Deadly Sins

[wolven7]

So, I've been thinking about the Seven Deadly Sins, lately, and exactly how they display in the course of my life. I mean, Pride, Wrath, Lust, and Sloth? Those are all pretty obvious (though I'm breaking my habits, in the latter, so we'll have to see). But what about Greed, Gluttony, and Envy?

Those don't fit the way you'd think, and generally pertain to Lust, of all things. Isn't that weird?

How about you? How do the so-called SDS fit in, for you?

Feel free to be explicit.

Comments

[nausved.livejournal.com]

I think sloth is the only one that applies to me to an unusual degree. Maybe lust, but I don't consider that a sin or "problem"; if I were more lustful than I am now, I'd be pleased. I'd say that wrath and envy apply the least, and everything else is about normal.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

And yeah, if not for hypertension I'd gladly be more wrathful than I am, now. More lustful, too.

[nausved.livejournal.com]

Do you enjoy being angry? I can't stand it—but that may be because I only get angry when I feel frustrated or helpless, so I have some pretty negative associations with it.

But I enjoy sadness in a poetic (almost spiritual) sort of way. Apparently despair was once among the deadly sins.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, I Really Do. I enjoy that feeling of fire and rage, and Focus, when something makes me truly, deeply angry, because then I know precisely what I have to do: I have to destroy it, eradicate it, change it, in any way possible, and I then have the motivation and the surety to Do it.

Wrath is pretty clarifying, for me.

[drgnsyr.livejournal.com]

If most people who knew me were to guess my defining sin they would probably guess lust. But the truth is, it's wrath. For more explicit explanations see http://drgnsyr.livejournal.com/219849.html?mode=reply and http://drgnsyr.livejournal.com/189301.html and one I can't find now but basically talks about sex and violence being the same thing for me.

As for the others, see my LJ tag "stuff I want" (and the very fact that I have such a tag) for greed. Envy is being around anyone who can sing well or has accomplished the things I once planned to pursue. Pride is the main reason I'm not happy being a busser (because I kind of enjoy the work but I hate telling people that I'm a busser). And sloth is the reason both envy and pride tend to be triggered, because I could have done so much more with my life if I'd just been motivated. But I don't think I'm gluttonous because, honestly, I'm too lazy to overdo or over eat - but I really do love expensive cheese ...

[wolven.livejournal.com]

What kind of cheese?

[drgnsyr.livejournal.com]

Fresh mozzarella, smoked applewood, chevre, port wine, other cheeses on expensive cheese trays that I can't remember the names of.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Oooh... smoked applewood and smoked Gouda are some of my two favourite expensive cheeses.

[unknownbinaries.livejournal.com]

I miss my Rage, often. That single-pointedness, the razor focus, the sheer momentum of it was like having that big-p-Purpose we've been talking about, something immense working Through me. Maybe Sloth as Apathy ate it.

When it's not Apathy, I have a healthy relationship with my Sloth. I know when I need time to do nothing, and when I really shouldn't be slacking.

I also wonder where most of my Lust got off to, sometimes. I feel like I'm missing out on whatever it is that makes it a driving force for so many. I don't think I've ever understood unthinking lust, that state where people forget about consequences and jump into bed with strangers because their respective genitals have become a compass point and lodestone in one. I have been drunk enough to need help being upright and mobile, and still had enough of my head there to refuse advances, keep in mind fidelities and remember to take my Pill.

Pride, I have a weird relationship with. I feel I can be arrogant at the same time that I often find self-loathing a frequent pastime. It's hard for me to look at pragmatically, because one masquerades as humility and the other, confidence or something similar.

Greed and Envy are the ones I have a hard time seeing an upside to or a healthy expression of. I don't like myself when I am selfish or envious; it's ugly and petty and, well, to reference that odd pride, beneath me.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

I am only briefly envious of anyone. It is, as you say, in the Pride that we find the solution to Envy.

Lust.... I am a champion cheerleader for lustful behaviour. Always will be, always want to be. But, like you, not without thought. It is lust tempered by consideration, by recognition of end result. It is, frankly, Lust that seeks to Keep Itself Alive. A continually burning flame, rather than the flash-bang (so to speak).

As for gluttony: I have a cookie problem, and a Twix problem, and a Pumpkin Bread problem, and a chips problem. Not enough "won't power."