snis/seutriv

Sins and Virtues. Why does the Catholic Church have a monopoly on them in our society? And why seven? There's a bit too much to remember them all, and they're all old-fashioned, out-dated words, even ideas. I mean, chastity? Temperence? Wrath? Pride? Those sins have been deemed 'fine' by our modern day culture, and the meanings of those virtues seems - lost.

So I've set up my own ethics. This is still an evolving process, and open to suggestions (though that doesn't mean I'll take them). My rules: the list must be short, it must reflect modern culture, and as it is very personal, it must reflect me and my values.

So it seems to me there are two basic forces at work in the universe, spiritually speaking: creation and destruction. Extremes of either are to be avoided at all costs. Imagine being stuck in a world of constant destruction: nothing is ever accomplished but blind hate. Now the world of constant creation: overpopulation, no room to breathe. Between the two of them is balance.

The sins and virtues are divided into two fairly obvious groups: destructive forces are sins, and creative forces are virtues. There are currently five in each group. In the virtues are beauty, love, tenacity, intelligence, and vengeance. Sins are murder, rape, waste, stupidity, and betrayal.

Allow me to explain.

Virtues

Beauty does not necessarily exclude ugliness, this is a beauty of the soul, of the mind. It is a beauty of balance and symmetry, one achieved through hard work for that hard-to-grasp aesthetic quality.

Love is passion, a pure desire for something, to care for it, nurture it. It is wanting to do something not for oneself and personal gain, but because someone else will benefit.

Tenacity is stubbornness, a 'stick-to-it' quality that ensures something will be created. It makes sure that ideas become things.

Intelligence is the ability to learn - not knowledge, not wisdom, just a thirst for knowledge and education. It is wanting to know how to make your ideas into things.

Vengeance - this one people will probably look askance at. It is, above all, righteous, not petty. It is only undertaken for serious matters, and never pre-emptively. It is exactly equal to the insult dealt.

Sins

Murder. Quite self-explanatory, but it must be clarified that murder, senseless killing, is the sin here. Not manslaughter, not killing to avenge. Pure killing for the sake of killing.

Rape: also self-explanatory, as such an intimate violation is nothing but killing a soul.

Waste is killing without reverence. To slaughter an animal, then toss out the majority of it is irreverent. One must kill only in need, and be careful in determining need at that.

Stupidity is wilfull lack of knowledge. It is not wanting to learn, for pure orneryness. Which is of course a word.

Betrayal is a violation of trust. It is one thing to lie, but to betray is to say that the person betrayed never was as important to you as you were to them.

So there it is - sins and virtues, according to me. Constructive / creative criticism and opposing views are most welcome.