from the eyes of a roach episode 1

The psychosocial perspective: the “deadly seven” and “heavenly seven” vs. society

What is a society? A society is a group of people living together in a single area.  A school is a society, a city is a society, a state is a society, a country is a society, a continent is a society, and yes even our planet is a society.  As you were growing up, what kind of rules did you have in your house? What cultural values did your family teach you? What family traditions did you grow up with? Do you know what country your family is from? No matter where you’re from, no matter what rules you grew up with, we all share the same rules and laws set by society.

We as a society have set many rules and values that we are supposed to follow.  Some are required such as laws and some are just expected of us as citizens such as social skills and cultural values.  One expectation is the example of the USA and how it’s considered an insult to display a confederate flag or put up an American flag at night without shedding light on it.  One set of “social values” that we follow is probably the most important: the seven deadly sins.  Envy, lust, greed, gluttony, wrath, sloth, and pride.  Whether you believe in god or not, these “sins” make us who we are; they make us human.  Without them we would not be able to function as a society. 

Because of the “deadly seven” it is up to the parents to teach their children the social skills and the cultural values that they need to know.  Children will not learn these things on their own and if not taught, they will become exiled from society.  Just because a person knows the correct rules and laws and how to act appropriately doesn’t mean that they will.

The lack of following the rules and laws set by society is what leads to crime.  This brings us back to six of the “deadly seven”, envy, lust, greed, wrath, pride, and gluttony.  These five of the “deadly seven” are some of the greatest causes of crime.  In the following paragraphs I am going to describe each one individually, starting with envy.

Envy is actually the sixth of the seven deadly sins.  To envy is to desire or want that of which you don’t have.  Some people are happy with what they have, but some meet other people or see things that they want and cant have or cant afford.  Envy is something that can lead to theft or stealing of another person’s property, robbery, adultery (or cheating on your spouse), or even murder if you really want something.

Lust is the fifth deadly sin.  To lust is not to love; there is a very big difference.  Love is a true feeling of romance that lasts for a long period of time.  To lust is to long for the love of another person, but what you feel is not true.  Lust can lead to things like one time sex (in the case of “going too far”), stalking, blind crushes, and in extreme cases, rape (if you want sex, but they don’t).

Greed is the second of the seven deadly sins.  Greed is a very dangerous thing because when people get greedy they will do almost anything to get money.  A very good example is con artists.  They lie and manipulate people to get the things they want, usually money, sex, land, etc.  Greed can lead to such things as bank robbery, jewelry store robbery, cheating on taxes, buying people off when you get in trouble with the law or otherwise, and illegal operations in the stock market.

Wrath is actually the very first of the seven deadly sins, and the most obvious contender of crime.  Wrath is actually different from anger or rage.  To feel rage, is to have an explosive temper outburst that only lasts for a short time.  Anger is the dwelling source for all aggressive emotions.  To be angry is to simply be very frustrated at someone.  Anger can turn to rage fairly quickly and given enough rage, a person can develop wrath.  Wrath is probably the most powerful aggressive emotion in existence.  That may be why it is one of the seven deadly sins.  Wrath can bring about a side in a person that the person has never seen.  Wrath is usually brought on by either the harm of someone VERY close to a person.  Kidnapping can also bring out wrath.  Wrath is also related to all the other deadly sins that are mentioned in these paragraphs because given enough envy, lust, greed, pride, or gluttony, any person can develop wrath.  Wrath can lead to things like murder, assault, domestic violence, homicide, revenge, vandalism, robbery, and in extreme cases, war.

Pride is the fourth deadly sin, and probably the most unique.  As I said above, a person is taught to have pride in their culture and beliefs.  Pride is a great thing to have, especially in times of war.  However, it’s when a cultures pride becomes so strong that they believe that their way is the right way.  The Klu Klux Klan thought this, and everybody in the USA knows what they did.  The crimes pride can cause are harder to predict, but the best examples are acts of murder, vandalism, gang violence, street fights, and in the worst cases, terrorism and world war.

The sixth and final deadly sin I'm going to talk about is gluttony, which is actually the seventh and final of the seven deadly sins.  You may be wondering how gluttony can have anything to do with crime or breaking the law, but lets think for a second.  I’m not talking about gluttony in the terms of obese overweight people.  Imagine that you are a country relies completely on farming to supply the stores with food.  Currently you have enough food to supply everyone.  Suddenly there’s a plague that wipes out all the farming crops.  Now there’s no produce coming into the towns.  You’re fine for a couple weeks, but then the town runs out of produce and the only thing left are miniscule shops across the city.  Days go by and you go without food.  Eventually you begin to starve and go out into the streets in search for food.

