The seven deadly sins (mistakes)

The seven deadly mistakes


Dante’s Divine comedy first laid out the modern version of the seven deadly sins. This epic poem's allegorical version of the medieval, Christian afterlife outlines Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead. It lasted from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet Virgil guides him through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman, guides him through Heaven.

The sins listed from worst to least sin, but all were punishable by hell or purgatory. Today these “sins” can be defined more accurately as “mistakes” thought patterns that must be recognized and changed so we don’t have to take that journey into the hell of “not knowing” or being asleep. The seven deadly sins take us into a hell of our own making with the bad choices we make in the present moment.

The first of the deadly mistakes is extravagance or vanity. To see yourself as better than others, to always “have to be right” to not have humility is total vanity. The extravagance, although some would argue is not exactly vanity, is only part of what “feeds” or satisfies vanity. To have more than your neighbor and to get into debt to “beat him” is all vanity and extravagance. Companies who compete amongst each other, constantly trying to outsell the other sometimes end up bankrupt and asking the government for “bailout money.”

Gluttony, we do that to ourselves as individuals , we over eat, smoke too much, have too much sex, drink to much and so on all in the name of feeling better, yet in the end we kill ourselves with the vices that come with gluttony. As a collective group we yearly destroy more and more of the ozone layer, consuming more than we need to, and throwing away as much as we do. This avarice not only initiates the destruction of our spirit, but of the whole planet. That desire and need to want more and more and more is not something any country or individual seems to give up easily. This attitude should be exchanged with the gratitude of having and accepting, of giving and sharing what is. Look where that took GM and others, straight into “Dante’s financial hell.”

The third mistake is so obvious and profound on the planet today that even “talking heads” on media stations are talking about it. The profound GREED among corporations, individuals and governments around the world doesn’t need much explanation. This particular “sin” into Dante’s Inferno has to be remedied before it’s too late, and more people become slaves to this system, and thought that wealth is the only way happiness. Priorities are not about giving, or sharing, they are about increasing the bottom line. Priorities are not about human dignity, but of using as many slaves as possible, to “roll back those prices” at Walmart.

The fourth sin on Dante’s list was sloth.or acedia . Nothing can be worse than becoming too lazy to meditate, or pray, or to become our highest self. This particular sin, or mistake is probably one that hinders humanity more than any other. It’s not that we are all lazy of body and don’t want to work, but that we are lazy of mind and don’t want to explore the possibilities of spirituality. The focus on traditional “religions” is not the way to heaven either, because of the “rules” and regulations which keeps us in judgment of others or makes us self righteous…which brings me to the fifth and most deadly of all sins.

Wrath. Anger fear of what we don’t understand, world misunderstandings, wars about religion, all come from a collective anger. This rage brings us to make and contemplate the worst atrocities on each other that any creature on this planet. From rapes to discrimination, the sin of anger is the deadliest we face. Even in the Divine Comedy, Dante began to see that the only way out of this hurricane of anger was Love which is when his beloved Beatrice appears and gives him her hand to guide him into heaven.

The sixth deadly sin is the one that lead Cain to kill Abel. This is where folks can feel threatened by another’s social standing. Envy comes from feelings of low self worth and is one of the most potent causes of unhappiness. It is not meant for our souls to be unhappy, it’s a choice we make when we feel inferior or feel someone has hurt us. It is a phenomenon that happens when a person doesn’t see who they really are or the glorious spirit within them. Not only is the envious person rendered unhappy by his envy, but also wishes to inflict misfortune on others

Some would say the worst of all deadly sins is Pride and yet it’s listed as the last of the seventh deadly sins. Pride is ego, that voice in the head that is constantly telling us we are right and everyone else is wrong. In some societies and even in some of our own experiences, pride is something virtuous, like having pride in one’s abilities, or for one’s country. But ego/pride in the end is what keeps us from our higher selves. Pride is “the primordial error, a misperception of who you are, an illusory sense of identity, it is “ego”.(Eckhart Tolle) it is the “optical illusion of consciousness.” It is what keeps us in the past, with resentments that lead to war, with feelings of low self worth, that leads to vanity, and envy and many other deadly sins.

Knowing these deadly mistakes is the first step in fixing them in our own lives. Because we cannot do anything “collectively” unless we start, working on our individual issues and build on our strengths, focusing on love and gratitude. I suppose the best solution to all these mistakes is to ask when confronted with them – What would love do?”The highest answer to that question would fix them all.