A HUBRIS RAISING EXPERIENCE ( Hubris)

Hubris today is defined as an overwhelming sense of pride or self- confidence; or even arrogance. Hubris is most often tied to the pride, one of the seven deadly sins. It’s commonly believed that hubris is dangerous for the individual and that it can even lead to a fatal retribution. In Greek literature hubris always led to the protagonist’s downfall. The most notable example is that of Icarus. Icarus was the son of Daedalus, a craftsman so skilled it was said that he could create moving images. Daedalus was eventually exiled and imprisoned in Crete. Longing a sense of freedom and to escape Daedalus made two sets of wings made out of wax so that he and his son could escape the unfortunate circumstance. There were only two problems with the wings that Daedalus warned his son about; the wings couldn’t come to close to the sun nor the sea. Once Icarus put the wings on and began to soar hubris took over and he flew to close to the sun, thus melting his wax wings. Icarus then fell into the sea below which present day bears his name, the Icarian Sea. If only hubris hadn’t taken over Icarus would have lived to successfully escape.
Recently I did a blog about the seven deadly sins. I even included the ones that I suffer from the most; I wasn’t surprised when I found out I suffered the most from pride. That really made me start thinking. It is rumored pride is the only sin that a person can’t beat and that pride comes before a big fall. Since then I have thought about when pride crosses over to hubris and if I am in fact that close. In ancient times mortals had the gods to keep them in place and make sure that they didn’t get out of line. In today’s times we have employers, community and church leaders, and good friends to make sure that we don’t get too full of ourselves. The question becomes what can a person do for themselves to realize what is too far or too much of a sense of pride?
With the twenty-something years I have been alive I have been a fortunate and promising individual. Whenever I looked I was doing something that my peers and even some adults weren’t doing. I was baptized at the age of four by my choice, from there I was one of the three people to start the student government association at my elementary school, in addition being the first year book editor and I would even be left in charge of the office. All of that was by the age of eleven. From there I went on to concur playing two instruments, National Junior Honor Society, overcoming my mother’s passing and the accomplishments continued to add up. Never did I think I was gaining a big ego or overvaluing myself.
Once I reached high school I didn’t slow down, in fact I sped up and added more to my plate. It was finally in high school I gained self confidence. I think then was the first time people began to see me as arrogant or anything of the like. Most of the time I ignored the talk because I have never thought I am better than anyone else; I just figured that people had a problem because I was moving upward and doing a lot in high school, the church, and my community. Once I graduated high school as Salutatorian I continued to do more and more once I reached college. I felt that if I wasn’t moving forward I was moving backwards. Again I encountered the arrogance and stuck up talk, but I ignored it because I know at the end of the day it’s not me.
Reading more and more of Greek literature helped me to understand what some of those characters went through and perhaps where the differences begin to develop in life. The mortals back then had reasons to believe why they were good or possibly even deserving of more as I have. I always figured that arrogance partially came from an empty feeling of entitlement. One thing I know I can do is look back on my accomplishments and feel proud of what I have done in life. The bad part is sometimes looking back all a person can do is see the end result, not the struggling to get there and that someone else was only a half inch away. Truly it is amazing to see just how much of a slippery slope pride becomes. It’s dangerous, it allows a person to believe they aren’t prideful until it’s too late and by that time the person believes they have a reason to be prideful but they don’t realize truly how bad they are. By the time that conclusion is reached hubris sets in and it takes a fatal or near fatal action to place a mortal being in place. With the state of the nation I believe I have come to my low point or significant setback in life.
The trick, the thing that a person can ultimately do is never believe how great they really are. Once you start believing the hype and the way people treat you your ego automatically develops and grows. I am in the state where I know realize what it’s going to take for me to get out of my hubris state and death defying fall; I can no longer look back. There is a term that I am officially adopting, “I am only as good as my next victory”. Now that I am out of college the time for setbacks is over and the pressure to succeed has become that much more real. I know one thing; I won’t go into the history books for hubris.

