A coin is circular

Points of view are confusing things, all we understand about them is that they are inunderstandably manifested through the workings of any new independently thinking mind. Think about this for a moment. Let us survey the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, greed and pride. Their very title "the seven deadly sins" conveys to the reader that they are what is considered 'bad'. Why are they 'bad'? What denotes that these seven things that constantly show up as long as we live are negative feelings?

Let us ponder on the deadly sin of greed. Every living being will have, to some small extent, greed. It's animal instinct. The more food you hoard, the better your chances of surviving the cold harsh winter. But when an individual is overcome by this greed, and hurts and mows down any who would obstruct him in his path to greater chance of survival, he is condemned by society as incorrigibly greedy. Why does this occur? From the beginning of time, this has been a world of give-and-take, falter in your purpose and you will be devoured and trodden upon by those who would set their sights higher.

Lust. When an individual lusts for another, most reactions are usually pale and minimal. When the individual takes action upon this lust, he is condemned. Where does this come from? Isn't lust simply the drive to produce offspring, to ensure the survival of humanity? One might argue that the lustful being only craves the sensation that he acquires from these actions, but we must also consider why this has such a sensation attached to it. Obviously sex is enjoyable so as to attract beings to partake in it, as that would ensure said beings' survival. It is evolution. Long ago, the animals that took no joy from sex would have died out, having no urge to reproduce. Lust populates the world.

Why is sloth a deadly sin? Every human being partakes in it, it is unavoidable. Humans require rest, and those which do not will die of exhaustion. Sloth is an instinct developed through the ages by the careful selective process of evolution. Why do something if someone else can do it for you? You will save energy that you could spend on other things.

Wrath is one of the most obviously negative sins. To exact revenge upon another is displayed in a very negative light. But once again, we must ponder where the urge for revenge comes from. Why is revenge sweet? Wrath is the carried-over form of self-defence. Sensing that our selves are in danger, we retaliate. When our career, reputation or life is in danger, we react naturally by lashing out at the offender, in hopes that said dangerous object will be debilitated, nullified or scared off. Is it wrong to protect ourselves?

We are seeing more gluttons as we develop. People eat and eat, and though this is a deadly sin, its' advocates are not very widely persecuted. I will not address this sin any further.

Any human will have been envious before. This deadly sin manifests itself in discontent, in the desire to have things others have. Envy is one of the strangest of sins, in that supplementary action must accompany it for it to be visibly a sin. We could say that acting on envy is the sin instead, but arguers otherwise would state that rooting out the core problem would be best. Again, envy exists because we inspire it among ourselves. To desire things that one does not possess is the drive for self-betterment, without which humanity would have never attained its' position and power among the food chain now.

Finally, we have pride. Pride in ourselves was originally to maintain a good image, to attract a mate who would deign one of such good image a worthy partner. Now, a prestigious background serves very little of such a purpose. Why? Over the years, having pride and the fear of it being damaged have sprouted from the want to belong. Acceptance or exile, maintaining a good image was an easy way to ensure survival. But pride now is more complicated. Pride is more than the inherent need to belong always embedded in social beings such as we are. Pride is acceptance of oneself, and of ones' accomplishments. To have something worthy of pride is considered good, but what about the pride itself?

After reading all this, perhaps you may have spotted a pattern. These seven deadly sins, are only considered worthy of condemnation when they have 'gone too far', a thin line again drawn by mass opinion. What if the publics' opinion was changed? These sins could be virtues. Just changing the way we think will reshape the world. While we are not psychic, our minds in their selves have tremendous power, capable of causing enormous change. It's an exhilarating thought.

The title of this post 'A coin is circular', is a reference to the common saying 'there are two sides to every coin', meaning there are two sides to every situation. That is a narrow-minded belief, as there are infinite, myriad possibilities of ways to look, survey and analyse a situation, thus my anecdote of the circular coin; circles have infinite sides.

I've nattered on too long. If you've read my post all the way to this sentence, I thank you for your attention.