Beyond The Seven Deadly Sins

I was raised in a Catholic environment. A small village in Southern Germany with a church forming its centre and a chapel with a mysterious crypt as eternal deathbed for our gentry. Those feudal countryside masters left our village in the 19th century and if I remember correctly, their heritage line died out shortly after. Almighty God’s will or random coincidence?

I was always fascinated by the question of ethereal destiny or good luck, by good and evil, by heaven and hell, by the mighty archangels. But then there were the fallen angels, too.

Fallen angels are heavenly sinners. Led by a sinister lord, Demons are awaiting punishment on Judgement Day. To visualise those intriguing creatures’ misfortune, the Seven Deadly Sins were manifested as a checklist of evil wo*mankind needed to stay clear of.

So, should we?

~ The Birth of The Seven Deadly Sins ~

Early Christian hermits living in Northern Egypt (called the Desert Mothers*Fathers) came up with a classification of evil thoughts they reckoned their community should overcome. Now make no mistake to think those recluses living in isolation in the Egyptian desert were some sort of spiritual oddballs. They were educated, well-travelled, often of wealthy background and formed a pool of thinkers and accomplished speakers.

One emerging out of this monastic thinktank was John Cassian. In the 4th century, John founded one of the first European monasteries in Marseille and with him, he introduced the definition of “Evil Thoughts” to the West.

The 6th century then saw Pope Gregory I. picking up this “Evil Thoughts” repertoire and refining them into a standard list. As prolific writer whose correspondence has largely been preserved throughout the centuries, Pope Gregory I. was what we would call nowadays a big-time influencer. This is how a musing about evil thoughts became a rigid system of negative behaviour codes and how it formed the centre piece of Christian teachings from there on.

The “Capital Sins” or “Seven Deadly Sins” had been born.

~  Essence of The Seven Deadly Sins ~

The Seven Deadly Sins are “Pride, Greed, Anger, Envy, Lust, Gluttony and Sloth”.

Living in the medieval dark ages in Western Europe far into the age of enlightenment, those conducts were soul destroying threats imposed upon every truly Christian heart and were woven into social control systems.

Those rules were plainly packaged up as carrot and stick system. You comply, you go to heaven. You break the rules, you go to hell. Actually, what a simple design to consolidate a medieval society with vastly different educational backgrounds and economic means! Almost genius if you consider that those Seven Deadly Sins rules were designed to keep up a certain morale and a framework of self-governed behaviour codes making up for a non-existent or difficult to reinforce lawless reality.

Atrocities like The Thirty Years’ War ravaging Central Europe in the 17th century were vivid examples of things gotten out of hand and showing limitations to this self-governance plot. Strangely enough under the flag of the same religious institution who had created those rules.

It seems self-interest did mostly win during sticky historical times, and all those rules were rather ancient cults promoting bogus behaviour strategies established by their rogue clerical enforcers. After all, the sinner’s redemption mechanism was the flourishing indulgence trade. And a highly profitable business model for the Catholic Church for centuries!

~ ~ ~

To dig deeper, let us look at those Seven Deadly Sins in detail.

PRIDE

Classified by Christianity as immortal wrongdoings, the queen bee of those capital vices is “Pride” as source of all other sins. It is the type of pride that glorifies narcissism and leads to overestimation of one’s own capabilities and to unsubstantiated sense of entitlement. This feeling of superiority gives way to exaggerated selfishness and contempt for others and their needs. Pride is the absence of modesty.

Though I do feel that women had enough of excelling in humility over the last centuries, I do get the idea why the Desert Mothers*Fathers were calling out “Pride” as a potential evil thought.

Having said this and fast forward some centuries, our Western World philosophy has given “Pride” a different spin. Self-pride and self-esteem are the new pillars of our new-fangled social set up: Fierce individualism hinges on self-centrism and appears to be a natural obstacle to humility!

GREED, ANGER and ENVY

Those three sins I’d categorise into the hateful chapters of wrongdoing. While “Pride” is an inward-looking personal feeling, “Greed”, “Anger” or “Envy” are destructive sentiments targeting the outside world and dragging others into one’s negative mindset.

Greed is mostly referred to as greed for money. The historian Aviad Kleinberg calls it cynically “entrepreneurial spirit”. But I don’t think that this is the gist of it if we look at what money really stands for. “Greed” I feel is rather a symptom of an insatiable and irrational thirst for power. And ultimately a consequence of a lack of appreciation that wasn’t given when it was due. So, greed is a rather sad and not really sexy sin as it is the unanswered and aggressive cry for appreciation.

The last decades of our Western World have both glorified and exploited this “Greed” of ours. Hardcore Consumerism is our self-serving proxy mechanism to satisfy our deeply rooted affinity for appreciation. What a strange feeling of entitlement we Westerners seem to have. Entitlement to food, comfort, happiness. We believe the Mad Men advertising slogans and the Hollywood dream machine propaganda. Yet, where is our obligation to be content? Our contemporary “Greed” says “We have the right to get everything, anytime”.

Anger is even more intense, I feel. This is a state of mind that can hardly be explained if you are not experiencing it. “Anger” is the constant expression of frustration without control. It is the never-ending explosion of someone thinking the world has dealt them a bad hand – though they thought that they were entitled to so much more. “Anger” in its core is the unsatisfied superiority claim, hand-in-hand with an inferiority complex that will never be answered or solved. Someone else always has some sort of guilt. Someone else owes you. And that might sometimes actually be true. And in some cases, anger might even be the gloomy driver to achieve results in the end. To describe the essential drawback with anger though, please allow me to use this modern digital language expression: The trouble with anger is the “User Experience”. It is rubbish – both for the angry person and for the target of her*his wrath.

Envy is a relatively new sin. It was added to the sin roster by Pope Gregory I. in the 6th century. “Envy” is an interesting sin, isn’t it? It so raw. It is so personal. We all can relate to “Envy”. It is so embarrassing. You want what others have. No, what a particular other person has. Love, money, sex, knowledge, attention, appreciation, good looks, good luck? Oh, you name it. Envy is an awful attitude and is poisonous for human relationships. Yet, envy is and was a motor of human evolution. Human beings are relentless copy cats. We see what we like and we want it, too. We simply copy what works. Evolution then happens when we add a little successful twist to what and who we imitate, hence improving things in this process: Veni, vidi, copy.

LUST and GLUTTONY

Though still deadly sins, “Lust” and “Gluttony” are regarded as the lesser transgressions amongst the vices’ catalogue.

Lust is craving. Commonly associated with uninhibited desire for sex and a lustful appetite to indulge in naked bodies. What is the issue you might think? Isn’t that exactly what every RomCom and Netflix movie portrays as essential part of a successful and preferable lifestyle?

Our ancestors thought of “Lust” a bit differently. Or may I point out that this is the self-conscious legacy of our male ancestors who have dominated the narrative of the Seven Deadly Sins? In any case, the authors of the sin register feared that untamed sexual arousal could produce violent chaos in the name of passion. Rape and sexual abuse spring to mind.

Yet, our forebears thought of quite particular lecherous anomalies. The Sin of “Lust” they feared could lead to Fornication (sexual intercourse between unmarried people), Adultery (sexual intercourse between persons of which at least one is married) or even Bestiality (sexual intercourse between a human being and an animal). Long story short, someone had extremely distinct fantasies resulting in “Lust” being included into the sin register.

The core of “Lust” as sin by the way is the underlying sentiment of impurity. A connotation that led to the quirky fact that mostly the targets of desire have been branded as impure, and lesser so their bearers. This is the reason why not only the Catholic Church but also world religions like Judaism or Islam have concluded that it is the woman who is impure. So, if you are female traveling through a Muslim country, and a man might refuse or only reluctantly shake your hand, you now know why: You are a woman and regarded as impure.

Gluttony is in an equally opulent category as “Lust”. “Gluttony” is wasteful obsession. It is the uncontrolled longing for food and drink leading to overindulgence and hyper-consumption. If “Gluttony” means that you are eventually only abusing your own body, why should it be on the list of condemnation to eternal purgatory? Reason being is that medieval Christian Church Leaders regarded gluttony as unnecessary and inconsiderate deprivation of someone else’s bodily needs, leaving the poor hungry and thirsty. It is quite a modern take on waste, isn’t it?

Random fun fact here is that gluttony even had some sinful sub-categories: A fussy eater is a sinner, a keen eater is a sinner, and eating too expensively is a sin, too. What do you think our seven-deadly-sins-aggregator Pope Gregory I. would have made of nowadays self-proclaimed “Foodies”?

SLOTH

The last and seventh deadly sin is “Sloth”. In the same manner as “Pride”, “Sloth” is an inward-looking sentiment. Previous versions of the sin catalogue had “Sloth” classified alongside ostentatiousness and pride as a corruption of the mind.

