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“Greed may not be good, but it’s not so bad either. You humans think greed is just for money and power. But everyone wants something they don’t have.”

Greed (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

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“I want everything,” says Greed

We have finally reached the last of the sins, hence completing the seven deadly sins set. Greed, otherwise known as avarice is a sin that most of us is very well aware of. Greed is insatiable desires of possessing more than what we already have, regardless of whether the object will be of use later on. Unlike the sin gluttony, greed is specifically and mostly associated with materialism such as wealth, power or status. This is what is valuable in the eyes of greed. However, you might question yourself and think that aren’t these characteristics that actually defined how much you have achieved in life? Ideally, it is true though this is where the sin is revealed. By disregarding the essence of spirituality and pouring all your attention over objects, this is where the sin manifests itself in a quite unhealthy way. For example, ignoring one’s health while putting more importance over money.

Another simple way to sum this sin as a whole is the selfish nature that it possesses and it is no wonder why the opposite virtue is charity, the act of giving. Greed surprisingly became one of the special sins for catching my attention mostly due to the fact that I was influenced by how it was portrayed from one of my favorite anime show, ‘Fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood’. From my interpretation of that sin, there is nothing wrong to feel greedy once in a while as for me, being all the time selfless that is always putting others before you can actually backfired to a point that it drains you. Hence this is why by acting greedy or selfish, you can use this time to replenish your energy and focuses more about yourself for more positivity. Though of course, too much indulgence becomes a problem as for the other sins, there should always be a balance. 

If I say that greed is so flexible that this sin can actually be linked with the other six sins, for instance greed feels the pride for its possessions or greed manifests wrath because greed feels it is right to be greedy... would you agree? Why? 

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What if...

What if... the seven deadly sins were Pokémon’s types ? Greed, Lust, Gluttony and Envy would be under the ‘desire type’ since these four share this trait in common but expressed through different aims or goals. Do you agree? What do you think ? Let me know.

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check this out!!!

More about the sin LUST

https://www.overthinkingit.com/2011/07/25/full-metal-alchemist-lust/

The link above provides a fantastic and interesting description of the sin Lust. It’s something that i came across from an anime pov and thought that it would be great to share, hence a must read. Definitely cleared up some questions that I held about this sin but well more insight is always welcome. 

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Envy is watching you.

Ever noticed the dirty looks that you randomly caught from someone looking noticed how envious you look? That’s the famous work of the sin Envy and yet again another trait that everyone is more or less familiar with. In my opinion, envy is the ugliest out of the seven deadly sins due to this really negative vibe that is projected whenever this emotion is unleashed. The bitter words, the negative thoughts or the degrading smiles upon one’s downfall… all of them are sadly everywhere nowadays and it is no wonder why its contrarian virtue is kindness. Kindness is either dwindling away or comes with a price. I believe the cause of this is that people are unfortunately never satisfied with what they have or gain. By being envious, they don’t hesitate to bring others down for their own success or just become nasty toward the other. That’s the sin envy when it causes harm. However, there is another side of envy which is quite harmless in the form of a simply banter, for instance joking with friends or colleagues without really meaning it. One interesting projection of the sin envy that totally grasps my attention was from the anime ‘Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’. Its truest appearance was shown as something really small in the size of a caterpillar masking itself in various larger forms which at times appeared intimidating to others. The meaning behind this is simply mindblowing and from what I gather, this ideally a great depiction of how envy or jealousy in size and the roots of this emotion could be triggered by various factors for instance insecurity or contempt.  What do you think about this sin? Do you agree from the brief description of envy’s form if ever you have to imagine one?? Let me know. 

So many anime references (my inspiration tbh)  from the beginning and there is more to come. 

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Next is ... Gluttony!

Are we not living in a society that simply depicts the sin ‘gluttony’ nowadays? That’s right, if we look around us, this is clearly what is happening. Having eyes bigger than our stomachs, we over indulged into what we consume in particular food, materials and so on... things that wed don’t really need at the end of the day. This is what gluttony makes us do and this sin is well known for over-consumption or excess in eating. With all those delicious and fine dish out there, it is no wonder why it is so hard to resist the temptation of savoring everything. Gluttony is one of the least trait that I can relate out of the seven deadly sins, primarily due to the fact that I have a rather small appetite. In my opinion, gluttony manifests itself and becomes a sin when while consuming, the individual is as well producing waste as in not being able to finish all the food. This is pretty much inconsiderate especially when there are other factors like people dying due to hunger or poverty. 

