Sloth (deadly sin)

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Acedia in The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things, by Hieronymus Bosch. Jheronimus Bosch Table of the Mortal Sins (Accidia).jpg
Acedia in The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things , by Hieronymus Bosch.

Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholic teachings. It is the most difficult sin to define and credit as sin, since it refers to an assortment of ideas, dating from antiquity and including mental, spiritual, pathological, and conditional states. [1] One definition is a habitual disinclination to exertion, or laziness. [2] [ better source needed ] Views concerning the virtue of work to support society and further God's plan suggest that through inactivity, one invites sin: "For Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." ("Against Idleness and Mischief" by Isaac Watts).

Contents

Definition

The word "sloth" is a translation of the Latin term acedia (Middle English, acciditties) and means "without care". Spiritually, acedia first referred to an affliction to women, religious persons, wherein they became indifferent to their duties and obligations to God. Mentally, acedia has a number of distinctive components of which the most important is affectlessness, a lack of any feeling about self or others, a mind-state that gives rise to boredom, rancor, apathy, and a passive, inert, or sluggish mentation. Physically, acedia is fundamentally a cessation of motion and an indifference to work; it finds expression in [sloth can also be referred as Laziness], idleness, and indolence. [1] Two commentators consider the most accurate translation of acedia to be "self-pity", for it "conveys both the melancholy of the condition and self-centeredness upon which it is founded." [3]

Catholicism

In his Summa Theologica , Saint Thomas Aquinas defined sloth as "sorrow about spiritual good" and as "facetiousness of the mind which neglects to being good... [it] is evil in its effect, if it so oppresses men as to draw him away entirely from good deeds." [4] According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church , "acedia or sloth goes so far as to refuse joy from God and is repelled by goodness". [5]

Sloth ignores the seven gifts of grace given by the Holy Ghost (wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord); such disregard slows spiritual progress towards life—to neglect manifold duties of charity towards the neighbour, and animosity towards God. [6]

Unlike the other capital sins, sloth is a sin of omission, being a lack of desire and/or performance. It may arise from any of the other capital vices; for example, a son may omit his duty to his father through anger. Henry Edward Manning argued that while the state and habit of sloth is a mortal sin, the habit of the soul tending towards the last mortal state of sloth is not mortal in and of itself except under certain circumstances. [6]

Italian poet Dante Alighieri contemplates the nature of sloth as a capital vice in Canto 18 of Purgatorio , the second canticle of the Divine Comedy . Dante encounters the slothful on the fourth terrace of Mount Purgatory, where his guide, the Roman poet Virgil, explains that sloth can be seen as the effect of an insufficient amount of love. [7] Following the logics of contrapasso, the slothful work to purge themselves of their vice through continuous running. [8]

Orthodoxy

In the Philokalia, the word dejection is used instead of sloth, for the person who falls into dejection will lose interest in life.

Others

Sloth has also been defined as a failure to do things that one should do, though the understanding of the sin in antiquity was that this laziness or lack of work was simply a symptom of the vice of apathy or indifference, particularly an apathy or boredom with God. [9] [ better source needed ] Concurrently, this apathy can be seen as an inadequate amount of love. [7]

Emotionally and cognitively, the evil of acedia finds expression in a lack of any feeling for the world, for the people in it, or for the self. Acedia takes form as an alienation of the sentient self first from the world and then from itself. Although the most profound versions of this condition are found in a withdrawal from all forms of participation in or care for others or oneself, a lesser but more noisome element was also noted by theologians. From tristitia, asserted Gregory the Great, "there arise malice, rancour, cowardice, [and] despair..." Geoffrey Chaucer, too, dealt with this attribute of acedia, counting the characteristics of the sin to include despair, somnolence, idleness, tardiness, negligence, indolence, and wrawnesse, the last variously translated as "anger" or better as "peevishness". For Chaucer, human's sin consists of languishing and holding back, refusing to undertake works of goodness because, he/she tells him/her self, the circumstances surrounding the establishment of good are too grievous and too difficult to suffer. Acedia in Chaucer's view is thus the enemy of every source and motive for work. [10]

Sloth not only subverts the livelihood of the body, taking no care for its day-to-day provisions but also slows down the mind, halting its attention to matters of great importance. Sloth hinders man in his righteous undertakings and becomes a path to ruin. [10]

According to Peter Binsfeld's Binsfeld's Classification of Demons, Belphegor is the chief demon of the sin Sloth. [11]