What caught my interest is that sorrow, discouragement and melancholy were added into the same mix. My original take on “Sloth” was to interpret it as physical laziness. Not the case. “Sloth” is one of the historical vices hence a complex super-sin, and has to be understood as “Spiritual Sloth”. Spiritual sloth was originally thought of as mental detachment, as a state of indifference towards oneself and others. Nowadays you’d call someone “checked out”.

Spiritual sloth is apathy, disinterest and neglect. It is the absence of joy. Unproductive and angst-ridden restlessness, anxiety and depression are the consequences. What I thought was a rather lame and unspectacular deadly sin, turns out to be a very modern and relevant discussion for today’s zeitgeist.

Spiritual sloth is the absence of faith or purpose. Is this the reason for our collectively depressed-slash-confused state in the Western World? Or in other words: Are we lacking purpose and belonging after our basic needs of food, water, warmth, rest and safety have been satisfied through modern technology?

~ Negative behaviour codes create negative communities ~

By and large, we can conclude that the Seven Deadly Sins are a powerful and well observed portrayal of anthropological behaviours. The Seven Deadly Sins describe the human condition. Yet from a negative point of view.

Why was that so? Well, that’s how a reward system thriving on fear works. Fear can be a workable system. It is crude and raw, but it does the trick. And quickly.

Having said that I’d say a fear and negativity based value system requires less stamina, less intelligence and less considerateness than devising a system based on constructive positivism. I’d also say a negative value system tells a lot about the creators and enforcers of such. It is hard to imagine they were positive and well-tempered characters.

Fast forward some centuries and we can observe that with the individualisation of Western Society our moral code has undergone the same transformation of individualisation. God the Almighty is not the judge of good and evil any more. We trust our own moral intuition or adhere to moral standards of a group we identify with.

The more individual we have become, the more individual is our perception of wrong-doing.

We got rid of God, we overcame the daily tasks of physical survival and we are firmly on our way to re-design the value of relationships and traditional families. And in this highly individualised setting the Western World is looking for new belief systems.

Some turn to a new god, a worldly-wise guru they follow and concentrate on their spirituality. Some numb their senses and go straight to retail therapy, “shop until you drop” provides a kick every time you make use of that magic plastic cards. Some overcome their lack of meaningfulness in concentrating fiercely on their jobs and careers. Some replace their void of purpose or a higher belief with drugs or straightforward hedonism.

A buzzword never to be missed in the discussions around new belief systems is the hot topic of “inclusivity”.

Yet, inclusivity is a rather new-fangled idea. So far in human history, it was vital (as in safer) to exclude and keep a tight ship on the selection of people around you. Every misjudgement meant a threat to your life and the well-being of your family. Looking at our cultural heritage (and maybe even a genetic set-up), it is hence no wonder that we often preach inclusivity, but practise the exact opposite in our quest for meaningfulness and our longing for a rebirth of a modern fulfilling values’ system.

A lot of new spiritual movements ruthlessly exclude and demand submission to their vision to create community and coherence. There is often really not much of a difference to old-school religions. Some of the new sinners are irreformable meat-eaters, thoughtless planet-destroyers, diehard capitalists, non-spiritual conformists or millennial hedonists.

Any appreciation for the other side’s thinking, their coping strategies or struggles is simply dismissed.

A common enemy it seems is a powerful community glue. Social exclusion labelling other beliefs as the “others” or “them” offers group consolation, emotional purification and self-satisfied affirmation of doing the right thing. Ostracism in this case provides a rather sad purpose to form a community.

~ Positive is the new negative ~

The inauguration of The Seven Deadly Sins has been many moons ago. Yet, it seems our mindset is still stuck in the negativity paradigm of the Seven Deadly Sins philosophy based on fear and repression.

Reinforcement troops of the negative angle are being fed from a rather surprising ally: Hollywood and its soulmate, the Advertising “dream” machine propaganda, have made negativity a socially respectable, even sought-after behaviour strategy. “Sinning” is the new cool and you don’t need to be a brainiac to excel in it.

Sin is easy, negativity is easy, destroying is easy.

Sin is fascinating, sin is the forbidden fruit, sin is about recklessness and disobedience. It is about instant gratification. By breaking the rules, you get ahead of others quickly and easily.

Being “good” requires effort, it is arduous. It’s boring. It means you are patient. There are no headlines to be made by a righteous, silent person. No news channel would pick that one up!

