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. �