Post by vampirescorpy on Dec 11, 2006 18:28:59 GMT -8
As most people know from very vocal evangelical monotheists, there are seven "deadly" sins: pride, envy, sloth, wrath, greed, lust, and gluttony. The three largest monotheistic religions: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all condemn sin as being transgressions against their respective god's will. A fourth, less popular monotheistic religion, and is the oldest surviving monotheistic religion still around, Zoroastrianism, has no concept of repentence from sin. "Mazda has already set up the Principle of Consequences, which establishes that you will receive the consequences of your choices in kind and automatically". Additionally, Zoroastrianism has no concept of sin itself, sin being a purely later monotheistic invention.
The basis behind sin is that the behaviors marked off as "sinful" are contrary to the will of god, and thus, antithetical and negative towards god. Such behaviors are considered "evil", or, at the very least, "wicked" and "unspiritual".
So, in simplistic terminology, envy is the desire to possess traits belonging to someone else. Furthermore, how is desire deadly? What were these Jews smoking when they wrote this up as an evil sin? I'm envious of plenty of people. I desire to possess their physical strength, I desire to possess large sums of money with which to spend on elaborate sex toys, exquisite food, and to finance a jobless life in luxury. There are plenty of other things I desire, and am subsequently envious about since I probably won't be able to have it, but nonetheless, I'm still envious.
Applying envy to economics, an incentive is a play on envy. If you desire something bad enough, you have an incentive to work harder to achieve it. Obviously, envy is a constructive feeling and behavior as long as you're willing to be productive, but why should be be "sinful" at all, even if you are lazy and refuse to work? It's your life, and you're an individual with the right to be as lazy as you want. It doesn't mean I think you should receive charity or welfare if you refuse to work, but it's everyone's right to choose their own life.
In simple terms, greed is the desire for material possessions. Again, as with the sin of envy, I hardly see how greed is possibly deadly. Greed is what motivates the economic system of every society since the dawn of time. Person A wants something that Person B owns, so they make a trade. Eventually, barter gave way to medium-based economics where a non-perishable medium was used to store value and replace bartering with buying. A common statement is that money doesn't buy happiness. People who say that are just poor. Money buys everything, and having a large house, a decent car, a lovely woman on your lap, the entire collection of the Star Trek series whose Amazon.com prices are outrageous, and plenty of food and comforts, does make you happy. I like having stuff, it makes me feel good. Having my laptop makes me feel great because most people in this world don't have their own computer, and the various other luxury items I possess also make me feel good because they're so useful, comfortable, and indicative of status. Hooray for material possessions, because materialism rocks!
There does come a point when greed can't be used to justify the dimunition of happiness or well-being of others. Logging companies would cut down every damn tree they could get their hands on if environmental organizations and governmental regulations hadn't been passed to limit their consumption of biological resources. Halliburton is another example of non-constructive greed: overcharging soldiers in Iraq for basic food supplies and things like toilet paper and towels. There's always examples of greed being used non-constructively. As long as greed is an individual thing and doesn't harm other people in the process, it's completely alright to me. But, when someone else's greed causes me harm, I would have to take an issue.
I'm also not surprised that Buddhists don't see the connection between materialism and happiness. They're so busy trying to find Nirvana that they don't realize they live in a material universe where material possessions means wealth, which means happiness, because happiness "ain't" cheap.
Gluttony is a pretty straightforward sin: eat too much, and you go to hell. I don't know about anyone else, and I don't claim to speak for anyone, but I enjoy my meat and potatoes, and I love overeating when it's damned good food on my plate. Take me to a sushi bar and I'll eat an incredulous amount of food relative to my actual body size. It's amazing that I'm not overweight.
And, what do you know! It's an actually deadly behavior, if you eat and eat and don't stop eating, or if you eat fatty foods constantly. You'll end up with overload or heart and arterial diseases. But, that's only if you eat foods regardless of their content, constantly. Most people in this world don't, because they either have cultures which don't have fatty cuisine, or because they don't eat enough food to begin with. Now, although I admit to being gluttonous whenever I can, I wouldn't withhold food from a starving person, and if someone was starving, and was near me, I'd share or give my food away without a second thought. I have no intention or reason to deliberately cause harm, or to not help someone. It's an interesting fact that the world currently produces enough food to feed every single human being on Earth, with plenty of food to spare, and yet people starve to death by the millions.
