7 Deadly Sins – Or Just Another Sunny Day in California?
Love it or hate it, California is the land of superlatives. We have the most divorces, the most people, the most poverty and greatest wealth of any state. California has more billionaires than any place on the planet, and in 2013 there are over 100 billionaires in the Golden State! California claims one in every nine billionaires in the world, making it the Billionaire Capitol! Some see this extreme wealth as excess, while others see it as success. Our ancestors thought that it’s a sin to accumulate more than we need. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to roll back the clock and see what our elders considered cause for “eternal damnation”. Would they be impressed with us? It’s hard to say.
7 Deadly Sins
1. Lust – is an intense desire. It is usually thought of as excessive sexual wants, however the word was originally a general term for desire. Therefore lust could involve the intense desire of money, fame, or power as well.
2. Gluttony – is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste.
3. Greed – is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed may be very excessive desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth.
4. Sloth – is physical laziness or spiritual laziness and failure to do things that one should do. By this definition, evil exists when good men fail to act.
5. Wrath – or rage may be described as uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Feelings of anger can manifest in different ways, including impatience, revenge, and vigilantism. Wrath, in its purest form, is self-destructiveness, violence, and hate.
6. Envy – like greed and lust, is characterized by an insatiable desire. Envy is similar to jealousy. Aquinas described envy as “sorrow for another’s good”.
7. Pride – is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and the source of the others. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self.
