I think I finally understand the so called "evil eye" which is very prevalent in the middle east but not as much in the west and why that is so.
In the middle east, society uses a collective mindset, as opposed to the individualistic mindset we have here. Over there, you are only as valid as you "burn yourself up" so to speak for the group code. Let that be religion, culture, customs, family expectations... What you end up having is an active upholding of this group phenomena, whatever it might be.
Holding it up is this self-denying self-sacrificing individual. The moment this individual stops doing this and becoming himself, he stopped doing his job and he becomes invalid. This lends itself very well to the phenomena of when children blame themselves for the split of their parents. Somehow, it is more meaningful if I bare that as opposed to realizing it has nothing to do with me.
So, if the individual causes himself to be seen as such, by attracting attention to his actual self, not his part of upholding the group, especially with something nice that *he* has, that's when the evil eye occurs.
First, this "good thing" like a lightening rod attracts the wrong kind of attention. It makes you stand out. And because it is fully you, not the group anymore, then you are isolated. At the same time, you have failed at doing your part in being part of the group. So you are at fault and to blame. At that moment, the whole momentum of your sense of "self" actually attacks you to the point of getting you ill. Yes, it can happen and it happens. It happens when you are run by something that is not you, some kind of software or content, role, or play. It has to fulfill itself on your expense.
In the end, this gives the appearance of being caused by the evil eye itself.
The cure is to have a stable sense of self independence and only loosely and incidentally be connected to a given group because it is convenient for this self, not in utter dependence for that sense of self itself. This is a great shift for those who only know themselves as their job or part of their group. So, this entails actually bearing with pride without burden one's being and taking responsibility for oneself and not be like an open heart (in a bad way), ready in any moment to be infected and affected by the simplest of things outside itself.
This is not selfishness, but precisely selflessness. No self, for that is the only means that could allow you to rise above the momentary ripples of everyday life while fully honoring them but without getting internally caught up in them. Honor might include feeling whatever it is you are feeling and reacting, but it does not mean feeding it with your sense of life energy.