Latest / Sorta Sophisticated / Episode 087 - Ancient Vices, Modern Problems: The Seven Deadly Sins Explained

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Episode 087 - Ancient Vices, Modern Problems: The Seven Deadly Sins Explained · Sorta Sophisticated

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's me again, Pete, your host of the one and the only, Sorta sophisticated, the podcast that makes us sound kind of like we got our life together and that we flex on people and stuff, but really, if you're not careful, sometimes you can kind of look like me. Sort of the pompous asshole. Right? Who are we kidding? Well, and with me, as always, is Amanda with her unwavering support as the best co host to ever exist on the planet. Hello, Amanda.
• 0:30
  Speaker B: Hello. Hello.
• 0:32
  Speaker A: How are you doing today?
• 0:32
  Speaker B: Good, how are you?
• 0:33
  Speaker A: How's everything going?
• 0:35
  Speaker B: Good. So I have something for you, but you have to open it on air.
• 0:38
  Speaker A: Oh my God. Right now this is happening?
• 0:40
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 0:41
  Speaker A: Oh my gosh, this is so uncomfortable.
• 0:44
  Speaker B: I'll hold your mic for you. I think he's gonna like it.
• 0:49
  Speaker A: Oh, my God, really? The Hygge game?
• 0:52
  Speaker B: Yes, the Hygge.
• 0:54
  Speaker A: The cozy conversation in pleas. My kids laugh at me for saying conversation because I say it with a Z. Conversation all the time. Right. So how are you supposed to say conversation? Okay. The cozy conversation in pleasant company. This is. This is.
• 1:08
  Speaker B: I have no idea. But I had to get it.
• 1:10
  Speaker A: We're gonna do this.
• 1:10
  Speaker B: It was very.
• 1:11
  Speaker A: We're the first players of the Hygge. The Hygge.
• 1:15
  Speaker B: I said hug.
• 1:18
  Speaker A: How come we still don't know how to say this after all this time? That was very nice of you. Thank you very much. This is a very nice New Year's left.
• 1:24
  Speaker B: It is 14 plus though, so I figured you could play with your kids. All right. But it's a Hygge. It's a Scandinavian or Danish really, word for enjoying the good things in life. It invokes an atmosphere of coziness accompanied by a feeling of contentment and well being. And there's nothing more Hygge than spending quality time with the people you love.
• 1:42
  Speaker A: With a cup of tea.
• 1:43
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 1:43
  Speaker A: And maybe a few gummies. I'm in.
• 1:45
  Speaker B: The game has more than 300 thought provoking questions designed to spark meaningful conversation and create the right atmosphere for a Hygge evening. Huh. Okay, not really what I thought it was, but here you go.
• 1:55
  Speaker A: What'd you think it was?
• 1:56
  Speaker B: Maybe something a little more fun.
• 1:57
  Speaker A: Okay, we're gonna see.
• 1:58
  Speaker B: Okay, I'm playing it fair.
• 1:59
  Speaker A: If I fall asleep, I'll let you know.
• 2:00
  Speaker B: Okay. Come with a review. All right, so what are we talking about today?
• 2:04
  Speaker A: Well, not Hygge, that's for sure, because we already killed that one. We did it a long time ago. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Today's topic is officially titled Ancient Vices, Modern Problems, the Seven deadly Sins Explained. And today we're basically going to explain why these sins, like, came to be and how we're supposed to live by them all the time. Cause, believe it or not, they never really disappeared. They just sort of rebranded over the last, I don't know, millennia. Millennia. Millennium. I don't know. You get the idea.
• 2:30
  Speaker B: Sounds about right.
• 2:31
  Speaker A: Right, Totally.
• 2:32
  Speaker B: Okay, so, but how is this gonna make us more cultured? By learning about sins. How do they teach us about the sins?
• 2:40
  Speaker A: No, I mean, we'll do the sins.
• 2:41
  Speaker B: Is it different across different cultures? Is it all the same?
• 2:45
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah, this is, like, all the same over the world. This is worldwide. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm totally spitballing here. I figure 2026 is a good time. Like, beginning of 2020 is a good time to talk about, like, okay, fair goals and objectives, seven deadly sins, things that get our life back on track. Right. So, I mean, like, here's the deal. How does this make us cultured? Because it helps you, like, stop being all into yourself and gets you out of your box. Because who are we kidding? All we're doing is, you know, all about us. Yeah, it's all about us all the time. It's ego, and it's like, what are we doing with our life and our time? So I figure if we can identify the seven sins and sort of make sense of them and spot, like, when they're happening in our lives, it just sort of holds a mirror up to us and will make us better people, which is why we started this podcast in the first place. So there. That's how it's gonna make us more cultured.