But in any case, it's an individual choice to overeat, and if you want to overeat, more power to you.
This is definitely my favorite sin, however, if I was really hungry, I couldn't pass out on sushi or steak. girl thingyy can wait.
Sexual desire is an animalistic instinct all monosexual organisms possess. It gives us an incentive and will to mate, thus, to pass on our genetic legacy, and to continue the propagation of our species. To vilify such a natural impulse is absolutely ridiculous. We all have sexual desire (besides very few individuals who claimt to be asexual) and we all have sexual thoughts. It cannot be helped; we are programmed to be sexual creatures. Sex is an intensely intimate act, and is completely natural.
I'm a pretty prideful person; I'm incredibly stubborn when I feel like being stubborn, and I'm very proud of my achievements and my works. Why shouldn't I be proud of what I do? It's a celebration of my ego, and is purely constructive. Constructive pride is essentially the same as constructive egotism. To encourage the ego and to encourage oneself to perform and achieve great things develops the individual to be independent and productive, as well as motivated, and gives a sense of self-worth and self-esteem through pride in one's doings.
And then there is hubris. Pride which is used to attack others, to impose one's ego on another person, and to downplay or destroy the works or achievements of others in order to further an excessive ego trip is never a good thing, since it alienates and polarizes opinion against such an egotistic individual.
Yeah, lying around is really deadly. I'm a very lazy person. I like to lie around, I hate exercizing and doing stuff, and I like to sit in bed all day. And who's business is it to tell me I can't be lazy? I think Christians have a nanny-complex.
The last part is a great concept, and makes complete sense. We have developed technology to free us from labor, or to make labor less strenuous. If we didn't feel like being lazy, we would still be out hunting deer and wearing loincloths.
Wrath, when used to right a wrong, such as reciprocating an act by an individual who has unjustly harmed, is not inherently "wrong". Animals recriprocate; humans do as well. Law is state-sanctioned revenge. While if we were to take out revenge whenever someone wronged us and result in a state of anarchy, the law is used methodically to mete out punishment to those who have committed crimes. Without wrath, crime cannot be punished, and without wrath, revenge by vigilantism becomes a norm.
After having analyzed and commented on the so-called deadly sins, I've come to two inescapable conclusions:
These sins are nothing more than vilification of individuality. Individuality, as well as knowledge, are the two mortal enemies of monotheistic religion, because they both pose a threat; glorification of the individual ego and encouragement to enjoy life, and without ignorance, monotheism cannot maintain its hold on a person's mind; respectively.
If someone truly enjoys life, they won't inherently have a desire to turn to superstition and to the worship of imaginary friends. People who do not enjoy life, and are ill-educated, will undoubtedly turn to superstition for answers they can't seek themselves.
In conclusion, I maintain that materialism, individualism, ego-gratification, and pleasures of life are not harmful, as long as they don't involve harm to others. In this way, they're constructive, and useful, to the individual, and there's nothing deadly about that.
Note: I realize that "deadly" can be interpreted to mean that the Judeo-Christian-Islamic god will punish you with "deadly" force for disobeying his laws and thus committing "deadly" sin, which is why I argued that there's nothing wrong with them, so try not to use that argument since it's been debunked as of now.
[Taken from my own original post at forums.newspeakdictionary.com/viewtopic.php?t=2011&start=0 ]
The basis behind sin is that the behaviors marked off as "sinful" are contrary to the will of god, and thus, antithetical and negative towards god. Such behaviors are considered "evil", or, at the very least, "wicked" and "unspiritual".
Envy is the desire for another's traits, status, abilities, station, or worldly goods. It need not be associated with an object; its salient characteristic is the unfavorable comparison of one's own status with that of another.
