Kay's Seven Deadly Sins #4 Envy

~ DON'T MISS ALL THE COLOR IN MY POST ON LA BOCA, BUENOS AIRES BELOW~

Today We are to discuss ENVY or "invidiousness." for Kay's Seven Daily Sins meme.

Oh, Oh wait, this isn't what Kay meant! She meant us to post about ENVY, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I got carried away, I got hung up on technology...duh!

All right now, the sin of ENVY!

From the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Envy is a complex and puzzling emotion. It is, notoriously, one of the seven deadly sins. It is very commonly charged with being (either typically or universally) unreasonable, irrational, imprudent, vicious, or wrong to feel.

With very few exceptions, the ample philosophical literature defending the rationality and evaluative importance of emotions explicitly excludes envy and a few other nasty emotions as irredeemable.

Indeed, some authors who are prepared to defend even jealousy insist that envy is beyond the pale. Yet there is considerable controversy over what precisely envy is, and the cogency of various specific criticisms of envy depends on what view of that subject is adopted.

In addition to its centrality to discussions in the philosophy of emotions, envy has sparked controversies in political philosophy. Perhaps best known among these is the claim that egalitarian views of justice are motivated by envy.

It also receives substantial treatment from John Rawls, who takes pains to argue that envy does not pose a threat to his theory of justice.

Aren't you curious about that statement above about egalitarianism and envy?

Freud, for instance, held that concern with justice is the product of childhood envy of other children leading to concern for equal treatment, and thereby to ‘group spirit’: “If one cannot be the favorite oneself, at all events nobody else shall be the favorite.”

Defense of the charge that egalitarianism is occurrently motivated by envy hinges both on the commitments of egalitarianism and on the nature of envy. The common motif is that egalitarians wish to do away with the advantages of the better off, and that they wish to do this because they are bothered by the very fact that the better off are better off. This is supposed to show that egalitarians are motivated by envy. Whether this is a fair characterization of any prominent egalitarian position is certainly open to question.

Da__ right it's open to question! It's not true AT ALL! Egalitarians of which I consider myself one are not motivated by envy or jealousy. That's utterly ridiculous! Egalitarians want justice for ALL people particularly people who suffer inequality because of unchosen circumstances such as economic factors, class, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

And how do we solve the problem of inequality, particularly economic inequality, here in the U.S.? The government taxes people. Yeah, that's righ, those who HAVE pay taxes for the HAVE NOTS. I'm not afraid to say it. That's why we're a community, a society. We help our own.

I pay school taxes and willingly even though I have no children in school. The rule isn't each of us pays for the services we use. The rule is we who can pay, pay for the services EVERYBODY uses! You don't like it? Tough! That's the way societies function!

theteach

Sin: Sloth

~PLEASE SCROLL DOWN SO YOU DON'T MISS "LOOKING AT THE SKY ON FRIDAY"~

Kay's Seven Deadly Sins Meme

SLOTH

In the Christian moral tradition, sloth (Latin: acedia, accidia, pigritia) is one of the seven capital sins, often called the seven deadly sins; these sins are called the capital sins because they destroy charity in the person's heart and thus may lead to final impenitence and eternal death. Sloth is defined as spiritual and/or actual apathy, putting off what God asks you to do, or not doing it or anything at all. Acedia is a Latin word, from Greek akedia, literally meaning "absence of caring". Acedia is also deemed to lead to God's wrath.

Sloth can also concern wasting due to lack of use or allowing entropy, expanding into almost any person, place, thing, skills, or intangible ideal that would require maintenance, refinement and/or support to continue to exist.

Several religious views concerning the need for one to work to support society and further God's plan and work by doing so reflects that by not being active alone, you invite the desire to sin on its own. "For Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do."

"Against Idleness and Mischief" by Isaac Watts.

(As the title suggests, it is an exhortation to work hard.)

How doth the little busy bee

Improve each shining hour,

And gather honey all the day

From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!

How neat she spreads the wax!

And labours hard to store it well

With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labour or of skill,

I would be busy too;

For Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthful play,

Let my first years be passed,

That I may give for every day

Some good account at last.

PrismaColor Pencils on black 140 lb paper
ORIGINAL Miniature ART ~ Direct from the Artist (me)
ACEO ~ always 2.5" x 3.5"
ACEO = Art Cards, Editions, and Originals
ATC = Artist Trading Card (think baseball card)

Oh the horror of such artwork! Worse than the art of the Middle Ages on these sins, no?

theteach

Kay's Seven Deadly Sins Challenge #3 - Gluttony

Hieronymus Bosch's The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things.

Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. In the Christian religions, it is considered a sin because of the excessive desire for food, or its withholding from the needy.

Depending on the culture, it can be seen as either a vice or a sign of status. Where food is relatively scarce, being able to eat well might be something to take pride in (although this can also result in a moral backlash when confronted with the reality of those less fortunate). Where food is routinely plentiful, it may be considered a sign of self-control to resist the temptation to over-indulge.

Medieval church leaders (e.g., Thomas Aquinas) took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and excessively costly foods. Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of six ways to commit gluttony, including:

• Praepropere - eating too soon.
• Laute - eating too expensively (washedly).
• Nimis - eating too much.
• Ardenter - eating too eagerly (burningly).
• Studiose - eating too daintily (keenly).
• Forente - eating wildly (boringly).

Well, Thomas Aquinas was a real spoiler of fun!

According to The 7 Deadly Sins web site:

Why you do it: Because you were weaned improperly as an infant.

Your punishment in Hell will be: You'll be force-fed rats, toads, and snakes.

Associated symbols & suchlike: Gluttony is linked with the pig and the color orange.

References In the words of nineteenth-century Russian Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov: Wise temperance of the stomach is a door to all the virtues. Restrain the stomach, and you will enter Paradise. But if you please and pamper your stomach, you will hurl yourself over the precipice of bodily impurity, into the fire of wrath and fury, you will coarsen and darken your mind, and in this way you will ruin your powers of attention and self-control, your sobriety and vigilance.

Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas said of Gluttony: "Gluttony denotes, not any desire of eating and drinking, but an inordinate desire... leaving the order of reason, wherein the good of moral virtue consists." (2, 148, ad 1)

The Travelers' Guide to Hell says Gluttony is ruled by the celestial sign of Jupiter. Ambition was the original sin of the ancient Mithraic sect (from which the Deadly Sins are alledgedly ripped off), but "when it changed sides and became a virtue, Gluttony was summoned to take its place."

According to The Picture Book of Devils, Demons and Witchcraft, by Ernst and Johanna Lehner, those who commit the Sin of Gluttony are punished in Hell by being forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes. And you were just worried about getting fat? If after all that you're still considering hurling yourself off the precipice of bodily impurity, why not do it with some...

DOUBLE PEANUT BUTTER PAISLEY BROWNIES

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Peanut Butter Chips
1/2 cup Hershey's Syrup

Heat oven to 350F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. In large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter. Add sugar and brown sugar; beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; mix into peanut butter mixture, blending well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Spread half of batter into prepared pan; spoon syrup over top. Carefully spread with remaining batter; swirl with metal spatula or knife for marbled effect. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares. About 36 brownies.

See you in Hell! or Overeaters Anonymous

theteach