How it Impacts the Larger Good

The 7 cardinal sins Re-Imagined in the Modern World

"There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable".

(Mark Twain)

The 7 deadly sins are not some abstract concept that was only present in the ancient world and that our ancestors warned us against, believing them to be the antithesis of everything humans stood for. It was much more difficult in the past to submit oneself fully to these vices (unless you were a society elite), as life was tougher back then. But technology has reached such a level of automation and ease now, that these sins have been updated for the present age and are ubiquitous and pervasive in society. Apps help you overindulge in your brand of vice. Life has become simpler / easier and people are more willing to fall prey to these sins as its not seen as a moral failing now. Society has evolved to encourage over-indulgence and mass consumerism. We only have corporations and their maxim of profit to blame for this.

Pride,Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony and Sloth aren’t outdated or archaic afflictions. They are very much present and prevalent in our everyday lives, whether we realize it or not, we are intentionally or unintentionally affected, influenced and are often vehicles for their expression.

We lead selfish, self-absorbed lives, where our parents, elders, colleagues, bosses motivate us to get ahead in life, by “hook or crook”. We are judged, our personality measured, our potential weighed by our financial and material wealth - by how rich we are, the houses and cars we own, the number of vacations we take, what class we fly in. We are pushed to prioritize ourselves above everything, so as to become successful. Success is everything, there is no reward or pleasure in being kind or ordinary or leading a normal life.

A little bit of kindness, unconditional friendship, bonds like these seem to slowly die out as there is no value attached to these. We prefer likes, rankings and ratings over these.

Pride

Pride goes before a fall is not an empty saying.

Pride instills a massive sense of entitlement, stemming from an overinflated sense of self-importance/ego, which masks any insecurities they might have. Entitlement is the feeling that one deserves everything they crave and that any rejection of your desire is unfair because of the obvious jealousy from people around you. It is the obsession with your own sense of worth and importance.

It causes people to act in their own self-interest while ignoring the needs of others.

In this modern world, millennials are often (unfairly?) accused of being entitled, children are raised to believe that they are special and deserving of all of their desires.

Narcissism in our modern society has led to the rise of photo sharing apps like Instagram where people can flaunt their wealth and massage their ego along the way through validation from others.

Wrath

Wrath is vehement rage caused by/with feelings of resentment and vengeance. A wrathful person takes offense at most perceived slights or insults and has a trigger-happy temper that mostly ends in extreme anger. Road rage is an example. Modern society doesn’t afford many avenues for people to vent out their frustrations or anger safely.

This anger and frustration can cause stress in humans, which leads to modern lifestyle diseases.

Twitter is an example of a modern-day digital app that humans use to express their wrath in public in front of a bigger audience that can amplify and spread the message to millions of people in no time at all.

Envy

Envy is desiring / coveting your neighbour’s goods. Envy begets debt in the modern world (coupled with the prevalence of easy credit). People spend beyond their means, are always upgrading their lifestyles to compete with, to show off to, keep up with their richer neighbours, relatives, friends. Even if salaries increase, so do expenses accordingly. Envy is reactive.

Facebook is an app that is used to showcase one’s status and is a major cause of heartburn and envy amongst its users.

Lust

Lust is an active desire and seen as an animalistic baser drive in humans. It is usually associated with sex. Most people connect lust with the ubiquity of porn in society. It is easily and readily available, at the touch of a button on small portable devices (cell phones) that everyone carries around in their pockets. Everything is sexual in modern society with movies, ads and billboards screaming sex and lust. Kids are increasingly sexualised and fetishised, from a young age. Reality TV shows have normalised depictions of sex and sexual nature. Sex sells – even innocuous products are now sold using sex icons.

Tinder is an app used to service the feelings of lust of human society, at the touch of a button.

Greed

Greed is the desire to possess more than you have / need / want. Hoarders are extreme examples of greed in society. Accumulating wealth beyond what is needed is usually associated with investment bankers and Wall Street. But most people in society suffer from some form of greed. This manifests in workaholism, hustling and the desire to earn more and more money to fund lavish lifestyles and expenses.

Greed is also closely associated with envy, in that envy can lead to greed.

Gluttony

Gluttony is the desire for more food than is required for a normal human and the subsequent consumption of that food. It is lust or greed for food. Gluttony results in obesity in society. It is said that more than half of humans in this world are obese or overweight.

There are many food delivery apps like UberEats that will deliver food to your doorstep with a single click. This has encouraged gluttony.

Sloth

Sloth is extreme laziness and manifests itself as an active dislike towards any kind of physical activity. Classic examples of sloths are the couch potatoes who can watch TV for hours (or days) at a time without moving. They don’t think for themselves and can be easily fed opinions and manipulated. These are the people that are most influenced by partisan TV and radio shows.

Sloth and gluttony have resulted in a generation of unfit and obese people. Sloth can be compared to the infantilism prevalent in society today. Children are handheld and mollycoddled and taught not to take risks. Punishments are outlawed, safe spaces and trigger warnings are common in classrooms and college campuses. All this is contributing to the progressive infantilization of successive generations.

The mindless consumption of apps like Netflix and other on-demand TV / movie services have accelerated the incidence of sloth in society.

In our world there is constant battle happening every single day of our lives: Good versus Evil. In particular, we can notice that humans are not driven by honesty and goodness. This individualistic mindset leads humans to act following their lowest instincts that most of the times brings them to commit hurtful acts without even thinking about the consequences of their actions. In our story world, Evil has conquered the entire planet, leaving humans hopeless. Our stories would drive the audience to be kind, modest, mature, calm, loving, active, unselfish and good to one another rather than being defensive and overprotective of our own self, without thinking about the consequences of our hurtful actions.

We don’t intend to be preachy, but it is a shame if we miss out on the finer things in life like friendship, love, innocence. Society is doomed unless we change course. If we’re not careful, we would find ourselves living in the Storyworld of “Wall-E”.

With Oreka, we aim to generate a feeling of community, promote unity in diversity, harmony and want to highlight the fact that we shouldn’t lose hope in humanity, goodness will prevail. Our characters will remember that we are in this world to better ourselves and improve our society.