Envy is one of the seven deadly sins in the Catholic tradition. It is considered sinful because envious people ignore their own blessings, and focus on others' status rather than their own spiritual growth.
Envy is often confused with the Deadly Sin of covetousness, or greed, a desire for material wealth (which may or may not belong to others). Envy in its covetous form is forbidden by the Ten Commandments in the Bible.
In some cultures, envy is often associated with the colour green, as in "green with envy". The phrase "green-eyed monster" refers to an individual whose current actions appear motivated by envy. This is based on a line from Shakespeare's Othello.
So, in simplistic terminology, envy is the desire to possess traits belonging to someone else. Furthermore, how is desire deadly? What were these Jews smoking when they wrote this up as an evil sin? I'm envious of plenty of people. I desire to possess their physical strength, I desire to possess large sums of money with which to spend on elaborate sex toys, exquisite food, and to finance a jobless life in luxury. There are plenty of other things I desire, and am subsequently envious about since I probably won't be able to have it, but nonetheless, I'm still envious.
Applying envy to economics, an incentive is a play on envy. If you desire something bad enough, you have an incentive to work harder to achieve it. Obviously, envy is a constructive feeling and behavior as long as you're willing to be productive, but why should be be "sinful" at all, even if you are lazy and refuse to work? It's your life, and you're an individual with the right to be as lazy as you want. It doesn't mean I think you should receive charity or welfare if you refuse to work, but it's everyone's right to choose their own life.
Greed is a desire to obtain more money, wealth, material possessions or any other entity than one needs. Greed is listed as one of the Catholic seven deadly sins, usually by the synonym of avarice.
Greedy individuals are often portrayed as harmful to society as their motives often appear to disregard the welfare of others: within a closed context of limited resources, one person's improved economic condition must come at the expense of others. However, even in a non-zero sum context, an extreme state of affluence can result only from a diversion of resources from others to the affluent.
When greed entails the covetousness of another person's attributes, the term envy is used. When greed is applied to the subject of the excessive consumption of food or drink the term gluttony is often used, another of the Catholic seven deadly sins. Greed is sometimes represented by the color yellow and the frog.
Buddhists believe greed is based on incorrectly connecting material wealth with happiness. This is caused by a deluded view that exaggerates the positive aspects of an object.
In simple terms, greed is the desire for material possessions. Again, as with the sin of envy, I hardly see how greed is possibly deadly. Greed is what motivates the economic system of every society since the dawn of time. Person A wants something that Person B owns, so they make a trade. Eventually, barter gave way to medium-based economics where a non-perishable medium was used to store value and replace bartering with buying. A common statement is that money doesn't buy happiness. People who say that are just poor. Money buys everything, and having a large house, a decent car, a lovely woman on your lap, the entire collection of the Star Trek series whose Amazon.com prices are outrageous, and plenty of food and comforts, does make you happy. I like having stuff, it makes me feel good. Having my laptop makes me feel great because most people in this world don't have their own computer, and the various other luxury items I possess also make me feel good because they're so useful, comfortable, and indicative of status. Hooray for material possessions, because materialism rocks!
There does come a point when greed can't be used to justify the dimunition of happiness or well-being of others. Logging companies would cut down every damn tree they could get their hands on if environmental organizations and governmental regulations hadn't been passed to limit their consumption of biological resources. Halliburton is another example of non-constructive greed: overcharging soldiers in Iraq for basic food supplies and things like toilet paper and towels. There's always examples of greed being used non-constructively. As long as greed is an individual thing and doesn't harm other people in the process, it's completely alright to me. But, when someone else's greed causes me harm, I would have to take an issue.
I'm also not surprised that Buddhists don't see the connection between materialism and happiness. They're so busy trying to find Nirvana that they don't realize they live in a material universe where material possessions means wealth, which means happiness, because happiness "ain't" cheap.
Gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, or intoxicants to the point of waste. In the Christian religions, it is considered one of the seven deadly sins -- a misplaced desire of food or its withholding from the needy.