What do you think about this particular sin, gluttony? 

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Sharing a little something because this gave a clearer and somewhat deep thoughts about the sin Pride.  My favorite part is where the writer explained how we lose ourselves once we lost this pride.  It’s like game over, disconnected from the world we’ve constructed to begin all over again... 

Death of Pride

To kill pride is to open up a door way allowing one to become shameless, doing anything to achieve their deepest desires. To become shameless is to open a door to the heart, there for manipulating the true nature of ones soul, tainting it, creating, well no one knows. But if i had to guess, i would say something like a tainted star, a black hole. Absorbing any and everything, while still being nothing.

With out pride, we become no one.

The death of pride, is the death of us.

And i don’t mean our physical selves, i mean the person you see in the mirror that makes you smile because you’re proud of who they are. 

Once we lose that, we ourselves become lost.

It’ll be like looking in the bathroom mirror, and turning off the light, thus reaching outward hoping to find ourselves.

And when we finally switch the lights back on and look into the mirror, we are greeted by a stranger. 

A silhouette.

A page stained with the actions of another.

Do you still smile when see your reflection?

Or do you avoid awkward eye contact with the man or woman staring into the window that use to be your mirror? 

T.K.M.

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REMEDIATING FOR 280 CHARACTERS 

Using hashtags has now become the norm and a trending factor for the majority of the world. This culture can be seen everywhere on any social media platform and even slowly integrating the way we live our life for instance in normal daily conversation. The only hashtag that I used is #7deadlysins and #Fullmetal Alchemist, in order to , keeping relatively simple since personally I think overusing too much hashtags becomes a hindrance and in the end no one would want to read them.

Most of the responses garnered were from the retweet consisting of the popular Japanese animation otherwise known as anime, ‘Fullmetal alchemist’ and engaging with someone about subjective this topic actually is.

To be honest, although Twitter has a kind of classy, refine as well as casual appeal in terms of the overall presentation of your profile or the way it conducts the posts known as tweets, this microblogging platform is however not my cup of tea. This is not my first time using Twitter and aside from gaining further experience in terms of conversing via retweets, the following reasons are why I would not be an active user if ever I have a Twitter account. The limited text form can be both advantageous and disadvantageous. Personally, it’s beneficial in the sense that it pushes an individual to be more direct in terms of expression and making the latter think about the appropriate word usage in order to fit the context all while conveying the message. It is as well one of the reasons which adds final aesthetic look to the social platform. However, due to its lack of wordings, it is kind of nerve-wrecking and frustrating at times as you are not able to write down everything down. Another reason is the more popular or trendy the subject of your interest is, the larger the fanbase would be as well as in terms of contents. Taking for example, my very own topic about the seven deadly sins is a topic that seldom catches attention unless known through fiction for instance and this is what exactly got the more attention that is my retweet about an anime using the concept of seven deadly sins. Finally, I do believe each subject has their own platform suitable for other people sharing the same interest. For instance, the gaming community will be more active on Twitch or Discord.

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Entering the conversation 

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Creating generative value: [http://changingminds.org/explanations/values/deadly_sins.htm]

 credits to Steven Burkett

The picture above depicts, in the following order, the seven deadly sins of Gluttony, Lust, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Envy and Greed.

Pride is an excessive belief in one's own abilities.

Envy is wanting what others have, be it status, abilities, or possessions.

Gluttony is the desire to eat or consume more than you require.

Lust is a powerful craving for such as sex, power and money.

Anger is the loss of rational self-control and the desire to harm others.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain.

Sloth is laziness and the avoidance of work.

Note how many of these are very similar: envy, gluttony, lust and greed are all about desire but they have different mechanism that trigger based on the certain goals. There is also a hidden lack of concern for others in at least envy and anger, though anger usually occurs due to being blind by this emotion which explains the cold or explosive demeanor.

As with other religious rule-sets, these pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of a system for social harmonization or social control (depending on your viewpoint). Few people will openly admit to any of them (which attests to the success in the inculcation of these as anti-values in the Christian world) which is quite an irony as these traits are what make us human beings in the end.

