Sloth
November 6th, 2007 by 
Madeleine Robins
Our Sin today is sloth. Frankly, I thought about putting off this column, but that’s procrastination, and it is not a sin, it’s a vice. Vices are merely hazardous to your health; sins are hazardous to your soul (so: smoking, drinking, unprotected sex are vices; it’s the impulse to smoke, drink, or have unprotected sex that is sinful). Procrastination is often a product of sloth, but it’s sloth itself that we are here to discuss today. So, no more putting it off.
Sloth noun: reluctance to work or make an effort.
That’s a little half-hearted, isn’t it? Sloth isn’t mere indolence or laziness. Sloth is something greater and more sinister: the total disinclination to bestir oneself, even on one’s own account (which makes you not only slothful, but a drag on the people around you who have to pick up the slack). My favorite illustration of Sloth is from Norman Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, one of my Holy Texts (see No Religious Training, above). When the hero, Milo, wanders into the Doldrums, he encounters the Lethargarians, who outline their day:
“At 8 o’clock we get up, and then we spend
“From 8 to 9 daydreaming.
“From 9 to 9:30 we take our early midmorning nap.
“From 9:30 to 10:30 we dawdle and delay.
“From 10:30 to 11:30 we take our late early morning nap.
“From ll:00 to 12:00 we bide our time and then eat lunch.
“From l:00 to 2:00 we linger and loiter.
“From 2:00 to 2:30 we take our early afternoon nap.
“From 2:30 to 3:30 we put off for tomorrow what we could have done today.
“From 3:30 to 4:00 we take our early late afternoon nap.
“From 4:00 to 5:00 we loaf and lounge until dinner.
“From 6:00 to 7:00 we dillydally.
“From 7:00 to 8:00 we take our early evening nap, and then for an hour before we go to bed at 9:00 we waste time.
It’s a full schedule, as you can see. When Milo protests that they never get anything done that way, they point out that they don’t want to get anything done. They want to get nothing done.
Isn’t that what sloth is all about? The total avoidance of accomplishment? Have you considered how hard it is to achieve real sloth? Look: most of us drag ourselves out of bed in the morning and go on with the business of living, luxuriating in those occasional opportunities to sleep in and let the world take care of itself. After a while you get used to getting up at half past God to get the kids to school, to shower and head off to work, whatever your responsibilities require of you. However much you want to stay in your warm, cozy bed, or in that Barcalounger in front of the widescreen, you know there are some things that really have to get done. In fact, it’s hard work succumbing to the allure of sloth because of its opposite number, that force for reluctant good, Guilt.
Guilt! The pebble in Sloth’s shoe, the thorn in Sloth’s paw. Guilt! It’s what’s for breakfast. And for walking the dog and going to work and getting your homework done.
So pause a moment before you go on to check your email and get back to that really important project, and give props to Sloth and its practitioners. They’re working hard at hardly working.
Posted in Daily Life, Sin | 
17 Comments »
November 6th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I was going to post a comment but it was too much effort.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Yeah, I get that a lot.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I love the graphic on this post!
Incidentally, we should remind ourselves that it’s the damn Judeo-Christian over-achieving workaholic obsessive-compulsive mindset that makes this a sin.
In many Eastern religions, you’re encouraged to go sit under a tree and do absolutely nothing for 30 years, until you achieve full spiritual slothfulness. At that point, you are considered to be enlightened.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
….. At which point, you can stop working so hard…..
November 6th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I’m so glad you mentioned Guilt, Madeleine. It’s my favorite.
And it’s not just for breakfast anymore. Most nights, in fact, I manage to feel Guilty even in my sleep . . . thus merging the yin of Guilt with the yang of Sloth and achieving Enlightenment in a mere seven hours. (In your face, Buddha!)
I do wake up with a headache, though.
November 6th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Brad, I’m afraid that multitasking is not condoned by the Society for the Promulgation of Sloth. I admire your ambition, but really…
November 6th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
‘s funny. I’ve always thought of sloth as my particular sin and now I’m coming to realize that I just don’t have the discipline to pull it off.
And I’m too incompetent for lust and I just ain’t greedy and…
Anger and malice. I think I can do that. Anger and malice.
November 6th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I envy your clarity on the matter, Sean.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I love the syd-like (Ice Age) spies.
kewl
November 7th, 2007 at 9:42 am
I’d love to have Sloth as one of my primary sins. I’m just too damn twitchy and OCD for it.
But, wait, does sitting on the couch for six hours web surfing count as Slothful behavior? ‘Cause if it does, I’m golden…
November 7th, 2007 at 11:05 am
“… they point out that they don’t want to get anything done. They want to get nothing done.”
Sounds too ambitious, if you ask me.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:28 am
I……
….uhhhh….
…..Maybe later…….
November 7th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
I suppose you could say that once you want anything (hello, Lust?) you can kiss Sloth goodbye, since the mere act of wanting something is unSlothful.
My brain hurts. Going to lie down now.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
No, no, no. One can want anything or anyone. The sin comes from doing something about it.
The Virtue, Sloth, ensures that NOTHING is done.
Had Sloth Ruled, Adam and Eve would never have eaten that pomegranate.
Had David allowed Sloth to rule, Bathsheba would still be married, and Rudy G. wouldn’t be wearing sackcloth and ashes over his adulteries. (Er, forget that last.)
If Nancy Davis hadn’t given the best head in Hollywood, we would never have had a Divorced President.
If John Hinckley Jr. doesn’t get off his duff and try to impress Jodie Foster, James Brady doesn’t get hit in the head and eventually appear at the 2000 Democratic Convention, much to Rory’s disdain.
I could go on, but it would take effort.
Sloth makes the world a better place.
November 8th, 2007 at 11:37 am
You make a strong case, Ken.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Don’t expect this to be kept, but more for you to think on:
sloth??? You can’t blame that one on the Jews at all, nor the early Christians, nor all modern Christians, for that matter.
This is a made up thing based upon a scripture that has been changed over the years, and it’s not even a whole chapter, but 4 verses–so out of context.
Sloth comes from “monkeys writing Hamlet”.
Wiki it to figure out how this was change into a deadly sin.
When it does mention sloth:
Ecclesiastes 10:16-18
“16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning! 17 Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of free men, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! 18 Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.”
It is seen as a bad thing, perhaps even a sin (as are much things in excess), but not as one of the big bad 7. It’s called indolence or laziness in other translations, but the original Hebrew word there is: hlc, (in Greek: atslah) and it means sluggishness, laziness. Considering that the Sabbath was supposed to be holy and no work was to be done on it, I don’t think that Sloth was ever in and of itself a sin, although excess would get in the way of other duties. Reading the chapter this came from, the whole chapter is about foolishness, i.e. acting like a moron.
The actual 7 deadly sins, of which some variation plays throughout the whole of the Bible:
Proverbs 6:16-19
“16 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.”
1 Haughty Eyes: literally an exalted eye or a raised up eye–our modern version is “a turned up nose” or someone with a superiority complex. This is supported throughout the New Testament by Christ’s arguments with the Pharisees over their superiority complexes, which were causing a caste system (other than priesthood) to be formed in Judaism.
2 Lying tongue: the word for lying is translated several ways, but they all have to do with being deceitful. Lying and bearing the consequences of that lie are an integral part of many stories in the old testament.
3 Hands that shed innocent blood: To pour out innocent blood. This is the second story of sin in the Bible: Cain and Abel.
4 A heart that devises wicked plans: the inner man that plots evil. Pretty simple: to do #3 you usually have to do #4, except in the case of manslaughter. This is central to the whole plot of the “bad guys” in the book of Esther, the Gospels, etc.
5 Feet that run rapidly to evil: “pace-setting/feet” “running” “in haste/hurried” to “evil/distress/misery/injury/calamity”, this is basically the difference between the oops of having sex outside of marriage and being a seasoned Serial Rapist. Those who are in the habit of and enjoy doing evil things often cannot stop and are often a detriment to even societies that cannot agree with Judeo-Christian beliefs.
6 A false witness who utters lies: this means literally what it says. A repeat of # 2, but even worse because it is going into a court, where your word can takes someone’s life or livelihood (even in the old Hebrew system, which is why you needed 2 witnesses), and is echoed by the 9th commandment:
Deuteronomy 5:20
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”
And the one which God may or may not hate but is an Abomination to him still:
7 One who spreads strife among his brothers: Let loose contention. This is someone who would do whatever he could to cause a fight to break out.
Abomination: a foul thing, a thing pertaining to Idols, that which is not righteous.
And there are other things that are abominations, but they are in the Law, so not every Christian counts them, since Christianity is supposed to be about freedom from the law.
So, those 7 deadly sins, how many actually are a part of the Bible and how many of them are later traditions that not all Christians would hold to?
Extravagance: Not listed. Partying was often encouraged. (Parable of the Prodigal Son and the lost coin, rules for selling off the grain the Lord made you set aside to buy your heart’s desires, etc.) But there are rules against favoring people due to what they wear or who they are. So it may make it as a sin, in context.
Gluttony: Not listed. The closest thing to it was:
I Corinthians 6:19
“19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;”
Context talks about food, but then switches over to sex, specifically buying a whore. Now, there’s plenty that is unhealthy about it, and like everything in excess, probably is sinful, but not in and of itself.
Greed: There’s plenty on this being a sin, but none of it is listed in the 7 abominations. (But an interesting side note is that without “Greed” and things of it’s ilk, we wouldn’t make it out of babyhood.)
Discouragement: Considering all that there is on encouraging your brother and that the last abomination is being divisive, discouragement could be seen as a sin, but it does have good connotations: i.e. encouraging kids to not do drugs is the same as discouraging them from doing drugs…it’s a matter of syntax.
Wrath: Anger has it’s place. Anger acted upon is wrath. Since Christ was supposed to be sinless, I hardly think that his braiding a whip and then using it to drive out money speculators inside of the temple because of his anger at their making a house of worship into a den of thieves was a sin. Now, Christ does say to not let the sun go down with you still being angry at someone, also to not go and worship God by sacrifice until you take care of the issue. So while anger and wrath are not necessarily a sin, refusing to deal with it is. Ouch.
Envy: The definition of the Hebrew words which are translated as Envy are “to watch stealthily or with envious hostility, watch with enmity, watch with envy” or “to be jealous, be zealous for, to excite to jealous anger” or “ardor, zeal, jealousy”…Greek Envy is “Envy” “filled with the eye” In most all negative cases context defines Envy as a bit more than just wanting to keep up with the Jones’. It’s about wanting someone’s possessions so badly that you will take them from them. It’s a bit more than what we use Envy for. This does play on # 4, but there is a chance for Envy to be harmless–or at least not sinful.
Pride: Greek and Hebrew: “exaltation/majesty” “to exalt, lofty/haughty/arrogant” “grandeur” “dignity/Majestic wild beasts” “swelling of the sea” “arrogant neck” “object of pride” “insolence, presumptuousness” “the character of one who, with a swollen estimate of his own powers or merits, looks down on others and even treats them with insolence and contempt” “to glory” “an insolent and empty assurance, which trusts in its own power and resources and shamefully despises and violates divine laws and human rights/an impious and empty presumption which trusts in the stability of earthy things” Basically, a lot of things mean pride, but not all of them are negative. Some are actually a good thing, depending on context. There are two categories of negative contexts: a pride that elevates you above your creator (which puts God in a parental role: “I put you in this world. I can take you out and make another one just like you.” –always heard that from dad.) or above other people. I have heard of Love being described as putting other’s wants and needs above your own. A negative Pride would get in the way of the definition of Love.
But if you don’t have Pride in your work, you become Sloth. In this case, which is a sin?
Lust: Lust is just desire, whether god/bad/sexual or otherwise. Considering a concession (not-a-law): I Corinthians 7:3-5 “3 The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
Basically, because of your lust, go boink your spouse unless you both agree not to. It is not a sin to lust after your spouse…rather the opposite, you should lust after your spouse, on a regular basis. So Lust is not automatically a sin.
Sloth: covered.
May 29th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
oops…
Other references to Abominations that are not of the books of Law:
Several of them are talking about what humans who are not wise/Christians/Jews find to be an abomination.
Some others are about evil people worshiping God. i.e. the idea that not all Hebrews or Christians are making God happy. (Great example: Isaiah 1:10-15)
Those who are “proud in heart” are abominiations: Proverbs 16:5-5 Full of himself, basically. So now Pride can be a deadly sin, but not one of the 7.
Abominations are what Idols are called, or what the act of worshiping idols instead of God.
Reference to Adultery: Ezekiel 22:11 Could vaguely be called Lust, but would only cover one part of the act–desire.
Abomination of Desolation: reference to Antichrist. Daniel 11:31
*bangs head against the wall* I swear, I always forget something. Now, back to writing about warlocks and wizards.