Category Archives: Life

Seven Deadly Sins – Part 3

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Wrath

Wrath and Lust are fairly close bedfellows. Both can get a person heated and passionate; both are powerful and direct when strong enough; and one can be a trigger for the other.

Wrath, or anger, however, is fostered by rejection rather than a feeling of acceptance which creates a sense of love. When a person is angry, they return the rejection many times over because the initial rejection wounded them so badly. If that rejection is never overcome, then it changes a person’s perception of emotional connections. They can become very distrusting and will actively reject any and all who try to form some kind of relationship. If they continue on that path then they’ll end up alone and isolated, but they may blame the world for that because they can’t handle admitting that they couldn’t accept the rejection at that time or indeed, overcome it later.

Anger is possibly the most potent and destructive of the sins because it can be caused by the other six but the other six aren’t really caused by anger except lust as looked at earlier.

So, if we imagine anger as a pressure cooker or a volcano and the other sins as being fuel or elements that add to that build up then you end up with a highly destructive and unpredictable force that can do a lot of damage to itself and others. It’s the mix of other volatile elements in that pressurised container that makes anger so terrible.

The frustration and rage can be devastating if left alone to fester. A person may suppress it and, on the surface, come across normal but, once you start digging a bit deeper, you’ll see signs of someone who really doesn’t like the world. And the thing with anger is that, in many cases, it’s irrational.

You may have had a poor relationship with your parents and that has, understandably, affected how you interact with people. Maybe your father was a very aggressive and violent person leading your mother to live a life of fear dragging you along too. As you grow up, that resentment grows and the repressed emotions fester. Usually, a child will act out because they don’t know exactly why they’re angry. An adult, on the other hand, should know why and should manage it maturely. However, some will project their anger on to others making them feel they are to blame for the angry person’s predicament when, in fact, the anger is being displaced on to them and has come from a completely different place. Therefore, those who have experienced anger projected at them can feel confused, upset and even be angry back. Unresolved anger is a disorientating animal.

And so, the explosive element of anger is what gets in the way of a person making good, constructive progress in their lives. That broadening scope of who gets burned can become all-consuming if left unchecked. But then, if you’re afraid of getting burned yourself, would you go near the fire and try to put it out?

Naivety

I’m throwing this one in as a bonus. Naivety or…ignorance, to me, is not just a person’s lack of experience, skill or knowledge in a given situation but it’s also their inability to learn from being manipulated and exploited. If a person isn’t smart enough to use their intelligence or any other attribute (listed in the previous three posts) then they’ll remain the clean slate or the blank canvas to be used and abused by others how they see fit.

If you go about blissfully unaware of what’s going on around you then you’ll never learn how to avoid getting into bad situations or, if you can’t avoid them, how to come out of them better and stronger thus putting you in a position to deal with them more effectively in the future.

Ignorance is not bliss. It’s a failure to see the bigger picture because you either don’t want to see it or can’t comprehend what’s in it. Either way, it doesn’t paint well for you.

So, what do all of these have in common? Please come back for the final entry in this series of posts to find out. �

Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Ways to Win…

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‘Seven Holy paths to Hell and your trip begins’ as the song goes.

So, if the nine attributes that allow you to succeed (however that looks to you) are money, resourcefulness, assertiveness, attractiveness, submission, communication, networking, intelligence and smart then what counters them?

I think the Bible still has a lot to teach us (I’m not overly religious but, from an analytical standpoint, religion is on to something) when it comes to how we should conduct ourselves. Ultimately, the fight between the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Holy Virtues (as depicted in the fifth century Prudentius poem, Psychomachia) is about balance and how we achieve harmony not just with each other but within ourselves.

And that’s partly the reason behind the previous three blogs. I feel that we, as a species, had an equilibrium with ourselves for a time but it’s now out of kilter. There’s a disturbance in the Force, you might say but I believe it’s true. A lot of things that had meaning have lost it and what’s replaced it has little to no meaning or, at the very least, a superficial meaning. Social media, we could argue, has replaced religion to some degree only instead of finding faith and being given a sense of belonging and purpose whilst also being treated and known as an individual, it’s been replaced with an online scramble for attention. To me, it’s like the adults have left the room and the kids are fighting over who has the best toy. We had something representing order, structure and discipline. A communal template where we walk our path to maturity and adulthood. And now, I see a lot of things in disarray. Yes, people still get things achieved but it seems messy and uncertain.

When I was looking at those nine attributes, I couldn’t help but think of the Seven Deadly Sins as their mirror images. Attributes that would hinder rather than allow you to chart your path to success. I have added one more that I believe to be of similar weighting. Let’s go over the originals.

Pride

Over-confidence. Arrogance. Vanity. You could throw in narcissism as well since it’s very much a focal point of modern Western culture through Facebook, Instagram, etc. The problem with pride is that you’re blind to other things around you that can actually be of use. When you truly think you can lead that project, score that goal, develop that idea or carry out any other task completely on your own then you’ve just set yourself up for failure. ‘Pride comes before the fall’ and it’s very true. If you’re not aware of your surroundings and fixate on achieving that one objective that you just know will get you noticed, then you’re not going to see the cliff until you’ve fallen off it. Others will see you mindlessly moving towards it but because you thought you could do it all on your own, people will let you fall.

The other issue with pride is it stops you asking for help. As Darwin said, ‘Arrogance breeds confidence’ and so you probably won’t even think to ask anyone around you for support. Or, if you have, then you’ve decided they’re not good enough and you’re the only capable of completing the task.

Pride makes you stupid. It stops you using your intelligence and seeing what’s around that could make you do the job better.

Envy

Pride can be positive in certain contexts. Your child does well at school, or your SO gets a new job or a promotion. The same can’t really be said for envy. If you’re envious then you’re spending too much time focusing on what someone else has that you do not. This, from my experience, comes from feelings of insecurity, low self-esteem and low self-worth. A person can be completely capable of doing all the things another can, but they just don’t believe it. And that disbelief turns into a toxic mix of anger, depression and, in some cases, hatred. A person can be angry because they see another as being able to do or have something, they perceive themselves as unable of achieving or obtaining. They become frustrated because they’ve worked so hard and have nothing to show for it meanwhile someone else has a seemingly easier time and has gained more rewards. The more this goes on, the more the envious person gets trapped by the thoughts and, eventually, depression sets in and sends them down a destructive path which may manifest into hatred towards the other person where it may be projected onto them.

Envy is dangerous to both yourself and others.