• 3:33
  Speaker B: All right.
• 3:34
  Speaker A: Did I do it?
• 3:34
  Speaker B: Yeah. There we go.
• 3:36
  Speaker A: Feels good.
• 3:36
  Speaker B: I like it.
• 3:37
  Speaker A: I got there.
• 3:37
  Speaker B: All right, so you're not really gonna make me memorize what all of these sins are, but it's more just, like, understand maybe a little psychology, a little science.
• 3:46
  Speaker A: Yeah. How they appear today. We'll do a little bit of that. Yeah, we'll do all those things for sure.
• 3:50
  Speaker B: All right, so let's start with Word of the Day.
• 3:52
  Speaker A: Word of the day. Okay. By the way, sorry, we're rebranding Word of the Day. Is that okay?
• 3:56
  Speaker B: Oh, we are.
• 3:56
  Speaker A: I have. Yeah. I have to change it. It's gotta be word of the week, because we're not Word of the day. We don't do this every day. It took me 87 episodes to figure out. I'm like, this needs to be word of the week.
• 4:05
  Speaker B: It was like, word of our day.
• 4:06
  Speaker A: Right, Word of our day. But word of the week is better. Cause it's. Wow.
• 4:08
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 4:09
  Speaker A: Wow. Word of the week. Right? I like that. Okay, our word of the week this week is Dec.
• 4:16
  Speaker B: Decorous.
• 4:17
  Speaker A: Decorous, yes.
• 4:18
  Speaker B: Anything to do with decor.
• 4:20
  Speaker A: That is a good question.
• 4:21
  Speaker B: No, no, not really. Loud.
• 4:24
  Speaker A: Loud.
• 4:25
  Speaker B: No. 10.
• 4:26
  Speaker A: 10? No. What's 10?
• 4:28
  Speaker B: I don't know. Okay, 100,000. Decade.
• 4:32
  Speaker A: Oh. Oh, you're going like, I know what you're doing.
• 4:35
  Speaker B: I was going deci.
• 4:35
  Speaker A: You're doing numbers. Holy shit.
• 4:37
  Speaker B: You're crazy.
• 4:38
  Speaker A: No, decoris comes from the Latin decorus. Duh. Same ish word meaning proper or fitting. So when something is decorous, it's not about being, like, stiff or fancy, like you were saying. It's about behaving in a way that fits the moment, like, right vibe, like, right place.
• 4:54
  Speaker B: So, wait, so decor? I was close.
• 4:56
  Speaker A: Yeah, you were close.
• 4:57
  Speaker B: Fitting. But you said. No, no, I could have got there.
• 5:00
  Speaker A: Sorry. I thought decor was, like, what the room looked like. Like, your decor. Like, when you walk into a room. Like, Hygge, I didn't know where you were going. Okay, I got it. Fine. You were close.
• 5:09
  Speaker B: So it's kind of more like, read the room.
• 5:11
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's like when I walk into this podcast studio, maybe look up from your computer every once in a while and be like, oh, Pete, hi. It's nice to see you.
• 5:18
  Speaker B: And the trash talk begins.
• 5:20
  Speaker A: Maybe that would be. That's you being decorous.
• 5:22
  Speaker B: Is ignoring you one of the seven deadly sins?
• 5:25
  Speaker A: It probably is. And if it's not, I'm making it an eighth. I'm making it an eighth sin.
• 5:29
  Speaker B: Whatever. What's our history?
• 5:31
  Speaker A: Okay, history time. Are you ready to get bored to death? This isn't. No, this won't get bored. This is good. This is good. Okay.
• 5:36
  Speaker B: I like history.
• 5:37
  Speaker A: Yeah, you like history.
• 5:37
  Speaker B: It makes everything mean more.
• 5:39
  Speaker A: Okay, fine. Here we go. So I thought, Amanda, it all started with Catholicism, because who we kidding?
• 5:44
  Speaker B: It didn't end.
• 5:45
  Speaker A: No, because, like, my Catholic guilt, like, totally. I was like, this had tracks for me.
• 5:50
  Speaker B: Yeah, that would make sense.
