THE EVIL EYE

Oct. 13th, 2013 - In all civilizations, whether we are rich or poor, powerful, we feared the "evil eye" supposed to attract the curse. In all time, men seek to attract luck and push aways its opposite, the evil eye. Everybody wishes success or happiness and abovall to keep them for ever. It’s human!

In the Middle Ages, the eye of the witch was feared because it was supposed to attract bad luck and curses and again now.

For the Christians, the evil eye refers mainly to the "Cain’s eye" of the Bible which cursed Cain because he killed his brother Abel (also, Victor Hugo writed a famous poem entitled "Consciousness" where into the grave, the eye of God goes on watching and blaming Cain for his murder). In the Muslim tradition, one talks about two brothers: Habyl and Qabyl, too.

Escaping the gaze because it attracts envy and therefore, the evil eye. This saying is largely widespread in some parts of the world.
In India and the East, one sees some women tattooing a sign on their forehead so that their beauty is altered and it focuses the attention not on the woman herself, avoiding so lust.

The hamsa or khamsa (Fatima’s hand) is a protective hand with the symbol of an eye inside (eye of God) which ensures protection against the evil eye and misfortune.

How to avoid the evil eye? you ask? What are the recipes? amulets? Pentacles?

We answer two things:

1 - cultivating wisdom that is to say respecting the following advice:

O.Yang-tchou (circa the fifth century BC) teached: "A luxurious accommodation, fine clothes, good food, beautiful women, when we have all what we would wish more? Who would wish more would be insatiable. Yet the insatiable ones wear out life in the same manner as wood or paper are consumed by worms."

2 - keeping the spirit for a small loan of superstition that is to say not following always rationality. In this way, you may learn how to decipher the events around you converting them into messages or symbols that will guide you for the entire life. Some ones believe in guardian angels, the esoteric, the universal cosmos that connects everything ... In short, you have to follow the part of irrationality and superstition that is inside you.

Some famous examples speak for themselves and are the perfect illustrations of these two previous principles.

The first example comes from the business world:

Until 2010, we saw everywhere the media image of Jean-Marie Messier, French, businessman, CEO of Vivendi Universal (VU). Since 1986, he enjoyed a meteoric rise, but in 2010, he was victim of a dramatic fall.

Jean-Marie Messier, born in 1956, is a graduate of the famous "Polytechnique" and "ENA" (French National School of Administration) schools in France. Inspector of Finance under President François Mitterand, he was the youngest chief of staff into the "Privatizations Ministry" of the Fifth Republic’s. In 1994, he was appointed General Director of the CGE (Compagnie Generale des Eaux / French Water Cy) and CEO two years later. Then, he transformed the group and became the high-profile CEO of Vivendi Universal (VU). He was used to live in beautiful apartments, he made the cover of international newspapers and TV news and reports and liked to show himself in the presence of stars. The French comedians were used to caricature him as the "master of the world". After a meteoric rise, he had to undergo an equally dramatic fall. In 2010, he was accused of embezzlement and ousted from his position as he must answer to "dissemination of false or misleading information, price manipulation and misuse of corporate assets."

This dramatic example is a perfect illustration of the non-observance of the principle number one.

The second famous example comes from the world of the show biz:

Brigitte Bardot, French actress, born in 1934 in Paris, was one of the most beautiful women in the world and became a sex symbol in the continuity of american actress, Marilyn Monroe. As her, in 1960, she tried to end her life and also met and married highly placed persons. But if Marilyn had a tragic end of life, however, Brigitte Bardot, who was wrongly equated as a "bird brain" was smart enough to decrypt messages swarmed around her life to understand that she had to change life and behavior. And so, during the filming of her latest movie, she understood "the ridiculous, superfluous, and unnecessary that filled her life ...". And so, in 1973, at the top of her glory and beauty, she changed lives for defending the animal cause that was her heart for years... she never returned back.

As can be seen, studies, intelligence, rationality certainly not protect from the evil eye. From the two illustrations above, Brigitte Bardot was certainly the smartest one for leading her life. There is no point in getting out of brilliant schools to be sure that you will reach the firmanent and stay at the top all your life. On the contrary, intelligence is knowing when to stop, how determining the ultimate moment when begins the decline...

More wisdom and empathy with those who are around and what surrounds you allow everyone to know where and when misfortune may come.

Let those who want to avoid the evil eye, keep in mind the teaching of Lao-tzu in the Tao-Te-King:
"A room full of bronze and jade can be kept by nobody; wealth and honors, accompanied by pride, cause misfortune."

For concluding, we can say that the "great men/women" knows when he/she has arrived at the top, that there is nothing more to expect then, if not the fall. It is easier to build a legend and to get eternity when you stop at the top of glory because legends are built on the eternal not the sadly "perishable human" that ends unavoidably by decay and ruins.

From the top of the art, there, we recognize the "great man"! and this is what people expect: men and women beyond their own nature, that by their self-denial make their ideas and images eternal becoming models, symbols and legends florishing for ever as dreams for humanity.