The Evil Eye… More Than A Myth, Less Than A Reality
Humans believe in many things, in fate, luck, karma and some do believe in magic!
For us, Arabs, the Evil Eye is a deeply rooted concept in our belief system. Many of us believe in it totally and are convinced it’s the reason for many unfortunate events in our lives. We even take such measures to protect ourselves from it…
People hang blue Hamsa Hands, eyes, and beaded ornaments on doors and baby cradles. They wear similar protective symbols as jewelry. And they carry or recite verses of the Holy Books to defend themselves against that mystic power of the eyes around them. They also hide good news about themselves and their children from the closest family and friends fearing their envy and what it might cause.
It’s a fact that the power of envy is mentioned in the Quraan, and so many people here take that as the ultimate proof of the existence of the evil eye, though the verses of the Quraan never mentioned it in particular. They think that envy is some sort of magical power that hits you like a curse causing you illness, accidents and hardships. What’s worse is that some use it to convince themselves such accidents were not due to their own mistakes, laziness or wrong behaviors. They also forget that even if you did nothing wrong, a bad thing can happen to you simply because it’s meant to be.
Last week, my Husband had an accident and had to undergo surgery. Since then, various family members and friends keep telling us to hide our life from the eyes of others, to stop telling stories and posting photos of pretty spots and little adventures on social media, to only share regular or bad news. But no, we don’t want to hide!
We don’t want to keep our life a secret, we want to share it with other people, family, friends and even strangers. Not to brag, or to prove we made good decisions and are living the ‘good life’, because we are absolutely not there yet, and we are as confused as anyone out there!
We simply want to keep those we love updated with our news and connect with them through a post, a comment, or a like! It makes us smile to see a friend overseas enjoying a happy moment, and we want to share our own happy moments with them too. In today’s world, it’s impossible to communicate with every one you love on daily or even monthly basis, and social media sharing could be the only way to stay connected sometimes.
We also want to show people, acquaintances and strangers alike, that there is an alternative way of life other than the regular traditional one lived by most. We want to encourage them to get out of the pipe line and take a leap or two, to tell them that maybe they will land in a better place. So, I don’t think stopping the sharing in fear of envy is the right thing to do.
However, I do believe in the power of envy. Because envy, like anger is a human emotion, and a powerful one at times. It can make a person act in wrong or even dangerous ways. An envious person may harm you by words or actions. So, yes, envy can turn into evil.
I also do believe in human energy and vibes, how they can be positive or negative, and how these vibes can affect you whether the source is yourself or the people around you. Being subjected to negative energy can do you damage, psychological and maybe, subsequently, physical. Envy is absolutely negative energy that can cause that damage. But whether such energy can travel long distance to hit you in the face over a good Instagram photo is something I can’t verify!
You can be affected and harmed by envy in logical and a-bit-illogical ways, which means that the power of envy, represented by the Evil Eye or whatever you want to call it, may not be entirely a myth. However, the magical power that people attribute to envy can never be considered a solid truth.
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Image credit: Freepik
