The way to love someone
is to lightly run your finger over that person's soul
until you find a crack,
and then gently pour your love into that crack.
~Keith Miller

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

List of "ugly" stuff ... Seven deadly vices ... particularly, LUST


LUST
PRIDE
WRATH

"The Bible and several other self help or enlightenment books cite the Seven Deadly Sins. They are: pride, greed, lust, envy, wrath, sloth, and gluttony. That pretty much covers everything that we do, that is sinful... or fun for that matter." ~ Dave Mustaine

Greed, envy, sloth, pride and gluttony: these are not vices anymore. No, these are marketing tools. Lust is our way of life. Envy is just a nudge towards another sale. Even in our relationships we consume each other, each of us looking for what we can get out of the other. Our appetites are often satisfied at the expense of those around us. In a dog-eat-dog world we lose part of our humanity.”  ~Jon Foreman



I'm looking at this list of "bad" stuff and also at these words individually.  The list seems to have evolved from several different areas ... religions, philosophies ... art sciences, by that I mean stuff like psychology  ... stuff like that, cultural influences.

It seems to me that these words represent interlocking ideas ... like lust and greed may be similar or may be the same, both want excessively ... how is greed different from gluttony ... and aren't both envy played out?  Words again ... like the list I looked at of desirable traits ... fruits  of the spirit.   I guess at the beginning of looking at these ugly words, I'm thinking of them as the worms in those apples.


I haven't seen these words "listed" together in the Bible.  I'm still reading references about how this particular list of words came to be ... . Four cardinal virtues plus the three spiritual virtues yielded the seven most commonly listed together.  These seven vices ... idk yet ... and I'm finding that some of these words weren't even used till maybe the 1600s.  Well ... we will see what turns up.



LUST
VANITY/SLOTH
GLUTTONY 
ENVY
GREED
PRIDE
WRATH






Quick search on the iPad Bible (KJV) renders 18 results for LUST straight forward as a noun ... not lusty or lusted or ... 


I'm going to go with this one in James, because I particularly respect James as a person.


But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.James 1:14 and 15



(Just had to "put" these here ... this morning is so great ... I have my coffee, cold now, but still so good, and that bird is right outside my open window, I turn my head to the right and see her sitting there so composed, so patient ... so sweet ... and a breeze is blowing, ruffling the crepe myrtle I planted from a five gallon start, it's over fifteen feet tall now and providing shade for this delicate pink begonia ... also in view from where I sit.  The very air here on the ground is dappled in happy ... . I'm sitting here with the click and hum of the clothes tumbling in the dryer ... and floating away from the vine, rose petals and scent.  I am still.  I'm learning how to be still and ... I feel a little guilty about it ... don't know why ... still, like that little bird is deceptively difficult.  I'm so glad the birds nest there ... they are good company.


Alrighty ... back to thinking.)  So, I think that is saying that lust leads to sinning and sin's usual resultant, decay and death.


What does the ole dictionary have to say about lust?

n.
1. Intense or unrestrained sexual craving.
2.
a. An overwhelming desire or craving: a lust for power
b. Intense eagerness or enthusiasm: a lust for life
3. Obsolete Pleasure; relish.
intr.v. lust·edlust·inglusts
To have an intense or obsessive desire, especially one that is sexual.

so ... mostly now understood in the context of libido ... James, in my opinion, was using the word in a broader context, but the verse certainly works within  purely sexual (if there is such a thing) examples.  I hear the word lust being used to steer thinking on extramarital affairs ... adultery.  I think also of where pornography, which seems to inspire and nourish lusts, has taken marital relationships ... probably very similarly erosive as an extramarital affair would be. The secret life of porn consumption. 
The other day some one sent the video of those two kids singing on Britain's Got Talent ... especially he is so spectacular a singer ... friend sent it with some link from "The 700 Club"  ... I never look at 700 Club stuff, the main guy kinda creeps me out for some unknown reason ... anyway, there were little click on boxes for a video interview with a woman who has escaped from years of bondage in the world of human trafficking.  I had no idea.  Just a tiny bit of web searched yielded info on that sickening trend.  I didn't know ... somewhere a list of random facts about human trafficking said that more people are slaves now then at any other time in history ... and that this is driven by the sex for sale industry.
http://www.doctorsatwar.org/human-trafficking-facts.php 
http://www.ncadv.org/files/HumanTrafficking.pdf


lust ... sexual craving ... long ways from Adam and Eve innocently frolicking in the garden ... 
Here's a fairly descriptive definition of lust ... In many religious doctrines lust is loosely defined with the result that it is often equated and confused with the physical expression of love in the sexual act.  Barry Long states that lusting is only the thinking about sex, and this thinking about the natural sexual energy gives rise to a separate powerful emotional condition known as lust. This emotional condition is the problem in love. ~MAKING LOVE Sexual Love the Divine Way' Barry Long 
In short ... lust is fantasizing.  I think enthusiasm, eagerness for "physical expressions of love" is a good thing ... like a gift.  Lust somehow messes up that gift.  Lust is an interior, psychological action. I think of it as like poison ivy ... accidentally stepped in maybe ... scratched, it spreads and it feels so necessary to scratch it ... and it just gets worse and worse ... it disables rather then builds ... it leads to death as James observes for us ... it makes good stuff die.  Lust somehow distorts loving acts ... that's what I think I'm trying to understand.  
Same thing on power lust ... it doesn't build strong leaders ... every strong leader I have experience with seemed to lead not because they particularly needed to lead, rather because they acted as one you chose to follow ... not a "concharge"(concharge = control + in charge) ... more like a good Shepard sort of thing, or that guy who helped the horse at Cowboy Church.  


Lust weakens love ... that's a preliminary conclusion.  I'll have to think about this some more.   When I first thought to look at the seven vices specifically, I was thinking about our tendency towards this stuff in general and more specifically, I wonder it these traits might be seen as the self-defeating end of a character continuum with something strong and edifying on the other end.  Like this ... lust on one end love on the other and the person of residence for this character line, making choice which encourage the development of this trait with towards the weakening end or the strengthening end.  Like this ... a leader may act as a tyrant/bully because their grasp on power allows it, or a leadership may be acted out as people choose to follow.  I am trying to find the words to think about this stuff and clarify the idea.  Lust, defined as enthusiasm and eagerness, surely isn't inherently "wrong" ... surely there must be a choice made in channeling or harnessing these qualities that we label as the vice of lust. ... hmmm, like this: Am I super focused or am I super stubborn?  Aren't they the same trait but one to work on building, the other dismantling?  That's what I'm trying to see if I can see it here among these obviously undesirable qualities.  If they are seeded in each of us, what determines what grows?  Also,  I want to see if the damage done by one ... say lust ... might necessarily be undone only by its' twin ... love.  Those trafficked slaves are damaged by lust ... their lives are eaten by lust's desire to itch scratch and spread ... the damage is real and to undo it ... how?  Is the antidote related to the curse? The horse was damaged by the rod of power ineptly employed and yet swung its head and heart around to a man strong enough to lead.  That's where this rabbit hunting is coming from. 


"Love begins with an image; lust with a sensation." ~ Mason Cooley


"Love grows. Lust wastes by enjoyment, and the reason is, that one springs from a Union of Souls, and the other from a Union of Sense." ~ William Penn


Well ... that's it for today ... vanity and sloth up next.  Sloth is a small animal right?

No comments: