They serve as a moral compass to millions. Do the seven "deadlies" have any real potency or power? Last month, the first of the three—pride, anger, and sloth—were held up to the light of Christian Science. This month the last four—lust, gluttony, greed, and envy—go under a spiritual microscope.
LUST? No mortal attraction. Soul's evidence is selfless and pure.
Lust is maybe the most rationalized of the seven "deadlies" because it derives from what physical science calls "natural instinct"—nature's way of ensuring the perpetuity of the human race and various species of animals. We are said to be hard-wired for lust, and attracted to each other by "animal" magnetism. Which means that those who see men and women as physical beings question why a "normal" aspect of physicality should even be considered a sin. But in order to accept and live our actual sin-lessness as Soul's likeness, we need to realize that we are not physical creatures. We are spiritual beings. And it is through this realization only that we can honestly declare ourselves "sinless."
The Ten Commandments address lust twice, as that which would hold someone in the belief in sin: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Ex. 20:14), and "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife" (20:17). And Christ Jesus took the commandment to deny lust even further in the Sermon on the Mount, "I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). So he pointed out that even the thought of lust is a sin. Why? Because it is self-serving—always looking for sensual gratification. In its craving for carnal pleasure, lust, in the extreme, can lead to addictions to pornography, fornication, rape, and incest.
We bring the truth of our being to light in proportion that we live it. The more consistent we are in expressing divine Love, the less our attractions are based on animal magnetism and "chemistry." Attracted to God instead of person, we find ourselves experiencing loving, compatible companionship in a vast variety of forms. "Animal magnetism has no scientific foundation," Science and Health explains: "for God governs all that is real, harmonious, and eternal, and His power is neither animal nor human. ...
"There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit" (p. 102).
How can one tell if what he or she is feeling for another is love or lust? Well, since God is Love itself, genuine love expresses qualities that represent God. These qualities come forth in appropriate relationships—those that include selflessness, integrity, tenderness, commitment, and ultimately, happiness.
Mary Baker Eddy's writings invoked both spiritual reality and just plain good common sense. They call for chastity and monogamy—and then leave each individual to make his or her own demonstration. In so doing, we discover the grand fact that lust is no part of God's child, because the identity of Soul's child is spiritual.
GLUTTONY? No uncontrollable human appetite. Principle's reflection feasts on divine love.
At its root, gluttony is lack of control and overconsumption—behavior that could never exist in the orderliness of divine Principle—nor be expressed by Principle's idea, God's creation. Interestingly, the very first temptation that came to Jesus in the wilderness was to look to food for resuscitation, instead of to God. He hadn't eaten for 40 days; yet Jesus didn't accept that food was his primary need or great desire. To this devilish suggestion, Jesus retorted, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Matt. 4:10).
Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas saw gluttony as obsessing about meals, as eating too much and too expensively, eating too eagerly, wildly, or too daintily. Today we would probably see eating too "daintily" as giving excessive attention to what food contains and how it's prepared. Suffice it to say that we worship what we think about the most, so excessive consumption becomes a "god," with a focus on food in lieu of one, omnipotent God. It also involves a greediness that, humanly speaking, is willing to consume more than one's share of the world's food. While it's true that a particular mouthful of food isn't going to be enjoyed or appreciated elsewhere, still, human thought—and the inequalities it creates—has a collective expression. Thus, our expression of temperance at the dinner table actually does contribute to our prayerful reverence for the divine right of everyone in the world to have adequate food.
Daily life can be considered a preparatory school in which we practice the discipline of saying "yes" to all that is spiritual and "no" to all that is mortal and self-gratifying. If we haven't accomplished the feat of saying "no" to an extra helping of pasta, how likely are we to say "no" to the notion of death, which the Bible says is "the last enemy" to be overcome? (I Cor. 15:26)
Spiritual growth takes practice and more practice, and eating habits are a good place to begin. As we progressively express temperance, balance, discipline, and divine satisfaction, we rise to the true selfhood that is ever one with God—absolutely fulfilled and unchangingly symmetrical.>
GREED? No "want" in Spirit's universe. Your cup runneth over.
Greed is an inordinate desire for excessive personal acquiring. It serves as its own punishment, for the more it obtains, the more it feels it lacks. And such self-interest leads to cheating, corruption, and theft of the sort that many nations and communities have seen all too much of lately.
When banks first started going under during the recent global recession, many people wanted to blame the chaos entirely on banking practices, credit card companies, and government mismanagement. But might it also—along with banking practices or anything the government has or hasn't done—have to do with individual greed and dishonesty? People feeling entitled to things they haven't earned and buying things on credit that they can't afford? As feelings of material "entitlement," reflected in individual priorities and "wants," get reassessed and reordered, won't the general economy be purified and blessed as well?
Since there is a spiritual law that we have in proportion to what we give, wealth and greed don't necessarily go hand in hand. It is the love of money, the Bible tells us, that "is the root of all evil" (I Tim. 6:10). The abundance and financial security that naturally flow from the demonstration of divine qualities, of genuine spiritual riches, evidence a deeper satisfaction in individual hearts. Greed and selfishness never apply to God's child, because God, as perfect Mother-Love, gives Her child everything needful. In fact, the expression of this Love would prefer that, if there were a choice between having something—or his fellow brother or sister having it—he would much prefer doing without. But there is no choice to be made when we understand that our care, provision, and divine government belong to God, who gives to each of us the completeness of good, always brought forth in practical ways.
ENVY? No one has "more." As Truth's complete idea, each of us possesses all.
Envy seems to be the most hidden of the seven "deadlies." While people freely discuss their struggles with gluttony, lust, pride, etc.—even greed—few will admit to envy, for it requires admitting how little one thinks of oneself. Envy resents others of having abilities and successes that one yearns for. It's different from greed in that, instead of an insatiable desire for material things, it says, "If I don't have it, I don't want you to have it either." Envy, in its extreme, motivates hatred and fear. It drives nations to want to destroy one another.
Since envy arises from not realizing one's own worth, the solution lies in discovering our divine identity. When we realize, in Truth, that every child, man, and woman is God's own image and likeness, then we consciously reflect not some godliness, but all godliness. Every talent, ability, and quality that God includes, we include in our own God-caused way. This means that in distinct ways we each reflect omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience! As Christ Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21)—within your God-reflected consciousness.
Actually, no one has "anything" on anyone else. Individuals express God's qualities in ways that no one else does, or even could. So it's far from natural to feel threatened by another's exquisite expression of their unique blessings, because they've been given to us also, to express exquisitely in our unique way. Instead of feeling competitive with each other, we stand in awe of the infinite forms in which perfection can be expressed. We glory in the wholeness of one another, each expressing the very worth of God Almighty.
Envy is different from greed in that, instead of an insatiable desire for material things, it says, "If I don't have it, I don't want you to have it either."
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy sums up the often hidden and seemingly reappearing claim that we are miserable, mortal sinners, "The likeness of God we lose sight of through sin, which beclouds the spiritual sense of Truth; and we realize this likeness only when we subdue sin and prove man's heritage, the liberty of the sons of God" (p. 315). So how can we realize this likeness? By specifically and thoroughly denying each of the "seven deadly sins" in their various guises. Being alert and awake to the powerlessness of each one clears the mist of materiality, revealing God's view of us. What we've been all along—entirely spiritual and sinless.
