What's the Opposit of Wonton?

And on the 7^th Sunday of Advent, also known as Spicy Mexican Sunday, the faithful gathered around the long table of Bubba and VeraLee to feast. Given there is always plenty at this table, those seated around it questioned the sin of gluttony, which lead Lushious, in yet another blond moment to once again ask, “So what is a virtue?”

I don’t know why Lushious always starts this conversation, unless she is becoming fearful for her soul during the dark winter nights before a “touch-up”. But again, she asked and again, we looked at one another and started to fumble through the opposites of the sins we knew so well. It was sad. Ten village disciples at the table and yet in our combined wisdom, we couldn’t succinctly name all seven. We took to askin’ questions like, “What’s the opposite of just don’t give a fig", in an effort to piece-meal the seven, but it just went downhill.

Given Patience is not one of my personal virtues it didn’t take me long to dismiss the struggling minds, now dimmed by a boatload of carbs and Sea Breezes, and order VeraLee to just “Google it” for God’s sake.

While there were many spins on this theme I think Pope Gregory did a nice job of summing the seven up in layman’s terms. So for the record, we are going to publish this in the Book of Mustard.

(Note:The following is basically lifted without shame or humility from: http://changingminds.org/explanations/values/deadly_sins.htm)

Sins have always been popular areas of focus in the church. An early 2nd century document, the Didache, contains a list of five. Origen produced a sevenfold list and at the end of the 4th century Cassian amended this sevenfold list. Eventually, the Seven Deadly Sins (or Vices) we know today were defined in the 6th century by Pope Gregory the Great, as a set of negative values: the values that you are supposed to adopt is that you will avoid these things and actually adopt their opposites. So we were so very close.

1. Pride is an excessive belief in one's own abilities (ex: Lurlene proudly answers to her nickname, LKIA, Lady Know It All..or the short version, Liar.)

2. Envy is wanting what others have, be it status, abilities, or possessions. (ex: Deedg walked out with one of my camels because he needed one for his nativity)

3. Gluttony is the desire to eat or consume more than you require. (ex: folks who go into the kitchen and secretly sop gravy with a biscuit, the last biscuit)

4. Lust is a powerful craving for such as sex, power and money. (ex: none needed)

5. Anger is the loss of rational self-control and the desire to harm others. (ex: the torpedoes the Manager put on his front bumper)

6. Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain. (ex: may I have your dining room furniture?)

7. Sloth is laziness and the avoidance of work. (ex: long naps, very long naps)

Note how many of these are very similar: envy, gluttony, lust and greed are all about desire. While there is a hidden lack of concern for others in envy and anger. As with other religious rule-sets, these pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of a system for social harmonization or social control (depending on your viewpoint).

The number seven, by the way, is not only a cabbalistic magical number, it also just happens to be the size of our short-term memory, which is a real limit to the number of things we can hold in mind at one time. This is very frightening because twelve of us couldn’t come up with seven things.

When Pope Gregory defined the seven deadly sins that we should avoid, he also included a counter-balancing set of values that we should espouse and adopt. These are:

1. Faith is belief in the right things (including the virtues!).

2. Hope is taking a positive future view that good will prevail. (ex: I hope she isn’t planning on wearin’ that)

3. Charity is concern for, and active helping of, others. (ex: La’s request that we Please give her birthday gifts to a charity of our choice)

4. Fortitude is never giving up. (on getting that camel)

5. Justice is being fair and equitable with others. (ex: I will only tell you and you can only tell one other person)

6. Prudence is care of and moderation with money. (not bein’ stingy, just prudent)

7. Temperance is moderation of needed things and abstinence from things which are not needed. (ex: Lushious said she wanted Temperance to be her new Teena name…like we need another name, Tempie!)

And so there they are….in a nut-shell. At least that is all I shall explore. For the over-achiever, feel free to explore the other sets listed below:

· The Seven Contrary Virtues which are specific opposites to the Seven Deadly Sins: Humility against pride, Kindness against envy, Abstinence against gluttony, Chastity against lust, Patience against anger, Liberality against greed, and Diligence against sloth.

· The Theological Virtues: Love, Hope and Faith, as defined by St. Paul (who placed love as the greatest of them all).

· The four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Courage and Justice.

· The Seven Heavenly Virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance, Prudence.

· The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy are a medieval list of things you can do to help others: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, give shelter to strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick, minister to prisoners, and bury the dead.

· The Seven Bushido Virtues: Right decisions, Valor, Benevolence, Respect, Honesty, Honor, and Loyalty.