Those are so far the modern propaganda lines luring us Westerners into an apparently modern and sexy new paradigm, just updated with a new lick of upside-down paint, exploiting our soothing reminiscence of an ancient hence familiar-ringing belief system: Our mindset stays negative and is in constant fight-mode.

Trouble is: Negativity is not only anti-social and unproductive. Negativity is exhausting. It depletes creative and life-affirming resources. Negativity taints a clear mind and turns it into a rotten cesspit. Negativity negates what human beings are made of: Liveliness!

So, I ask you, isn’t it time we try a new strategy? I do think so. It is time to turn the page in our existence and promote realistic and serene optimism, adding joy and contentment as societal benchmark of coolness into the mix.

On a side note: Have you ever googled the opposite of sin? There isn’t much. Yet, if you google the synonym for sin, many more possibilities are opening up. Funny, isn’t it? Even our vocabulary is so focused on negativity that we are speechless when it comes to the positive bright other side of the negative sinning scenario.

~ “If problems can exponentially grow, so can solutions” ~

What is beyond The Seven Deadly Sins, you ask? I believe the Western World is rich of technology, abundance and individuality and has the opportunity to rewire its belief system to a grateful chorus of workable positive attributes wo*mankind should cherish, embrace and adhere to.

As humanity, I think we should cut ourselves some slack. We should be patient and confident in our development. We should be lenient towards ourselves and others and believe that, by and large, we are on the right path.

We must stay positive and constructive and look at our spiritual sloth aka mental health issues as teething of our Western World into a leisure civilisation where we can enjoy healthy individualism and are freed from dull repetitive labour. It is a transition bleed we will overcome if we stay focused and patient with and confident in ourselves.

I do not talk about a lack of responsibility for our planet or indifference about suffering but I do talk of a balanced perspective. As what exactly would be the point of a negative attitude anyway? We’d rather run ourselves in negative self-fulling prophecies.

We have to trust ourselves.

There is a refreshing statement in Rutger Bregman’s book “Humankind: A Hopeful History” where Rutger interviews a Professor of “Fundamentals of environmental sciences” called Jan Boersema. Jan says: “If problems can exponentially grow, so can solutions”. I tend to agree.

Again, let’s cut us all some slack. Compared to the age of the universe and the earth, our current civilisation is a rather recent construct and we’ve had some tough centuries with painful impasses and distractions. We need to act in good faith that those are genuine trial & error mistakes and teething aches of wo*mankind. We have to believe in our cooperative cleverness overcoming destructive escapades.

I know. This sounds crazy looking at some of our lunatic gossip newspaper headlines people devour. I quote from such a newspaper headline: “Woman, 63, becomes pregnant in the mouth with baby squid after eating calamari”. We look Collectively Imbecile rather than Collectively Clever. Yes, I know.

However, let’s focus on that positive picture of ourselves and fellow humans. As what is the point of just doing the guilt trip scenario? Self-pity and cynicism are unproductive and won’t take us far. Plus, it’s no fun. Negativity is debilitating business.

Shouldn’t we rather de-program ourselves to not only think in negative terms? Author Rutger Bregman asks for a new “realism” based on a composed balance between good and evil human nature, tending towards our positive vibe. How refreshing is that? Human beings are good in their core. Why in all of the world did we ever think so badly of ourselves? There’s no need for flagellating and bashing ourselves. It is completely unnecessary and won’t open us any new and modern and healthy doors.

~ Sandra-The-Urban Index ~

Here’s my suggestion: How about we focus on the Seven Heavenly Virtues? I don’t make this up. Those Cardinal Virtues exist in parallel to the Seven Deadly Sins, not only in Christian writings.

As everyone seems to be allowed to add their individual touches those days, I’ll hence compile my own list I think we should promote as centre piece of our social behaviour codes.

So, dear traveller, if my website has survived the centuries (just like the prolific writings of Pope Gregory I.) and you are reading this in an unfathomable future, I’d like to have this below known as the “Sandra-The-Urban Index” benchmarking my values of a desirable life (*):

#Kindness #Generosity #Patience #Self-Sufficiency #Playfulness #Pleasure #Energy

Off you go now. Live, love, laugh, eat, drink, have fun. Oh, whatever. And do the positive thing, please.

(*) Here goes the fine print: I would like to let it known that punishment for not adhering to the “Sandra-The-Urban Index” is immortality in the Whirlpool Galaxy in the forever presence of Elon Musk. Think about that now.