LITTLE SINS OF HORROR (The Seven Deadly Sins)

Originally there were seven cardinal sins, sins that were deemed to be the most objectionable vices a person could have. This was according to the early Christian teachings used to educate and instruct the followers concerning an immoral man’s tendency to sin. These original seven deadly sins were pride, lying, murder, evil thoughts and intentions, being quick in doing wrong, lying on others, and manipulating others to do wrong to each other. The modern day list is considerably different with the exception of pride. The modern day list includes pride, wrath, avarice, gluttony, lust envy, and sloth. The modern day difference in the list is not the only difference that has come about with these sins.
The Seven Deadly Sins
The Sin
Traditional Saying
Modern Advertisement
Pride
Pride goes before a fall
You deserve it; have it your way; you are unique; we do it all for you
Anger
Don't let the sun go down on your anger
Get revenge, kick some butt
Avarice
Don't be greedy
Get rich quick; stock up now; collect them all
Gluttony
Stop eating while you are still hungry
All you can eat; indulge yourself
Lust
Chastity is a virtue
Get lucky
Envy
Envy is a green-eyed monster
You'll be the envy of your friends; don't be left out
Sloth
The early bird gets the worm
Pretend you're working
Recently I took a quiz. Unfortunately the results of the quiz did and didn’t surprise me. The quiz was on the seven deadly sins. I expected pride to be the sin that I would get, and it was; only the quiz showed where I fall with the other six sins. I expected wrath to be low and in fact it was very low, I just didn’t expect avarice to be almost as high as pride. In all full honesty I figured all my other sins would be low, but I also suffer from pride so go figure.
Wrath or rage is defined as an uncontrolled feeling of hatred and anger. These feelings can appear as denial of the truth, both to others and in the form of self-denial, impatience with the procedure of law, and the desire to seek revenge outside of the workings of the justice system, and generally wishing to do evil or harm to others. The actions that usually surface from this sin are among the most serious, including murder, assault, and even genocide. Interestingly enough, wrath is the only sin not associated with selfish desires. The way to get over wrath though is with patience. Patience to know justice will prevail, patience to know revenge isn’t the right path, and patience in the heat of the moment, being able to take a step back instead of escalating the situation. Wrath seems to be a sin that is devouring the world in present times. It truly does take more strength though to show patience than wrath, but hopefully patience will prevail.
Sloth perhaps is the most tempting of all of the deadly sins because it is so seductive. Originally it was viewed as the failure to use one’s gifts accordingly. Then slowly it transformed into indifference, and then finally what we know of it today, simple laziness. Sloth is so tempting because it grows in one’s mind slowly. A person can go from working hard to going on a vacation that slowly but surely never ends. A man may simply start jump hunting and then take time off to play video games, and slowly the video games take over his life. A woman may go from cleaning constantly to watching more and more television to help the time go by. Neither of these seems too bad, at least in moderation. No law is broken by sloth and no one is hurt or killed by sloth. It’s no wonder this sin is so seductive. Another sin I have managed to beat through sheer hard work and remaining on the go. The true way to overcome sloth though is through diligence. Diligence to continue to work, no matter how tempting it is to take time off, diligence to keep cleaning despite the television being on in the background, and diligence to want and work toward a better tomorrow.
Gluttony, defined as the over-indulgence or over consumption of food or beverage to the point of waste. This sin is viewed as the most disgusting in the American society, but only if it shows; meaning that a skinny person and an obese person at a buffet are looked at differently. The skinny person is more likely to get a look that implies they need to go back for a couple of more plates while the obese person is more likely to receive looks that imply they should go workout instead of eat; yet both individuals are engaging in the same activity. Gluttony has also long been viewed as a lack of self control. Those who suffer from a substance abuse problem would traditionally fall into this category. Gluttony is the most selfish of all sins because it was once viewed as withholding food from others who are in need of it while one person eats to the point of waste for no reason. The way to avoid gluttony is by practicing temperance. Temperance traditionally was referenced with alcoholic beverages but still holds true, temperance to know when to stop drinking or abstain from drinking altogether, temperance not to make anther plate or go back for an extra helping, and temperance in knowing how hungry you are in the first place instead of getting too much food and forcing yourself to eat it. One may say temperance and self-control go hand in hand.
