OSS # 94: Talent
In Dante Alighieri's epic poem Divine Comedy, envy is defined as "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs." Thomas Aquinas described it as "sorrow for another's good". Envy is one of the seven deadly, the other six being: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, and pride. This has been a popular theme among European artists in the start of the 14th century. These artistic activities helped ingrained the deadly sins concept in the Christian consciousness.
There is no passage in the Bible that exactly lists the seven deadly sins. What the Bible has is a variety of virtues and sins dispersed in its pages. A good example is the list in Galatians 5:19-21 which reads (King James version):
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."It is good to note that the process of identifying and defining the seven deadly sins has been changing. This is probably due to the fact that they are not codified in the Bible. What exactly makes an act fall under sinful, for example envy, has not been written in black and white in the Bible. Determining up to what extent a sinful act encompasses has been a product of religious thinkers.
There is an article in a Christian online community explaining the positive side of envy. It says envy becomes good when it becomes a motivator for self-improvement.
After envy, one could wonder what other sins will be viewed positively.
Comments
A thought provoking question you got there. The definition of what is right and what is wrong also changes, like regla. *wink*
Kuya Niel is really interesting. We should have coffee sometime. Gusto ko maka-kuwentuhan ang kuya ko. Hehehe. =)
--- --
off record:
haha thanks sa comment dun sa chat tragedy ko, masyado ng intellectual kasi sina blue and green guy.. tyempong parehong major ng philosophy..
grabe ang nerdy naman pag "merchandise" ang usapan namin hehehe
what am I saying? I think all things have 2 faces....2 sides....even a bad trait could be good in itself.....
dabo, don't blame me for the yaya's new meaning. blame bubble gang :)
pusang-gala, that is so like deconstruction...
Joms, iba-iba talaga definition ng iba't ibang tao. ito ay karaniwan pinagsisimulan ng pagtatalo.
i would like to consider the seven deadly sins as primary headings (which pope gregory had 'standardized') under which other secondary items may be classified and grouped together.
but nowadays, it is every corner.
but we can't blame them
they do it for a reason. :)
Mine was just wishful thinking. Wish ko lang...But it's complicated and I don't really know what I'm wishing for. So I take it back. Hehehe.
:)
@Pepe Mckunat, yes there is always a reason but some institution still have the privilege of labeling it as good or bad.
Ngayon ko lang narinig yang so yaya na yan, it's gonna replace na the one I've been using "That's so bakya."
RE Sin
Once being a very envious person, I have before justified my attitude by saying the exact same thing--my envy is pushing me to improve myself. Coupled with my pride (and I've got a good load of that, too) envy has gotten me places (I believe) but never truly made me happy.
I'm mostly envious of people's material possessions because I grew up poor. That's why I've been working so darn hard since I was sixteen until now, because I want the money to buy things. However, I will always meet people who earn more than I do, who have cooler things, who eat at fancier places, and so I realized it would never stop. I had to set my own goals and not keep on adjusting them based on what I see around me.
About pride, well that one has done me a bit of good. One time a friend asked why I was very serious in organizing our group's Christmas presentation at the office. SHe asked me "Do you always want to win?" And I explained that what matters to me is that whatever I do, I do it well. The only problem with this is that when I do something not so well, it bothers me so much and I always look for opportunities to redeem myself.
Oh, I've been babbling na...Happy New Year to you and the dolls!