Ego and Jealousy

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim & Howard Salamon

Dead flies spoil the perfumer's oil; greater than wisdom and honor is a little foolishness. The heart of the wise man is to the right and the heart of the fool is to the left. Also on the path that the fool travels, his heart is lacking and he tells everybody that he's a fool. (Koheles 10:1-3)

What relationship exists between spoiled perfumer’s oil and wisdom obscured by minor foolishness? Why should a minute amount of foolishness completely obscure the honor and wisdom of a person? After all, one could live his whole life intelligently and with a good reputation, but if he does one small error, that’s all that people focus on. How do we explain this sociological phenomenon? Lastly, what does it mean that the fool “tells everybody that he's a fool?” 

King Solomon is drawing a parallel: just as a tiny dead insect spoils a vat of perfumed oil, so too man's one small act of foolishness obscures all his wisdom and honor. But why shouldn't we say that the man still led a life where he was 95% intelligent and only 5% foolish? Why does the minute foolishness completely overshadow his fine reputation? Mathematically speaking he should retain a 95% good reputation. 

What King Solomon is referring to is a sociological phenomenon: ego and the jealousy of those who feel inadequate. People recognize a wise man who has great honor, but they are jealous that they fail to attain greatness like him. However, without doing anything deserving critique, the masses can't justify attacking the wise man, as much as they want to. But once the wise man commits even one small error, that is all the excuse the public needs to vent their resentment. The wise man’s history is forgotten in seconds, as the public seeks only to defend their egos, not to seek the truth. Once they have any small excuse to attack the perfectly wise man in order to defend their egos, saying “He’s really not much better than us,” they will forget all his good. 

King Solomon uses the analogy of perfumer's oil because just as perfume creates a good image for a person regarding the senses, good actions also refine one’s reputation. And in both cases a very minute negative element suffices to obscure all the good. Due to the power of the ego, people are very resentful. Any chance to ruin your competition’s reputation will be welcomed, and pounced upon. People will attack their competition for the smallest foolishness he performs. 

“The heart of the wise man is to the right and the heart of the fool is to the left”

The rabbis explained the second verse to mean that the wise man, being accustomed to wisdom, is always prepared to devise a wise plan to deal with life's problems. This is what is meant by “his heart is to the right.” Whereas the fool who does not engage wisdom, when he has problems in life, since his heart is “to the left,” meaning he's not involved in intelligence, he has no acumen to escape his problems. 

“Also on the path that the fool travels, his heart is lacking and he tells everybody that he's a fool”

Finally in verse three we wish to understand what it means that “the fool tells everybody that he's a fool.” Of course this does not mean literally walking around telling people, "I am stupid!" So what does it mean? It refers to inevitability: ultimately at every turn his words and his actions will be seen by all others as conflicting with how the world operates. He consistently creates problems for himself. For example, he does not restrain his mouth when his boss tells him to do something, so he gets fired. Other people have the common sense to know when not to speak. But the fool is guided solely by whatever emotion arises at that moment and he acts on it without thought. The world follows laws, man cannot deviate from God’s decreed natural laws governing every object and event, whether they're natural laws or laws of psychology. And since the fool is not aware of these laws, inevitably the fool bring problems upon himself by conflicting with natural law. That is what is meant when he tells everybody he is a fool. Since literally everything has a design and a manner of operation developed by God, whomever conflicts with how all matters operate, like this fool, will always have problems, and these constant problems is the fool “telling everyone” he’s a fool. As his errors occur at all times, all people know he is a fool as if he told them so.