Path Doctrine on the Seven Deadly Sins

 Topic: Path Doctrine on the Seven Deadly Sins

Today’s sermon is about the Christian list of seven “deadly sins” and how they relate to Path teachings. Some of these so-called sins are of the body, some are of the mind. But they must be subject to rational dissection so we can extract whatever value they may have.

Lust is a body sin, and an easy one. The sex lives of others are none of our business, as long as everyone involved is a consenting adult and no harm is being done. If you are not hurting anyone or treating other people as things, feel free to lust after and even have sex with as many people as you want.

Greed is one of the sins that you only commit in your head; the only problem with greed is that it can turn you into a power-hungry asshole. But there are wealthy people who still try to make the world a better place, so there is nothing wrong with greed itself.

Gluttony is a body sin, and is contrary to the Virtue of Balance. If you find yourself overindulging, maybe you need a reminder that “Moderation is best in all things.” We do need to remind ourselves, however, to never judge somebody as morally inferior because they are overweight. You do not know their story.

Envy is another sin of the mind, and succumbing to it can disrupt your path toward Serenity and Enlightenment. When you harbor such negative energy within your heart, you are giving it your attention, you are maintaining it, and that negative energy warps your Ka. If somebody has something you want, then it is up to you to attempt to obtain such a thing yourself, not to slowly poison yourself with envy. Love will conquer envy; be happy for others who are doing well, with no rancor in your thoughts. (My older brother makes more money than I do. But I am happy for him, because he tells me all about his adventures and travels, so I get to kind of enjoy his money vicariously.)

Pride is a mind sin, and honestly, I am not sure why Christians find it to be a sin. There is nothing wrong with taking pride in your work or your accomplishments.  If you do something well, or you create something special, you should be proud of yourself. About the only time pride is a problem is when it has certain modifiers. For example, white pride should not be a thing. As history shows, being white is nothing to be proud of, and it is not like you worked hard to be white, starting in the mail room and then climbing the ethnic ladder. You were just born like that.

Wrath is a mind sin, and obviously prevents Serenity. Giving in to wrath and trying to harm another being in anger means you have lost your Self-Control. Now, the sin of wrath does not mean any kind of anger. It means wild anger that is out of control. Some people are angry more or less all the time, and those people will never grow or become more Enlightened until they address and heal whatever hurt is causing the anger. That is what anger really is: a reaction to hurt, or perception of hurt. It is a secondary emotion, always triggered by something else.

Sloth is a body sin, and probably my favorite. Being physically sedentary does not make you a bad person. However, there is sloth of the mind, wherein we never analyze ourselves or our surroundings, instead feeding our brains mindless and meaningless pap. If you never challenge yourself, if you never even try to become more Enlightened, you will live uselessly, and that is absolutely against Path teachings. We must exercise our minds and learn so that we may grow into better versions of ourselves.

I find it interesting that Christians deemed these seven behaviors to be both “deadly” and “sinful.” I would refer to them more as “inadvisable” or even “counter-intuitive” rather than “deadly.” Only a couple of them are what you might call directly opposed to Path doctrine and teachings: Wrath, for sure, Sloth in some cases, Envy kind of. There are worse things you could do or be, really. Perhaps Bigotry should be on the list; maybe that would clue in those fascist Christians who apparently never got the memo that you cannot be a good person and also a Nazi. But no, they feel it is vastly more important to dictate where you can and cannot put your dick.

All in all, this is another instance of religious doctrine trying to exert control over its adherents by telling them what to do and what to think. Path teachings try to avoid that: You may do what you want with your body and mind, as long as you are not harming anyone, but you are also encouraged to strive to be the best you that you can be, whether that means study, travel, or just talking to lots of different people. Learn about the Universe and do what you can to contribute good energy to it. Live with a grateful heart. Basically, just do not be a dick.