The Seven Deadly Sins

Following my last post – I should never write and publish when I am struggling to sleep; nonsense is the result, and not even my usual caliber of pontification or criticism at that – I thought to take some time and actually write, much as I used to do. Anybody that knows me also knows that I have had a virulent dislike for the holiday season. Partially because of the consumerist frenzy, partially because I become depressed, partially because I am loathe to celebrate simply because I am told, “tis the season to be jolly…” All of that seems rather contrived to me. Call be acerbic, cynical, or anything else that you may find in your lexicon; the truth is that I have little use for the holidays.

Apropos my dislike of holidays, I was given pause to consider the seven deadly sins. Most of us have heard of them, most of us are participants in these, and their opposing virtues as well – simil iustus et peccattor, I suppose – but I would equally suppose that such a listing of virtues and vices runs contrary to a culture that thrives on excess, hedonism, and egocentrism. I am not immune from this, indeed, count the occurrences of the pronoun “I” and one can quickly extrapolate that my universe may not me solipsistic, but it is certainly egocentric. At any rate, here are the seven deadly sins and a brief description of their characteristics (taken from www.deadlysins.com):

• Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.
• Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.
• Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.
• Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.
• Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.
• Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

This looks like a corporate mission statement or a description of an American life. In a previous post, I commented on my realization of my gluttony. That was difficult for me. As a nation we consume so much more than we need. As an individual I have put myself in a place that I have had to lose 60 pounds. That is the weight of a small child (hopefully a healthy one). I’ve become aware of just how much the moral relativism that we embrace as personal freedom has been harmful to us – the plural is very intentional – as individuals and as a nation. I think that the Seven Deadly Sins provide a good framework for the discussion.

The truth is that all of these are exercises in excess and that they are all interconnected. One cannot be involved with one without encountering another. We all share these traits, we all, to a greater or lesser degree, find ourselves involved in them. There are no fingers pointing. This is the reality of life. Think about lust for a moment. It is born of greed and involves envy and or gluttony. Sloth, laziness – sadly, my favorite of the sins – has to do with avoiding spiritual or physical work. We dwell in a consumerist haze that blinds us to spiritual development (more later on that issue) and leads us into a fool’s paradise of new-age nonsense or, worse, a diluted embrace of an “Idiot’s Guide” version of a given religious tradition. Think about a person tattooing Hebrew letters onto his or her body to celebrate their Judaism when that selfsame religion forbids tattoos. That is like eating pork to celebrate Islam or, worse, thinking that it is OK to eat faux port to enjoy that “great pork flavor” without actually eating the flesh of the swine. What happened to the greater meaning of the command? It becomes overly literal or impotent and merely metaphorical.

The Greatest Possible Good
I have to confess that I have left theological ethics as a relic of antique religious confession. I find that the art of living in community requires that humans transcend our basic greed and adopt a functional morality that values the “happiness” of the greatest number as its driving principle. By “happiness” I do not mean contentedness or even satisfaction with a person, place, or thing: I rather think of a meeting of life’s needs that the person is free to live in a world that is marked by clean air and water, available food and shelter, freedom to pursue interests and freedom from poverty. This is a culture or society predicated on the greatest good for the greatest number. There is no need of God in this equation, though many may find expressions of the divine in this: “to have done this for the least of these is to have done this for me” are the words attributed to Jesus of Nazareth.

Happiness is not the fulfillment of desire. Indeed, this is the realm of the construct that we call the Seven Deadly Sins. Pandering to desire, to the passions of the self, drive systems of oppression such as capitalism and lead to violent confrontation. It is an issue of balance, an art to life in community that has to constitute the basis for any moral system that can be ecumenical, secular, and regard an individual or culture’s spiritual moorings. The irony is that pandering to desire leads to greater dissatisfaction and ultimately to despair. This is most evident when one considers the spiritual emptiness of the so-called developed world: we are rich in things and poor in soul. We try to find satisfaction in sex, in excess, in food, in making ourselves into more or less than we are. We are guilty of sin; we have forgotten that we are stardust that has had the good fortune of having become animate and sentient.

Creation Myths and Connection
I am most familiar with the Christian telling of the Jewish creation story. This myth is powerful indeed and seeks to convince us that we share a common origin and destiny: we are dust and to dust we shall return, as the Ash Wednesday Liturgy has it. From our beginnings and in our ends we are dependant upon others. To believe that we are not is to deny our connection to a community that gives us myth, language, means of expression of our thoughts and articulation of our needs. It also reminds us that we are of no ultimate importance in and of ourselves. Dust has not real importance. Neither do the constructs of dust. What is money but a metaphor for wealth that is not real in any absolute sense of the word? Gold is valuable because it is agreed upon as a value. It is nothing apart from that. The only things that we truly need are food, shelter, and tasks to occupy our minds and body.

Pride: we believe that we are more than dust. The question of whether God exists or not is irrelevant to the question: it is what we will do with the reality of our finitude and ultimate disintegration that matters in this moment. The truth is that we are nothing. So why not enjoy the ride? Take what you need, use what you take. Be kind because kindness allows us to live in harmony with one another and serves not only the greater good but “my” good and is in “my self-interest.”

The curious thing is that the Seven Deadly Sins deal not in proscription, but in excess; they counsel moderation that allows enjoyment of life. The exception to this is Pride. It is not that Pride disallows God, but that Pride denies origin and destiny thus making authentic life impossible. If I am free from myself, I am free for other things that allow a greater joy and happiness than I could otherwise enjoy. Just a few thoughts over the holidays… More on that later.

- tDF


OK, Just for Fun I did the quiz to see my favorite sins... No surprises here! -tDF

Greed:	High
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	High
Envy:	High
Lust:	Very High
Pride:	Low

Take the Seven
Deadly Sins Quiz