What do The "Seven Deadly Sins" Have to Do with Self Improvement?

As I have previously stated in a prior article in this blog, entitled “Why do we need self-improvement anyway?” self improvement generally refers to improving one’s peace of mind by eliminating stress and anxiety. The stress and anxiety can be found within our intellectual, emotional, psychological or spiritual levels of our life or in any combination thereof.

Many people turn to their religious faith for their guidance. There is a strong parallel in whatever religious teaching we [meaning you or I] have chosen to follow. All religious teachings provide us with moral codes and other ethical guidelines that are essential to live in peace and harmony within our community.

According to Wikipedia; the “Seven Deadly Sins”, a classification of “Cardinal Sins” has been used since early times by the Christian Church. The “Seven Deadly Sins” are usually defined as anger, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony.

I think it is interesting to note that when we examine our emotional drives of apathy, grief, fear, lust, anger and pride, we find that the “Seven Deadly Sins” actually correlate with our emotional drives. So now, we can look at the “Seven Deadly Sins” in a somewhat different way; the manner they relate to the things that drive us emotionally. For instance:

 Apathy includes sloth in addition to the emotional feelings of depression, being overwhelmed, powerless, etc;
 Grief stands alone. One will continue to grieve until one can let go of the past and accept the challenges of the present moment with joy.
 Fear, which includes the emotional feelings of anxiety and worry;
 Lust including greed, gluttony and envy;
 Anger, which also includes defiance, frustration, impatience, rage, rebellion, resentment, stubbornness, etc.
 Pride, which incorporates the feelings of arrogance, dogmatism, hypocriticism, judgment, selfishness, stubbornness, etc.

Here’s some other interesting tidbits to for you to think about:

 Five of the six categories listed above are emotional drives.
 The emotional categories of lust, anger, and pride are identified as one of the “Seven Deadly Sins”
 Lust is the most significant emotion in the list of the “Seven Deadly Sins” as greed, gluttony and envy are all attributes of lust.

Therefore, it is my belief that this would imply most of our emotional attachments are considered as sins in the eyes of the Christian Church.

Thus, it should stand to reason, that religious teachings are, indeed, important guides to self-improvement and that there is a strong correlation between religion and self-improvement.

Obstacles to Self Improvement-Part 6 of 6 - Pride

Good Morning and Welcome Back

Pride is a great obstacle to Self Improvement mainly because it is considered as one of the seven deadly sins. According to Wikipedia, "In Ancient Greece, instances of pride were termed hubris because of the added connotation that pride was a crime against the gods and would result in fatal retribution. The word was also used to describe those who considered themselves more important than the gods themselves."

I see pride as an important concept that is really being misused by our culture. I see it is being used as a psychological weapon to influence the masses into buying whatever ideas/things that are being "hawked " by the media; thereby, promoting "pride" as a status symbol of materialistic ownership.

This emotion grows/evolves into some of the other feelings that are part of pride such as: arrogance, judgmental, superior, unfeeling and vain. These are feelings of separateness. There are many historical incidents to support what eventually happens when pride consumes your psyche.

What is "Pride"? It is a verb frequently used in a reflexive sense of "congratulating oneself" [Online Etymology Dictionary @2010 Douglas Harper].

Using this context, taking pride in ones work and/or pride in ones accomplishments can be a good starting point in achieving self improvement. Not only have you done something that benefited you, you have given a unique and special gift, an example, to those around you. My first mentor always reminded me, "By example do we teach."

I also find inner peace through being grateful, not only for the opportunity and experience of learning/doing, but that I was able physically and mentally to meet and achieve my goals.

Take care!! Hope to see you next week with more insights in Self Improvement techniques that you can use.