Christian author and Clinical Psychologist Dr. William Backus has pointed out the similarities between sloth and depression. "Depression involves aversion to effort, and the moral danger of sloth lies in this characteristic. The work involved in exercising one's will to make moral and spiritual decisions seems particularly undesirable and demanding. Thus the slothful person drifts along in habits of sin, convinced that he has no willpower and aided in this claim by those who persist in seeking only biological and environmental causes and medical remedies for sloth." [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Divine Comedy</i> Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri

The Divine Comedy is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of Western literature. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it existed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven deadly sins</span> Set of vices in Christian theology

The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. According to the standard list, they are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth, which are contrary to the seven heavenly virtues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lust</span> Human emotion

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vice</span> Immoral or depraved behavior or habit

A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhealthy habit. Vices are usually associated with a fault in a person's character or temperament rather than their morality.

<i>Purgatorio</i> Second part of Dantes Divine Comedy

Purgatorio is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and preceding the Paradiso. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil – except for the last four cantos, at which point Beatrice takes over as Dante's guide. Allegorically, Purgatorio represents the penitent Christian life. In describing the climb Dante discusses the nature of sin, examples of vice and virtue, as well as moral issues in politics and in the Church. The poem posits the theory that all sins arise from love – either perverted love directed towards others' harm, or deficient love, or the disordered or excessive love of good things.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laziness</span> Disinclination to activity or exertion

Laziness is disinclination to activity or exertion despite having the ability to act or to exert oneself. It is often used as a pejorative; terms for a person seen to be lazy include "couch potato", "slacker", and "bludger". Related concepts include sloth, a Christian sin, abulia, a medical term for reduced motivation, and lethargy, a state of lacking energy.

<i>Summa Theologica</i> Theological treatise by Thomas Aquinas

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<i>Contrapasso</i> Method of infernal punishment

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belacqua</span> Minor character in Dantes Purgatorio discussed extensively by Samuel Beckett

Belacqua is a minor character in Dante Alighieri's Purgatorio, Canto IV. He is considered the epitome of indolence and laziness, but he is nonetheless saved from the punishment of Hell in Inferno and often viewed as a comic element in the poem for his wit. The relevance of Belacqua is also driven by Samuel Beckett's strong interest in this character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acedia</span> Mental state

Acedia has been variously defined as a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one's position or condition in the world. In ancient Greece akidía literally meant an inert state without pain or care. Early Christian monks used the term to define a spiritual state of listlessness and from there the term developed a markedly Christian moral tone. In modern times it has been taken up by literary figures and connected to depression.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noonday Demon</span>

The term Noonday Demon is used as a synonym and a personification of acedia, which stems from the Greek word "akēdeia" which means to lack care. It indicates a demonic figure thought to be active at the noon hour which inclines its victims to restlessness, excitability, and inattention to one's duties.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diligence</span> Carefulness and persistent effort or work

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Aquinas</span> Italian Dominican theologian (1225–1274)

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<i>Inferno</i> (Dante) First part of Dantes Divine Comedy

Inferno is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno describes Dante's journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen". As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.

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References

  1. 1 2 Lyman, Stanford (1989). The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil. p. 5. ISBN   0-930390-81-4.
  2. ↑ "the definition of sloth". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  3. ↑ Kurtz, Ernest; Ketcham, Katherine. Experiencing Spirituality: Finding Meaning Through Storytelling. Tarcher Perigee. p. 220.
  4. ↑ Thomas Aquinas. "The Summa Theologica II-II.Q35.A1 (Sloth)" (1920, Second and Revised ed.). New Advent.
  5. ↑ Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2019. Paragraph 2094.
  6. 1 2 Manning, Henry Edward (1874). Sin and Its Consequences. London: Burns and Oates. pp.  40, 103–117.
  7. 1 2 Migiel, Marilyn (2008). Lectura Dantis: Purgatorio. University of California Press. p. 192.
  8. ↑ Dante Alighieri (1265–1321). (2021). Purgatorio. ISBN   978-88-06-21625-2. OCLC   1272942028.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ "Lazy Busy". 4 March 2015.
  10. 1 2 Lyman, Stanford (1989). The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 6–7. ISBN   9780930390815.
  11. ↑ Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology, By Rosemary Guiley, p. 28–29, Facts on File, 2009.
  12. ↑ Backus, Dr. William (2000). What Your Counselor Never Told You. Bethany House. pp. 147–148.

Bibliography

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