• 5:51
  Speaker A: No, but it didn't. Right? So I checked all this out. I found out that the seven deadly sins actually aren't even listed anywhere in the Bible. There is no, like, page anywhere where God's like, okay, guys, here are the seven deadly sins. Like, the ten commandments. Like, you know the ten Commandments in the Bible? This is. This is not anywhere. Okay, Right, right. So I didn't know that.
• 6:10
  Speaker B: So if it didn't start with the Bible. Then who did it start with?
• 6:12
  Speaker A: I don't even know. It's like the Big Bang. It just came.
• 6:15
  Speaker B: No, I'm sure, you know, it had to, like, start with someone it did. Or like a bunch of people.
• 6:19
  Speaker A: Some guy whose name I don't even know that we're going to get to in a little bit. I don't know what his name. Okay, it's like Evagarius or Avrar. Yeah, it's a guy. It's a very sophisticated name.
• 6:26
  Speaker B: Okay, we're gonna get too sophisticated.
• 6:28
  Speaker A: Wait, wait. Well, he's the one who was at least, like, you know, like, what do you call it? Associated with.
• 6:33
  Speaker B: Okay, sounds good.
• 6:34
  Speaker A: Got it. All right. So it all starts in the 4th century BC, way before Jesus. I mean, God's around, of course, because he's always around, but our buddy Plato, of course, it goes back to Plato. Right. So he defines. Not the seven deadly sins. He defines something called the cardinal virtues. That's where we're gonna start. Okay. Prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. The four cardinal virtues. And they sort of sit there for a while, like, those are the good. That's like the angel side. And then you have the seven deadly sins, demon side. So bear with me. I'm getting there.
• 7:04
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 7:04
  Speaker A: So it sits there for like 800 years till the 4th century A.D. when a bunch of monks decide to go live in the desert somewhere in Egypt. And it took them about five seconds to realize that they weren't really living by these cardinal virtues anymore. And they were getting all petty and bitchy at each other because they probably didn't have any food and any place to live because why they want to go to desert? So sort of weird. They were getting all competitive and weird in the desert. You get the idea.
• 7:28
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:28
  Speaker A: So enter this guy named Evagrius. I think of Pontus. This is the big guy. This is the guy who they're attributing this whole thing to. Yeah, probably like their super smartest monk or the leader of all the monk guys that were there. And out of nowhere, he calls this big town hall meeting in the desert and decides to tell all the monk people guys that are there that we are having a problem and we are what he called self sabotaging. Okay, all right. So he's like, this is serious shit because we have to have, like a monk community all living together in, like, harmony. So they come up with what he called evil thoughts. They didn't call them sins then. Right. Cause this guy wasn't Catholic or anything. Right. He's just, he's a monk dude. Okay. Like evil habits. The opposite of the virtues.
• 8:10
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 8:10
  Speaker A: Because the whole idea was they wanted to live a virtuous life and they were realizing that they weren't living a virtuous life. Make sense so far?
• 8:15
  Speaker B: So far.
• 8:15
  Speaker A: So he actually came up with eight of them, not seven of them.
• 8:19
  Speaker B: Okay, that kind of tracks eight. Lucky number.
• 8:21
  Speaker A: And the idea was really, it wasn't like, this is really bad. It was more like, hey, these are the way, like, we keep messing up in our little desert community here, so let's stop doing that. Okay. So then fast forward a few centuries later. Now we're at Pope Gregory the Great. This is where Catholicism takes over. He basically decides we're going to use them, organizes them all, puts them into chatgpt, trims down the list to seven, because, you know, seven is a perfect number for different looking numbers, and then attacks them to the wall of his church and officially calls them the seven deadly sins.
• 8:56
  Speaker B: So he does better branding. But also, what was the one that he took out? That's what I'm curious about.
• 9:00
  Speaker A: Oh, shit. I don't know, because I was. Oh no, I was. So you looked that up? Look up what? The eighth one was because I cared so much about learning about seven, I didn't even look. That's a good one. That was a good question. Totally threw me off. So I'm gonna keep going while you.
• 9:12
  Speaker B: Okay, fine.
• 9:12
  Speaker A: Okay, so here's the thing, right? Even in the Catholic Church, they still weren't trying to say like, oh my God, you're a sinner, this is terrible stuff. This was more like, if you let this stuff be unchecked, our whole church community is going to suffer. So it was more meant to be like a communal thing, like a way to behave as a society, not an individual thing. So even though we added the word sin, the idea was still a communal effort and let's just be a great church. They were like tools. They weren't threats.
