The Sins Of Success (Part 1)

When we think of the term success we also think of motivation, drive, passion and love. However could our motives for success be based in our deep human urges of sin?

The term success is also subjective, what may be successful for one is often not for another, this difference could be based on one’s motivation initially.

If our success initially comes from something bad can that success ever make you happy? Can it ever be healthy?

Could the 7 deadly sins explain our motives for success for good or for….bad.

Wrath (Vengeance)

Could success be linked with wrath, an anger that has grown through time, a main aspect of wrath is that the vengeance, anger and hatred can long remain after the event that initiated it. If this anger is motivation it could be used to make one successful, we have all had times when someone has harmed us or angered us and we wanted to get vengeance and if this revenge manifests as productivity and energy it could easily lead to riches, respect and love.

Imagine you are the little boy or girl that gets told their dreams are a joke, that they will never amount to anything and they should give up. Irrational anger may lead to lashing out, but what if that negativity sits and grows and is used as energy to prove them wrong.

Your revenge is the success that you were told you could never achieve.

Greed  

I guess this would be considered the obvious one out of the bunch; greed is the one sin that is often linked to a person’s success. Greed is a sin of desire, the desire for material possessions and of course to gain possessions one must also gain money in all probability. The combination of possessions and money is often a symbol of success in this world and greed would be a great motivation to gain these, however greed may stem from other sins as they do mesh together.

As the statement above from wrath:

Imagine you are the little boy or girl that gets told their dreams are a joke, that they will never amount to anything and they should give up. Irrational anger may lead to lashing out, but what if that negativity sits and grows and is used as energy to prove them wrong.

What if this never stops?

The vengeance is proven, you are a success but it’s not enough for you, greed takes over and the hoarding of possessions and money begins to no end, happiness is never achieved as the goal becomes unattainable or blurred.

Lust

Another sin of desire, lust is normally referenced to the lust for someone, normally an intense sexual desire that may or may not be reciprocated. However in general lust can describe any extreme wants or desires towards anything, greed could be described as a lust for material objects or money for example. Desire breeds motivation and lust can be a powerful motivator towards one’s eventual success. Like all sin lust can lead to crime and deviant behaviour for example rape and bodily harm from an uncontrolled lust towards someone or a group of people. Like most of the sins here the success usually comes from obsession, and lust can lead to the obsession for another person, they want this person to lust after them to (some may call it love) but be assured in these scenarios it is often a complex manifestation of lust.  The obsession grows and the best method to make this other notice them may be to become successful, rich, powerful but most importantly uniquely noticeable.

Lust for another or for anything for that matter could be considered inherently bad, however what if this leads to the maximising of one’s potential even if it is for misunderstood reasons?

This ends part 1, in part two we look at envy, sloth, gluttony and of course pride….