The Seven Sins

Is the twenty-first century really a time when we can talk about sin? Is sin necessarily something that reflects a religious world-view, or might it be a fundamental psychological dynamic that has profound meaning in terms of our compulsions, our struggles with our own tendencies toward destructiveness, and our efforts to contribute something creative to life?

The concept of the Seven Cardinal Sins is a very ancient one, and long predates what we now think of in Western cultures as a medieval and grossly outdated list of offences against the dictates of religious orthodoxy. If we are to understand within a psychological framework what it might mean to sin, and what kind of profoundly complex and potentially transformative themes underpin older and often highly misleading interpretations, we will need to look more deeply at each of the Cardinal Sins and its expressions in individual character and life.

The challenges of the Seven Sins don’t disappear with age, nor lessen with experience. What can change at any time in life, with effort and inner exploration, is our consciousness, and our capacity to recognise the subtle ways in which our inner compulsions can impel us to express the very best as well as the very worst within us.

The second Cardinal Sin is Gluttony. In Latin, it was known as 'Gula', a word that also means 'throat' - an allusion to a boundless greed for food and drink. Like Envy, Gluttony can be destructive, from its effects on physical health to its effects on the planet through overconsumption and waste.

But Gluttony isn't only about a shameless appetite for more food, money, or possessions. Another way of understanding Gluttony is that it reflects a compulsive need to be more than what we are. We might also call Gluttony Dissatisfaction, because it reflects something within us that remains perennially discontented with mundane reality. If we can maintain moral integrity in the face of that dissatisfaction, we might discover a powerfully creative drive that we could also call Aspiration.

Wrath, the next Cardinal Sin, is what we might understand as uncontrolled rage. In Latin, it was called 'Ira', from which we derive the English word ire. In the medieval world, Wrath was associated with the Devil. But like the other Cardinal Sins, Wrath is a highly complex issue. Defensive anger is a fundamental instinct in all animal forms of life, and it can be entirely healthy and appropriate, whereas uncontrolled Wrath is irredeemably destructive.

The creative face of Wrath might be called Courage, because whenever we seek to change things, inner or outer, we must display an initiative that requires bravery and honesty in equal measures.

The Fifth Cardinal Sin is Lust. This sin was called 'Luxuria' in the medieval Christian world, and it was related to sexual desire and what was known as voluptuousness: unbridled sensuality. Times have changed since then, and Lust is hardly viewed as a sin these days in Western cultures.

In older texts, Lust was also called 'Inappropriate Longing', revealing another, subtler, yet extremely important dimension of Lust: desiring that which one has no right to desire. And if we can begin to understand what constitutes 'inappropriate longing' for each individual, Lust might turn out to be an immensely creative force; for what we cannot possess in the outer world, we can nourish in the inner, and discover in the process a profound experience of joy.

The Seven Sins have always been a powerful metaphor for the ways in which humans 'go wrong' in life. The Sins began as a story of the planetary journey of the soul into incarnation, but they were appropriated and given a particular moral slant by religious authorities, and have remained deep in human consciousness as impulses that, even in this apparently liberal twenty-first century, still have the power to make us feel bad about ourselves.

In an era when deeper questions about the meaning and nature of life have been given definitive answers by science, sociology, and politics, it might be important to remember that the word 'sin', albeit abused by so many religious doctrines, means 'injury' or 'transgression': an injury against the unfolding patterns of life itself. Yet the Seven Sins are also very much more. Each of them conceals an immensely creative human impulse. If we are prepared to understand their roots rather than simply indulging in an orgy of guilty self-loathing, they could help us to fulfil the highest potentials of which we are capable.

These small samples from different chapters convey a glimpse of your personal horoscope The Seven Sins.