• 9:43
  Speaker B: Got it.
• 9:44
  Speaker A: Like early warning signs to keep your proverbial quote unquote shit together. So fast forwarding again, here we go to the 1200s and St. Thomas Aquinas comes up with a brilliant idea. Because St. Thomas Aquinas was brilliant. Who are we kidding? He is the best Catholic. He unites, going all the way back to those cardinal virtues. You remember what I talked about at the beginning?
• 10:04
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 10:04
  Speaker A: So the church had added three more cardinal virtues by that time. Like, I don't know, back in the first or second century when Jesus was alive, they Added faith, hope, and charity. So now there was seven cardinal virtues. So St. Thomas Aquinas comes up with, I'm going to put together these seven cardinal virtues with the seven deadly sins and put them into one giant moral system. In his book, the Summa Theologiae. His, like, super famous book. Do you ever read it?
• 10:29
  Speaker B: No.
• 10:29
  Speaker A: From COVID to cover. You haven't done that. It makes you sort of sophisticated.
• 10:33
  Speaker B: I feel like that would make me ultra sophisticated.
• 10:35
  Speaker A: It would.
• 10:35
  Speaker B: Going for sort of here and anything.
• 10:37
  Speaker A: Anything Latin called Summa Theologiae. As a Catholic, I probably should have read it. Did you find this eighth Deadly?
• 10:42
  Speaker B: I did.
• 10:42
  Speaker A: What is it?
• 10:42
  Speaker B: Well, I don't know which one it is, technically.
• 10:43
  Speaker A: Okay, cares. Rip it off.
• 10:44
  Speaker B: It's either going to be sadness.
• 10:45
  Speaker A: Oh, I love it.
• 10:46
  Speaker B: Or is it acedia?
• 10:50
  Speaker A: Acedia, A, C, E, D, I, A. I don't know. Never heard of it.
• 10:53
  Speaker B: Spiritual apathy, listlessness, lack of care. Both of those two were merged into sloth.
• 10:59
  Speaker A: Okay. I love it. So can I get back on track?
• 11:01
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 11:02
  Speaker A: Okay. Got it. So then, 100 years later, so Dante. You remember Dante?
• 11:05
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 11:05
  Speaker A: Yes. Okay. So he writes the Divine Comedy, which basically puts all the sins on this grand stage and shows you purgatory. You remember the seven circles of Hell, Right? Okay. That was, like, the first time it was out in literature. That was massive. And then maybe another 50 or 60 years goes by, and then Chaucer does the Canterbury Tales and showed everybody like, hey, this is how all of our friends act in society. This isn't really about purgatory or hell. This is about what's going on, like, in real life right now. Kind of like Jane Austen was doing. Right? Like, same thing, Kenterberry Tales, same sort of style. So it became, like, real for people in, like, I don't know, the 1300s. Question mark. Medieval Times, we'll say right around there.
• 11:43
  Speaker B: So it became a thing.
• 11:44
  Speaker A: That's basically it. Yeah.
• 11:45
  Speaker B: That's when it became a thing.
• 11:46
  Speaker A: That's my whole history.
• 11:47
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 11:47
  Speaker A: Yes. I think we. We attribute it to, I don't know, Evergris, Evergrius. And then I'm going to say St. Thomas Aquinas next. And that's sort of it. Yep.
• 11:55
  Speaker B: Why would. Yeah, I would say that because he kind of took the eight and made it into seven. Ish.
• 11:59
  Speaker A: Yeah, totally.
• 12:00
  Speaker B: But okay, why don't we go through then all seven of them.
• 12:03
  Speaker A: Okay, we go. What are they? Do you know?
• 12:05
  Speaker B: I mean, I just.
• 12:06
  Speaker A: Which ones do you suffer from? Why don't we do that?
• 12:09
  Speaker B: Oh, I don't know.
• 12:10
  Speaker A: How about we do that? Let's go through all seven of them and then you tell me which is my worst one and I'll tell you which is your worst one.
• 12:14
  Speaker B: Yay.
• 12:15
  Speaker A: Let's do that. Okay.
• 12:16
  Speaker B: Sounds like a horrible. Alright, here we go.
• 12:17
  Speaker A: We're gonna go. It's gonna be great. Okay, first we're gonna do pride.
• 12:20
  Speaker B: Okay?