The number seven, by the way, is not only a cabbalistic magical number, it also just happens to be the size of our short-term memory, which is a real limit to the number of things we can hold in mind at one time.

So what? Do not demonstrate these values yourself. Suggest that the other person is succumbing to one or more of these values and they will likely head in the opposite direction.

Another approach is to play the Devil and encourage the other person to give in to these natural tendencies. In other words, from what this author attempts to indirectly interpret is one must resists the temptation to over indulge.

You can then either use this 'rule-breaking' as evidence that they can do things they previously would not consider. You can even use it then as a guilt lever, maybe even as a form of blackmail (this is far more common than may be supposed).

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Zzzz... Slooooth

Zzz

At this stage, I’ve become one with sloth and feel reluctant to write. XD

The sin of the day is Sloth, in other words laziness is yet another familiar sins that most of us is familiar with though in different ways. The typical of identifying this sin is done physically as you observe someone’s else living patterns. For instance, they could be be leaving tons of task that need to be completed aside, rotting in a corner. Just like the sin wrath, in my opinion sloth is can be pretty much harmless IF at the end of the day, the person dawdling around in attempt to waste time or throw excuses, just need a little push to get out of this unhealthy way of living. I can relate to sloth in some ways due to my procrastination ways which i’m trying to change. 

Any anime fan around!!? The anime is Hyouka, (too short for my liking )

But what do you think about this quote above?? If you think about it, we tend to criticize how lazy we have become nowadays in terms of relying so much on gadgets, devices or machines to do most of our tasks. Don’t you think there’s a slight similarity there?

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i... lust?!

Honestly, this is the only sin that really makes me ponder a lot upon, thus writing about Lust has been a real challenge for me and to make matters slightly difficult, I somehow refused to view Lust within one perspective as known to the majority of us. So what is Lust really about? Sure, it has a deep connection with sexual satisfaction or otherwise known as lustful desires and that is how this is portrayed in the 7 deadly sins. Though, through some research, the unusual theory that I gathered about this sin was the connection to loneliness or at least the fear or unwavering emotions of being left alone and having no one. Simply put, love is the opposite of lust. Put that way, lust doesn’t grasp the meaning of love and fair enough understand its essence and what it means to give and receive those feelings. Already unclear about how to interpret this feeling of being love, lust can only depend on the illusion that it is created through various acts of sexual acts which is parallel to their own interpretation of love just to ease that itch of emptiness, thus feeling satisfy for only a limited period of time. The other interpretation of Lust, and by far my favorite would be simply referred as an intense desire of acquiring things. 

So, what’s your definition of lust? Do let me know as it might help spread more insight! 

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Pride! is on the way...

What would an individual be without pride? Pride, at first glance, did not inspire anything pleasant especially since I would somehow associate this trait to ego. In my opinion, ego is something obnoxious because I saw only one side of this trait, how it caused conflicts and is sometimes the root of unnecessary drama. However, as I grew up and read more, I realised that I was judgemental. Pride projected the notion of self-esteem which was the very essence that led human beings to be confident about duties being carried out, performing them in such a way that it brings satisfaction or for instance the patriotic feeling about one’s own country can be demonstrated through pride. Pride, like any of the sins has a thin line separating it from falling into that category considered as improper or immoral. This abuse of pride or the self-esteem at the end turn into something plainly unbearable to the eyes demonstrating arrogance and superiority over others and refusing to admit your own flaws can be fatal in many ways. 

Pride in the sense of nurturing the self confidence, for instance feeling proud of an achievement such as work, your personal hobbies etc.. could work, no? 

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Sin of the day: Wrath

Wrath is a sin that most of us would commonly referred to as anger most of the time. It is a sin that, I believe, everyone must be familiar with as we have all experienced this emotion before, be it in moments of frustration for instance, failing to complete a task or when one is running out of patience, thus making this outburst unintentional. In a nutshell, anger is how we emotionally respond to events happening in our life. There are many forms of interpretation that can be associated with this particular emotion though before that, it would be good to not confuse wrath with anger in the sense that anger is only the tip of an iceberg while wrath is the hidden part. This is one of the sins that I personally think does not hold the same ‘deadly’ notion as compared to the other sins. In fact, I feel quite at peace with this sin, though it could be that I can balance patience with wrath because there are indeed moments that I feel wrath and this is not the best feeling ever (even though they are just thoughts).  Wrath is destructive and it does damage to the other person on whom you are projecting this emotion as well as on yourself, once you regain conscious of your actions, you will suffer the consequences of it either through regret or isolation.  What do you think about the sin Wrath??  