Envy is the most passive of all the sins. Envy is more of an insatiable desire Avarice and envy are often confused but they differ in two main ways; greed is largely associated with material goods, whereas envy applies more generally and also those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it. While this sin hurts no one but the person who holds the envy it is still a deadly sin. Envy is also viewed as the gateway deadly sin; while it initially is a passive sin it can sometimes lead to other deadly sins. The way to move past being envious is by sharing joy and kindness. By sharing in these traits the envious person is often able to become less envious and wanting in their desire for what they don’t have. Although a passive sin it still rots a person to the core. Kindness and joy promote a sharing mentality amongst people and everyone wins out in the end.
Lust is by far the sexiest of all the seven deadly sins. Lust is thought of in terms of excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature. Even though lust is passive it usually has to components, the person throwing out the temptation by wearing revealing clothes or performing sexual innuendos the other part is the one looking who lets the imagination, desires, and temptations take control of their thoughts. Lusts is said to be able to lead to so many sexually immoral things ranging from sexual addiction, fornication, adultery, the always shocking and perverted bestiality, and even something as violent as rape and sodomy. To turn away from lust a person must simply practice self control and chastity. Chastity is simply remaining a virgin until marriage, practicing celibacy, and upholding a virtuous character. Three traits that need to be practiced more but unfortunately in the world we leave in today people are encouraged to have numerous sexual partners as long as they practice safe sex, virginity is mocked and frowned upon, and character goes out the window when a good orgasm is on the line. While a person can never become a true virgin again it is never too late to become a born again virgin and wait until marriage to share that special gift that is non refundable and non returnable. Chastity is truly a part of having a virtuous character.
Avarice, the deadly sin a person can never have too much off. Very much similar to lust and gluttony avarice is the sin of excess, but in this case usually the excess of money to lead to riches, the excess of material things so a person can feel as though they are showing off wealth, and even in this case an excess of food to hoard it over others. This sin is viewed as having no limit and is dangerous because a greedy person is seen as a person who has no limit to what they will do to get more which includes lying, stealing, betrayal, and whatever else has to happen. A prime example of this would be the state of the economy in 2008 and 2009. Greed has lead people into bankruptcy and even made some people commit suicide. Although avarice is more of a blanket term for greed, greed in itself will do whatever it has to to gain more because with greed you can never have enough until you have all. To starve off greed all a person has to do is practice charity. The best charity is that which comes in the form of anonymity because the giver doesn’t benefit except for with feeling the sense of doing something moral
Now, pride, the deadliest of all the sins. Pride is said to be the unbeatable sin. Pride is said to be a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing and conduct. Pride is the sin I suffer from the most. After years of hard work and always being at the top, hearing the great things said about me, my head has grown unfortunately and now I have a lot of work to do to get it back to normal size. Pride is said to be the unbeatable sin because there is almost no real way to get rid of pride. It was rumored originally that the other six sins could be beaten with a selfless act, but to pride there is no selfless act. Anything a person does in a prideful state is done for the further glory of oneself. If a person purposely loses a game they claim they did it for a purpose while implying they could have won but chose not to for a more noble reason. Humility is the opposite of pride but unfortunately for a prideful person there is no true way to get to that point without having some kind of loss.
The seven deadly sins, said to be made and distributed by Satan himself. No one is immune from all of them, but the trick is in knowing which one is your biggest weakness and working on it day and night. While sin is tempting and hard to fight if you truly work hard then you can avoid most of the temptations in the world. For those who stumble and fall along the way there is redemption for those who so true remorse and want to be a better person in the future.