Ethics, Friday, September 18, 2020

[sith_happened]

"Last week sparked some very interesting conversations," Anakin said as he paced around the room. "Let's keep that going. Christianity, one of this planet's major religions, takes a group of behaviors or habits that lead to other immoralities and call them, slightly overdramtically, the 'Seven Deadly Sins.' The seven sins are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth."

He smiled a little ruefully. "I know I've fallen victim to...most of them...over the course of my life, the emotions that can overwhelm you and lead to some monumentally stupid life choices."

And Anakin Skywalker knew from monumentally stupid life choices.

"There are some instincts that call to us more strongly than others, though: a favorite vice, if you would. There's a saying here that is as probably as old as this list of deadly sins: 'pride goes before a fall'. In my world, we put it slightly differently: 'Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.'"

He passed out a sheet of paper that gave links to that wiki article up there summaries of the deadly sins. "Now, which of these is your go-to? Where do you gravitate when you are angry or stressed? Do you think these behaviors are even all that negative? Can they be channeled into a positive direction?"

Comments

Sign in 9/18

[sith_happened]

With your favorite deadly sin.

Re: Sign in 9/18

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina Argentum

Re: Sign in 9/18

[mother_forker]

Eleanor Shellstrop

Re: Sign in 9/18

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius Heartstriker Quetz

Listen to the lecture

[sith_happened]

Guess which one is Anakin's favorite sin, though, let's be real, he's tried almost all of them.

Re: Listen to the lecture

[bookbeltof_love]

Okay.

Okay, like, cool. She was down for this! It was better than her last class had been (sorry, Summer, she usually loved you, but she had not loved that).

Nina wasn't going to, like, blatantly call attention to the fact that she was here for the first time all semester but, well, she was here. Progress!

Re: Listen to the lecture

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius glanced over and gave Nina a surprised, happy smile when he saw she was here.

And a tiny wave when it seemed like Anakin's attention was elsewhere.

Re: Listen to the lecture

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina's own smile, when he caught her attention, was a bit wan but genuine enough.

And the wave was adorable.

So he was getting one back.

Re: Listen to the lecture

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius frowned. Envy didn't exactly feel right; he didn't not want to be a dragon, he just mostly hated draconic society. He knew his mother called him lazy a lot, but that didn't quite fit either.

Maybe gluttony? He did miss eating with a full dragon's appetite...

Didn't sound like something to admit in class, though.

Re: Listen to the lecture

[grayskollar]

Being given a list of standards to not measure up to was Adora's favourite thing in the world.

Oh no, wait it was the other thing, deeply traumatising. Her shoulders slumped as she read the list.

Answer the questions!

[sith_happened]

Which is your favorite vice? Do you even think of them as vices?

Re: Answer the questions!

[bookbeltof_love]

"Favourite implies that I like the vice," Nina mused, frowning a little. "I mean, like, I would say my main vices are probably wrath, pride, and envy????????"

Which was a fun, fun combination!

"But I mostly use those to drive myself forward, rather than raining doom down upon other people........."

Re: Answer the questions!

[sith_happened]

Anakin gave her a bright smile. "Hello there."

Those were three of Anakin's trouble spots, too! How weird, right? "The mostly is worrying me," he teased gently. "How much doom have you rained down?"

Re: Answer the questions!

[mother_forker]

"Totally Sloth, lust and envy," Eleanor said stretching her arm and trying to stifle a shrimp belch. "And I'd like to point out that I helped a small business out yesterday with gluttony."

You should not be proud, Eleanor.

Re: Answer the questions!

[sith_happened]

"How did you help them out?" Anakin asked warily.

Re: Answer the questions!

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"Wrath," Illyana replied cheerfully. "Though I have been told to frame it more positively. I am inclined towards 'forceful and emotional solutions to bad situations,' and I 'need to remember that sometimes a less forceful solution is the better one.'"

Which was a shame, as far as Yana was concerned, because was perfectly fine with the idea of being wrathful. As was probably evident.

Re: Answer the questions!

[sith_happened]

"Do you actually want it framed more positively?" Anakin asked. "You seem fine embracing wrath."

Re: Answer the questions!

[toottootmagicflute]

"Pride," Wei Wuxian said. "That's my vice. I've always been smarter and more powerful than most of my generation," he said matter-of-factly. "I ranked fourth on the list of Young Masters. I started cultivating an unorthodox method because I needed the power to protect my family and my people. Every other person in history who has cultivated that way has come to a bad end, but I thought I was different. I wasn't." You said you could control it. He spun his flute in his fingers, took a deep breath and forced a smile. "I'm sure I've got other sins, too. Does gluttony include alcohol?" He shook his head. "No, no, no, I don't drink too much. I drink just enough."

Re: Answer the questions!

[bookbeltof_love]

Oh, good, another distraction.

She didn't know this student and, like, her research was seriously behind on the newbies due to everything she was focusing on so she was going in blind with this.

"What's the list of Young Masters???????" Nina asked curiously.

Re: Answer the questions!

[sith_happened]

Well, hello, tiny version of Anakin! How terrifying!

"Well, if you're drinking to suppress the guilt from the fallout of the pride, it might need another conversation," Anakin said, "but I'm not sure that falls, strictly speaking, into gluttony." He chewed on his lower lip as he thought about addressing the heart of the matter. "Looking back, do you see a place where someone might've intervened to stop your prideful fall?"

Re: Answer the questions!

[thebeastofhouston]

"I have a temper problem, so I guess that's wrath, but also maybe pride?"

Re: Answer the questions!

[grayskollar]

Adora was still slumped in her seat, but her mouth and shoulders had taken on a mulish set. "It's a stupid list," she muttered.

Re: Answer the questions!

[mylandmyrules]

"The church elders would definitely say I was prideful," Nell said with a hint of... pride? Anger? "I think maybe I'm more greedy and envious for wanting more than what I had and feelin' bad about them non-church folk who had more freedom in their lives."

Talk to Anakin!

[sith_happened]

He's not being overly wrathy or prideful today?

OOC

[sith_happened]

Next week will be the virtues, which aren't nearly as much fun.