The Seven Sins and their Manifestations
Introduction to the Seven Sins
The seven deadly sins are characteristically the seven darkest elements of the human soul. Traditionally, these seven sins are thought to give rise to many major sins and crimes committed by humans. However, these are examples of only the most serious of such offences. In fact, we do exhibit signs of each of these sins in our everyday lives as well.
Envy
Envy is defined by an insatiable desire of someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck. It is traditionally characterised by sinful actions taken to deprive others of their rightful entitlements. Envy is probably the most commonly portrayed sin in the media and is usually the root cause behind conflicts in many dramas and movies.
Jealousy is a minor manifestation of the sin of envy. It is the feeling of discontentment and longing which one feels for someone else’s fortune. This is much more prevalent in our everyday lives than the manifestations of most of the other sins. In fact, Bertrand Russell, a Nobel Prizewinner, had discovered that jealousy is one of the most potent causes of unhappiness. Research has also found envy to be one of the most common personality traits affecting human behaviours.
Gluttony
Source: Georg Emanuel Opiz, “Der Völler” (1804).
Retrieved from http://www.ncregister.com/images/uploads/Stagnaro-GLUTTONY.jpg.
Gluttony is defined by an overwhelming overindulgence and overconsumption. It is characterised by seemingly irrational actions in order to satisfy the sinner’s need for indulgence and consumption. Gluttony is commonly portrayed as overeating in the media. However, gluttony also encompasses overindulgence and excessive consumption, characterised by shopping, gambling, or alcoholic addictions. Manifestations of gluttony generally involve irrational and inexplicable compulsions and urges.
Greed
Greed is defined by an insatiable desire for monetary and material wants. It is characterised by a continuous pursuit of these temporal possessions. Another characterisation of greed is the excessive hoarding of resources beyond one’s needs and requirements. Greed, similar to envy, is one of the more visible and easily observed sins in our everyday lives. Greed serves, in some part, as the main motivating factor behind many of our daily actions. Many walk this fine line between ambition and greed every day without knowing how close they are. Greed steps in at the point where we move on from earning or buying what we need to amassing wealth and belongings beyond our daily usage capacity, or when others become deprived of the resources they need due to our excessive ambitiousness.
Lust
Source: Emma Grzonkowski “Lust” (2012).
Retrieved from https://www.castlegalleries.com/assets/castle/r/detail/large/c_g/feed/products-images/eggc11-lust.jpg.
Lust, like the previous three sins, is a sin of desire. Lust is characterised by a strong sense of longing. In modern media, lust is usually depicted as a strong sexual desire, leading to the characters’ partaking in immoral sexual acts. However, lust actually refers to a disordered and chaotic sense of love and longing, for individuals, objects, or stimulation.
Lust usually exists with some manifestation ofthe other six sins, as a prerequisite to the desires which bring rise to the other sins. For example, lust brings forth the longing and desire of money and objects which eventually leads one to the sin of greed.
Lust also encompasses the burning desire for others’ privileges which causes us to act out and separate the individuals from their entitlements. Lust finds its core and essence deep in the feelings and emotions one experiences when their desires emerge.
Pride
Source: Ignitum Today.
Retrieved from http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2012/11/07/pride-the-worst-of-the-deadly-sins/.
Pride is commonly known and referred to as the greatest sin which contributes the most to one’s undoing. It is characterised by an inwardly corrupt sense of one’s own value, status and achievements. One major aspect of pride is the irrationality of this belief that one is very accomplished, despite any facts or statements which are put in front of the individual. Individuals afflicted with pride ignore testimonies which contradict their sense of self and find themselves overlooking their own oversights and pitfalls. In more severe circumstances, prideful individuals partake in extreme acts of selfishness, giving priority to their own urges and desires over others’ well-being.
In our everyday lives, pride manifests as egotism. This occurs in humans due to our need to maintain a positive self-image. Social psychology goes into more detail about this behaviour which is inherent in many humans. Egotism and pridefulness are extreme examples of this behaviour which causes such a strong faith and belief in ourselves that becomes impossible to remove. Pride seeps in when we start ignoring obvious facts and evidences of our own shortcomings.
Sloth
Sloth is a sin quite different from each of the previously mentioned sins. Sloth is characterised, uniquely, as a lack of any form of desire or ambition in one’s life. It manifests as a lack of affect and an overwhelming sense of indifference to the world around us. Sloth leads us to passivity. It leads to constant or increasing feelings of boredom and apathy.
Sloth appears in our lives during periods of mental and emotional exhaustion. Amotivation, the lack of any sort of drive or motivation to perform or act, is rooted deeply in the sin of sloth. Sloth appears in times of recovery, in phases of our life where we find ourselves disconnected from the world around us. In the performance of their day-to-day duties, many salarymen also face feelings of indifference and apathy from which sloth is characterised.
Wrath
Source: Ajgiel “Wrath” (2014). Retrieved from https://pre00.deviantart.net/c48e/th/pre/i/2014/204/e/3/wrath_by_ajgiel-d7rx6up.png.
Wrath is an intense feeling of anger or emotion. It is characterised by the self-destructive behaviour which one may partake in as a result of these heightened emotions. Wrath manifests itself in many of the emotions and behaviour we exhibit, such as impatience, rage, hatred and frustration. While the object of emotion may be rational, the emotions felt may persist far beyond the bounds of rationality. These wrathful emotions may also lead to increased violence and vengeance exhibited by the individual, especially against individual parties.
I am pretty sure one has witnessed and incurred the wraths of their close ones at least once in their lives. Such displays of emotion are everyday manifestations of wrath. The persistence of the emotions commonly leads to outbursts being directed at innocent parties, the collateral damage of our everyday feelings of wrath.
Conclusion
Each of these seven deadly sins, while extreme in their natures, can easily be seen, found and observed in the actions and motivations of the people around us. Minor manifestations of each of these sins can be found all around us if we observe and seek to better understand the reasons behind our peers’ actions.
While each of these manifestations may not be obvious, they do influence the actions and mindsets of our peers and make major, sometimes life-changing, impacts on our everyday lives and occurrences. What this means is that one who is more aware of the effects of each of these seven sins will be able to better understand the nature of the decisions made by those around us. This knowledge will allow us to help our peers, and ourselves, to make better and more informed decisions.