Envy, Anger and Slothfulness---Are We Talking About Anyone You Know?

When Dante classified the vices (commonly known at the Seven Deadly Sins) he placed Envy, Anger and Slothfulness as number two, three and four directly beneath the worse vice of all: Pride. Dragging up the rear are Greed in fifth place, Gluttony in sixth and Lust at the very bottom. I never could figure out why Pride is so much worse that Lust but you can't argue with a dead dude who was born way back in 1265. Dante was a Gemini---if anyone cares about those things---an Italian writer/poet that all self-respecting college students and serious Catholics have at least heard about, if not studied the stuffings out of in the wee hours of the night. The likes of "The Divine Comedy" and "The Inferno" are woven into the fabric of all western thought. Some might even say that Dante single-handedly Christianized the thoughts of Aristotle. And while the work of Dante never showed up in "The Idiot's Guide to Philosophy" or in any of the Seinfeld episodes---and why would it if his thoughts weren't original?---the work of Aristotle does appear in both these venues. This article, the last installment of my Deadly Sins Series, examines Envy, Anger and Slothfulness.

Envy - Envy is a sin against The Virtue of Love. Okey, dokey. That's easy enough to understand. We can't resent what others have at the same time claiming to love them. "Love is patient, love is kind"---I don't remember where that quote comes from but it's a good one to chant when we're tempted to envy our brother's extensive bowling ball collection or our aunt Ruthann because she's got a doctoral in something we can't pronoun. I know, I know, bowling ball gardens are pretty cool and knowing stuff can win you money on game shows. Envy is so hard to resist! But we're suppose to love people enough to be happy for their good fortunes and sad when their luck runs out. Envy is so mixes up with Pride and competition that even the theological experts have trouble sorting out all the sin/virtue nonces and make them stand up and behave. So we common folks can just put all that theological and philosophical chic-chat into a hopper and it comes out the other end as, "Love Thee Neighbor."

Anger - The inappropriate feeling of hatred and revenge. One catch here. Who decides what is "inappropriate?" I hate that word, it's so ambiguous. Who decides when dislike crosses over into hatred? And is it okay to express anger when our kids run out in the street, but wrong to raise our voices when they spill milk on the floor? Where on the sin meter does the good-little-woman-turned-viper x-wife fall when she spends all her time thinking up dirty tricks to play on the dumb duck who dumped her? Can we express "normal" anger and still be virtuous? Let's think this out: If we're going to follow a trend here in this series, we need to hold the Sin of Anger up against The Virtue in which it sins against. In this case we're talking anger versus kindness. We all know about kindness in its many forms of patience, tenderness and compassion. Many of us learned that stuff in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. So just remember, be nice and don't hit or spit and that should keep you out of the sin zone.

Slothfulness - "I'm a sloth, you're a sloth, we're all sloths." Could this be the theme song in your neighborhood, boys and girls? The word sloth, strictly defined is laziness. However, the religious use of the word is not that simple and this confuses a lot of people who like to go sinner sniping. Why? Because The Virtue in which Slothfulness sins against is Zeal, or enthusiasm. Can you see, now, that the sin kind of slothfulness has nothing to do with wearing your undies too many days in a row? Yup, the Sin of Slothfulness is defined in a broader, more philosophical context....like that of drifting into a state of complacency and failing to response to the graces all around us. Having apathy about life is slothfulness. Zealousness, on the other side of the coin, is a child-like appreciation for our space in time. It's not screaming at by-passers on a street corner about Hell and Damnation. If you do that, stop it! Finding our balance on the Zeal/Sloth teeter-totter means that we study and learn and grow into this thing called humanity. It's a semi-quiet thing that radiates out from within and colors every thing we do.

So, good people who may still be reading this article, this ends my Seven Deadly Sins series and won't you be glad to know that I have no desire to go on to write about the finer points of the Venial or Mortal Sins and the Ten Commandments.

Cash---no checks---in the collection plate, please. ©