Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Seven Deadly Sins


"The seven deadly sins are wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, business without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle."

Gandhi

Growing up in an all Catholic neighborhood makes me wary about “sin.” However, ignoring Gandhi-ji’s wisdom seems perilous also.

It occurs to me that you can read his words ten times and get ten insights. Perhaps that’s enough for now – just read them several times and draw your own conclusions!

And ….. share with all of us. I look forward to interacting with your thoughts and feelings.

With love and respect,

Robert

3 comments:

Steve Rose said...

Which Gandi is this quote is supposedly from? Indira or Mahatma? I find it hard to believe either would say such a thing. I do not need to read this more than once to pick it apart completely. Perhaps it was the level of the audience he or she was speaking to that needed to hear this in this way? All of these attributes exist inside of us and all may exist mutually exclusive of eachother. This stating one without the other is a sin is blasphemy. The Creator would never limit the amount of pleasure or wealth one may experience, as he/she co-experiences this with us and blesses us with same. Wealth can be defined as more than monetary of course. None of these are sins. We all have free will to act as we choose, but we also have the free will of discernment and to choose how we react to others actions or lack thereof. We don't create our own realities in isolation, we co-create in a miasma participating in others realities, but we do choose to participate or not in others dramas. Sin is a concept created by Lucifer. God/Godess does not judge or punish, he/ she corrects. I do understand how there are some who need to hear this, but it is not accurate according to the spiritual reality as I know it. Thanks for listening, Steve Rose

denese said...

I think I'll probably be in the minority here, but I'll comment anyway:

The word "sin" is not in favor these days, but I think that some things are clearly sinful, and many have to do with "excess," which is what Gandhi is trying to describe here. Surely, lately, we've seen wealth and business dealings without morality or conscience, and politics without principle. Moderation is key.

I mean, we don't want to tell those poor people suckered by Madoff's pyramid scheme that they can "choose how they react to other people's actions, and that they do not have to engage in another individual's drama." We can condemn what he did as wrong, unprincipled, inhuman, and immoral and seek justice.

Eastern religions may not use the word "sin" but they do have teachings that are parallel. Buddhists and Hindus refer to the Law of Karma, which can be brutal.

Thanks for allowing me to comment Robert. Thanks Steve.

Denese

Robert White said...

Steve,

The quote is from the Mahatma and yes, I did check its validity as part of his writings.

Robert