance of understanding your own and others’ emotions more deeply.
When your partner shows jealousy, don’t immediately react with “That’s controlling” or “You don’t trust me.” Instead, try to see the deep love behind those feelings.
At the same time, when you feel jealous yourself, you don’t need to blame yourself. It’s proof that you care deeply about that person.
However, this proverb doesn’t justify jealousy. Understanding where an emotion comes from is different from being controlled by that emotion.
While recognizing the feeling of “not wanting to lose someone” behind jealousy, it’s important to learn how to express it constructively.
In modern society, more people struggle to show their emotions. But emotions are important elements that deepen human relationships.
Even a seemingly negative emotion like jealousy can become an opportunity to confirm your bond with each other when properly understood and expressed.
Don’t be ashamed of your emotions. Treasure the true heart within them. That’s the first step to building richer human relationships.
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