Gluttony is a pretty straightforward sin: eat too much, and you go to hell. I don't know about anyone else, and I don't claim to speak for anyone, but I enjoy my meat and potatoes, and I love overeating when it's damned good food on my plate. Take me to a sushi bar and I'll eat an incredulous amount of food relative to my actual body size. It's amazing that I'm not overweight.
And, what do you know! It's an actually deadly behavior, if you eat and eat and don't stop eating, or if you eat fatty foods constantly. You'll end up with overload or heart and arterial diseases. But, that's only if you eat foods regardless of their content, constantly. Most people in this world don't, because they either have cultures which don't have fatty cuisine, or because they don't eat enough food to begin with. Now, although I admit to being gluttonous whenever I can, I wouldn't withhold food from a starving person, and if someone was starving, and was near me, I'd share or give my food away without a second thought. I have no intention or reason to deliberately cause harm, or to not help someone. It's an interesting fact that the world currently produces enough food to feed every single human being on Earth, with plenty of food to spare, and yet people starve to death by the millions.
But in any case, it's an individual choice to overeat, and if you want to overeat, more power to you.
Lust is any intense desire or craving, usually sexual, although it is also common to speak of a "lust for life" or a "lust for power" or other goals.
As a sexual term, lust implies a sexual desire in and of itself, an erotic arousal and wish, or intense physical or sexual attraction or craving. In this sense, it is considered a vice by Christianity, and is listed as one of the seven deadly sins of Catholicism and its related denominations. The Greek word which translates as lust is åðéèõìéá (epithumia), which also is translated as covet.
This is definitely my favorite sin, however, if I was really hungry, I couldn't pass out on sushi or steak. girl thingyy can wait.
Sexual desire is an animalistic instinct all monosexual organisms possess. It gives us an incentive and will to mate, thus, to pass on our genetic legacy, and to continue the propagation of our species. To vilify such a natural impulse is absolutely ridiculous. We all have sexual desire (besides very few individuals who claimt to be asexual) and we all have sexual thoughts. It cannot be helped; we are programmed to be sexual creatures. Sex is an intensely intimate act, and is completely natural.
Pride refers to a strong sense of self-respect, a refusal to be humiliated as well as joy in the accomplishments of oneself or a person, group, or object that one identifies with.
It can also refer to Hubris, or excessive pride, which was usually the defining trait that lead to the tragic hero's tragic downfall according to Aristotle. It is in this negative connotation that pride is usually referred to with respect to religion.
In Christianity, pride (or vanity or arrogance) is the essentially competitive and excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God, or the worth which God sees in others. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is listed as one of the seven deadly sins, as superbia.
Pride is also condemned in Hinduism. Ravana, an evil king who was killed by Rama, avatar of Vishnu, exhibited deadly sins of pride and lust. In spirituality pride is linked to the local "I" and ego, as distinct from the nonlocal "us".
In Islam, pride is also forbidden. According to a narration from Muhammad, he said: "He in whose heart there is as much as a grain of pride will not enter paradise," and a man remarked: "A man likes his garment to be beautiful and his sandals to be beautiful." Then Muhammad replied: "God, Most High, is beautiful and likes beauty; pride is disdaining what is true and despising people" (Sahih Muslim).
Likewise, in Judaism, pride is to be avoided. "Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust, and looks not to the proud, nor to those that turn aside to lies." (Psalm 40:5)
I'm a pretty prideful person; I'm incredibly stubborn when I feel like being stubborn, and I'm very proud of my achievements and my works. Why shouldn't I be proud of what I do? It's a celebration of my ego, and is purely constructive. Constructive pride is essentially the same as constructive egotism. To encourage the ego and to encourage oneself to perform and achieve great things develops the individual to be independent and productive, as well as motivated, and gives a sense of self-worth and self-esteem through pride in one's doings.
And then there is hubris. Pride which is used to attack others, to impose one's ego on another person, and to downplay or destroy the works or achievements of others in order to further an excessive ego trip is never a good thing, since it alienates and polarizes opinion against such an egotistic individual.