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Introducing your topic

The concept of the Seven Deadly Sins especially associated to the self is indeed a matter that can be quite intriguing, possessing characteristics that one might not even know and is actually fun to analyse. However, each one of us has a unique approach in life and with that thought in mind, it all depends on the individual himself about whether such topic will be of interest. Nevertheless, the following reasons are why you should be interested in the Seven Deadly Sins. First of all, throughout time, researchers have been attentive concerning the behaviour of individuals in a society and made use of different concepts to acquire more understanding. The Seven Deadly Sins is one of them. It consists of anger, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride and sloth along with its contrarian values namely patience, kindness, temperance, charity, chastity, humility and diligence respectively (Veselka, Giammarco & Vernon, 2014). Secondly, if one thinks about the changes brought in today’s world, the sins mentioned are clearly reflected and projected through our actions. An example of where this concept has been used is within the working place environment. Kinsman (2007) shared his observation after being influence by the advice of John M. McKee on the ‘7 deadly workplace sins’(HERE for more info) where he depicts behaviours that can arise impacting on the professional and personal life. For instance, envy is self-destructive, bringing negativity upon them all while damaging their self-esteem in the process. Another example is anger, which is often shun upon for lack of professionalism and leadership and if you refer to the contrarian values mentioned above, patience on the contrary is important in leadership especially to inspire and for guidance. Lastly, there is much more when it comes to the seven deadly sins beside the traits listed. It is wiser to see these characteristics as a structure or a guide, a tool to create another way of thinking. Some people challenges the notion provided by the Church, for instance the aspect of gluttony in a world that appreciates food, about the seven deadly sins since that’s where it is originated while others have a more or less similar ideology of sins. For example, Mahatma Ghandi had his own lists of these sins such as wealth without work, pleasure without conscience or knowledge without character (as cited in Greene, 2003). Still, relying solely on a specific analysis can never bring out new perceptions or ideas.This shows the real complexity in understanding the seven deadly sins which think would be best learned from personal experiences.

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Narrating Personal Interest

My interest about the Seven Deadly Sins emerged quite a long time ago from small findings on the internet and watching the popular show ‘Brain Games’ on TV, where one of the episodes was focused on exploring this concept. Additionally, later on there was more exposure added from other media forms but more specifically from watching anime, which is one of my hobbies and where this concept has been used as story plot as shown in Figure 2. This fascination began as a child being engrossed by myths and legends from story books, little by little evolving into abstract ideas or theories, either rational or irrational though it has to be provocative and challenging enough. Hence, when exposed to such concept, I was simply enthralled and as an entertainment started to invest more on the subject all while learning about others’ perspectives through comments in the comment section. Yet, another one of the factors contributing to this desire of gathering more insight about the Seven Deadly Sins, especially in relation to human behaviour, originated from my interest that is learning about the self. Life is just like a novel, staged and set up with human beings as the actors though much more untameable and rough, far from desirable perfection. And just like this, each one of us has our ups and downs moments. It was eventually those trials that led me intrigued by the mechanism behind every single action of human beings, their behaviour or motives and especially the way one thinks. Bringing in a link between the Seven Deadly Sins and human beings later became a piece of cake mainly after watching the show mentioned above as it offered further analysis about how it impacts or could impact on ourselves. This was what inspired me to view this concept in a different angle. I will give a brief description of each sin in my blog from a personal perspective, based on my own experience, focusing on the sin mentioned where some can be either active or dormant, usually due to being triggered by our surroundings and how we respond to it. The reason why these are condemned as sins is not really about the traits but in my opinion the action that followed. In other words, it is in human nature to feel these emotions but we have to maintain a certain control over these emotions to not commit any atrocious acts.

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And yet another one using the Seven Deadly Sins as a storyline :D but hey it’s really interesting so do give it a try as well :’) Fun fact: I’m curious to why Merlin is portrayed as Gluttony and how lust is represented (I’m sooo slow TT^TT but pls no spoiler xD)