Something similar to this scenario has occurred throughout history in different countries in the world.  What happens because of this is a different kind of gluttony.  It’s a starving kind of gluttony where people will do anything for food.  What happens in this case? Riots rise up in the streets as people try and break into the shops and stores; people kill each other over something as small as a bottle of water or a crust of bread.  Gluttony in this case can lead to mass chaos, riots, robbery, and sometimes, murder.

Just like the “deadly seven” can lead to crime, they can also lead society to new and advanced technology, tools, weapons, higher social standards, and much other advancement if followed correctly.  Envy, lust, greed, gluttony, wrath, sloth, and pride.  All seven can lead to specific advancements in society, but in order for someone to achieve this you must first turn them into the “heavenly seven”. 

What do I mean by the “heavenly seven”? Find the polar opposite of each individual sin.  Pride becomes shame, sloth becomes energetic, wrath becomes love, gluttony becomes fasting, greed becomes generosity, lust becomes dislike, and envy becomes confidence.  So the “heavenly seven” in reverse order: confidence, dislike, generosity, fasting, love, energetic, and shame.  Each can lead to a different part of society.

With shame, we feel bad whenever we are caught doing something bad.  Shame allows us to feel sorry for the mistakes we make in our daily lives, and can allow us to apologize to others when we have wronged them.  Shame is very similar to guilt, but they are two different things.  Shame can lead to things like treaties, peace, and happiness.  It can lead to jobs like lawyers, counselors, rehab assistants, psychological therapists, and some teaching jobs.

Energetic is probably one of the simplest of the “heavenly seven” to describe.  To be energetic is a way to drive our society forwards.  To be energetic is to want to constantly move and perform physical or mental tasks.  Energy can be mental or physical and can lead to sports, school clubs, and scientific discoveries.  It can lead to jobs like sporting careers, scientists, writers, and martial arts.

Love is the absolutely strongest romantic emotion.  Love is what binds our dating society and holds the bond of each and just about every marriage in the world together.  To feel love is to feel extreme romantic emotions towards another person.  Love is like lust, with the exception that it is absolutely true.  Love can lead to dating, marriage, and true romance.  Love can lead to jobs like marriage counseling, composition of poetry, and writing romantic novels.

Fasting is kind of hard to talk about.  It is usually done for religious reasons and is basically where you withhold all food for a predetermined amount of time.  It is not where you starve yourself.  When fasting, you can still consume certain types of products.  Fasting can be related to dieting as well.  Fasting can lead to different styles of dieting, loss of weight, and increase in food supply.  Fasting can lead to jobs like nutrition counseling, dietitians, and farming.

Now let’s talk about generosity for a bit.  Generosity, or the polar opposite of greed, is wanting to give, give, give.  Generosity is the act of giving instead of receiving.  Generosity can lead to things like charity and donation.  Generosity can lead to any community service job like working at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.

Now for the sixth of the heavenly seven, dislike.  This is a very weird emotion to describe because it really has no jobs associated with it.  It does, however, have several actions associated with it.  To dislike is to basically feel a large amount of frustration.  It is very close to hate, and is what I like to call the “short hate”.  Dislike can lead to sibling and school rivalry, confrontation between friends and significant others, and the most important of all: the rivalry between countries during the Olympics.

Now for the last of the heavenly seven: confidence.  Confidence is probably the one of the most important things that humans possess.  Confidence is what drives our human society to go on with their lives and the tasks that they do no matter what anybody says to them.  To be confident is to have faith even when people tell you that you should give up.  The thing about confidence is that there are no specific things that it can lead to.  Given enough confidence anything can happen, and a person can do just about ANY job that they set their hearts out to.

 As you can see, the “deadly seven” and “heavenly seven” actually fuel our society.  The “deadly seven” fuel our criminal society, and the “heavenly seven” fuel our working society.  Without these fourteen aspects of our society, we would not be able to function as normal human beings.  It is these aspects that are within our genetics from birth to death, and are never taught to us.

In our society, the rules and laws created, must be obeyed and followed.  For those of us who choose to disobey and dishonor these, they are following the path of the “deadly seven”.  It is these people who become lawbreakers and drive our criminal society.  For those of us who choose to follow and obey the rules and laws set by society, you are following the path of the “heavenly seven”.

The thing that we need to understand about the “heavenly seven” and the “deadly seven” is that one cannot exist without the other.  In order to fuel or working society, we have to have a criminal society.  Because we have a criminal society, we have a working society to prevent the criminal society from getting out of control.  Because we have the “deadly seven”, we have to have a “heavenly seven”.  Because there is a heaven, there must be a hell.  Because there is a god, there must be a devil.

It is important that our parents teach us the correct rules of society and show us how to behave appropriately.  It is how we are raised and the rules that we are taught that determine how we fit in, in society.  It is the mysterious unknown deadly and heavenly seven that TRULY fuel how we interact with our society.  How we choose to act determine which side we take in our lives.  We just have to take what we have been taught and choose whether or not to follow them.