Laziness is the lack of desire to act or work in general or to do an act or work that is expected of the person. In extreme cases, a generalized tendency to do nothing may verge on apathy and be a symptom of depression. What is considered laziness in any given instance, however, varies depending on cultural/societal context and magnitude, but it is generally considered a negative quality, as in sloth (see Seven deadly sins). Laziness can be considered an exaggeration of the natural instinct to do nothing that makes people get healthy rest. Laziness is usually associated with procrastination.
It has been argued that laziness is the source of many innovations that would have stemmed from the will to spare oneself a tiring job.
Yeah, lying around is really deadly. I'm a very lazy person. I like to lie around, I hate exercizing and doing stuff, and I like to sit in bed all day. And who's business is it to tell me I can't be lazy? I think Christians have a nanny-complex.
The last part is a great concept, and makes complete sense. We have developed technology to free us from labor, or to make labor less strenuous. If we didn't feel like being lazy, we would still be out hunting deer and wearing loincloths.
Anger is an emotional response to a grievance; real or imagined; past, present or future. Rage refers to an extreme degree of anger associated with a loss of calmness or discipline (in the case of human conduct).
Often based in a sensation or perception of threat, anger can be considered an emotional component in the increased threat response (part of the broader "stress response") whereby the charged emotional state produces physiological effects (increased adrenaline, cortisol), thereby producing behavioural effect of heightened stress and aggression.
Anger may be "provoked" (or triggered) by perceived threats, like conflict, or by abstract concepts such as injustice.
There are many physical conditions that increase the potential for one to become angry. Common contributors to irritability include fatigue, hunger, being in pain, sexual frustration, recovery from an illness, or the use of certain drugs. Other causes are hormonal changes, such as those associated with PMS, giving birth, and menopause, physical withdrawal, and bipolar disorder. Research also shows that some individuals can be genetically predisposed to higher levels of anger.
Wrath, when used to right a wrong, such as reciprocating an act by an individual who has unjustly harmed, is not inherently "wrong". Animals recriprocate; humans do as well. Law is state-sanctioned revenge. While if we were to take out revenge whenever someone wronged us and result in a state of anarchy, the law is used methodically to mete out punishment to those who have committed crimes. Without wrath, crime cannot be punished, and without wrath, revenge by vigilantism becomes a norm.
After having analyzed and commented on the so-called deadly sins, I've come to two inescapable conclusions:
1. They aren't deadly. Gluttony can result in death, but the chances are slim compared to the rate of starvation world-wide. None of these acts which have been vilified will inherently cause death or individual destruction, unless you sit down, never move, and eat Twinkies non-stop for the rest of your life, and then atrophy and die of heart failure brought on by arteriosclerosis.
2. It's an example of religious totalitarianism. All of these sins are synonymous, in concept, with the Newspeak word of "ownlife". These behaviors are individualistic; they all boost the ego, indulge us in pleasure, or provide us with comfort of mind or body. To be enslaved to a religion, you need to think that individualism is bad, that pleasure is bad, that comfort is bad, and that ownlife is a bad thing.
These sins are nothing more than vilification of individuality. Individuality, as well as knowledge, are the two mortal enemies of monotheistic religion, because they both pose a threat; glorification of the individual ego and encouragement to enjoy life, and without ignorance, monotheism cannot maintain its hold on a person's mind; respectively.
If someone truly enjoys life, they won't inherently have a desire to turn to superstition and to the worship of imaginary friends. People who do not enjoy life, and are ill-educated, will undoubtedly turn to superstition for answers they can't seek themselves.
In conclusion, I maintain that materialism, individualism, ego-gratification, and pleasures of life are not harmful, as long as they don't involve harm to others. In this way, they're constructive, and useful, to the individual, and there's nothing deadly about that.
Note: I realize that "deadly" can be interpreted to mean that the Judeo-Christian-Islamic god will punish you with "deadly" force for disobeying his laws and thus committing "deadly" sin, which is why I argued that there's nothing wrong with them, so try not to use that argument since it's been debunked as of now.
[Taken from my own original post at forums.newspeakdictionary.com/viewtopic.php?t=2011&start=0 ]