• 12:21
  Speaker A: Pride. We all know what pride is. Everybody knows pride.
• 12:22
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 12:23
  Speaker A: Fun fact.
• 12:24
  Speaker B: Like when you think you're more important than everyone else.
• 12:26
  Speaker A: Wait, is that my bad one already? Did you just call me out right there? Cause you just looked at me like you did.
• 12:29
  Speaker B: You're saying like pride?
• 12:30
  Speaker A: Yes, it is. It's very prideful. Yes. I didn't know. Okay, fun fact. In the beginning, pride was actually considered to be the root of all sin, like the one underneath all the other ones.
• 12:38
  Speaker B: And.
• 12:38
  Speaker A: And four of the seven deadly sins were like built off of pride. It's like one of the core ones. Anyway, it's not confidence like a lot of people think. It's self deception more than anything else. When I was reading all about this, I'm like, I don't know, I thought it was a confidence thing. No, self deception. It's about believing you were better than everyone else. Above all, consequences. I'm reading right now. And that's why it mattered so much. Cause like, it destroyed all the important, like, humility and humbleness and like all the good stuff that we're supposed to have. And that's when like communities fall apart and shit starts hitting the fan. Because it's all about ego and it's all about yourself and all that main character shit. So it wasn't confidence, self deception. Okay, next one. Envy. What's envy?
• 13:18
  Speaker B: When you're jealous.
• 13:19
  Speaker A: Okay. Yes.
• 13:20
  Speaker B: You covet something.
• 13:21
  Speaker A: You do. Correct. Maybe that's yours. Let me think about that one.
• 13:25
  Speaker B: I mean, are we. Hold on. Are these also just like all of the emotions?
• 13:28
  Speaker A: Right?
• 13:29
  Speaker B: Just kidding.
• 13:29
  Speaker A: Inside out? Pretty much. That was pretty good. Yeah, but it's like jealousy. But it's like jealousy on crack. You have to realize, like, envy's like. You have to take it up like a lot of notches, right? Because jealousy's more like. Oh, you. I want. I want that thing that you have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But envy's like. I hate that you have that thing. And like, I need to kill you because you. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:49
  Speaker B: Like, it's a deeper desire.
• 13:50
  Speaker A: It's way deeper desire. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I think that might be yours. Okay, then we have wrath. Okay. Wrath. It sounds so terrible. Wrath.
• 13:59
  Speaker B: Grapes of wrath.
• 14:00
  Speaker A: Right? Yes. Plain English, it's just anger. Yeah, okay, right. But like uncontrolled, like rage. Right, and that mattered because like, you know, most people would kill each other and stuff, like, if you have too much wrath.
• 14:09
  Speaker B: Okay, okay, fair. I mean, like all the kings did when they got mad. They just slaughtered everyone.
• 14:12
  Speaker A: Very wrathful. Fourth is sloth. Okay. Yes, sloth.
• 14:17
  Speaker B: So wait, what came first though? The sloth or sloth?
• 14:20
  Speaker A: Oh, sloth or sloth?
• 14:23
  Speaker B: I'm just kidding.
• 14:23
  Speaker A: Like the animal sloth. That is very interesting. I'm going to look that shit up right now.
• 14:28
  Speaker B: I mean, obviously like a sloth animal is around longer than a sloth.
• 14:31
  Speaker A: No, but, but, but like I don't know if they named it first.
• 14:34
  Speaker B: I'm sure they did, but now I gotta know.
• 14:37
  Speaker A: Now I gotta check this out. You just, you. You've just thrown me off. Down. Down a rabbit hole. Hold on a second. I gotta look this up. Okay, okay. The sin came first, actually. And then the animal sloth was named after the sin.
• 14:49
  Speaker B: No, it didn't.
• 14:50
  Speaker A: Yes, because they thought it was lazy. Yes. I just looked it up. Yes. But fun fact. Did you know the sin actually isn't about laziness?
• 14:57
  Speaker B: Oh, what's it about then? It's more about like being slow.
• 14:59
  Speaker A: It's more about apathy. That's what they did. That's what they probably took. The sadness. And what was it? Acedia. And they brought it into sloth. You said it was subset sloth. It's sloth. That's it. Okay. That's why it made the list.
• 15:09
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 15:10
  Speaker A: Because it was about society not leeching off of each other and like being lame.
• 15:14
  Speaker B: Wow. Blowing my mind in all the ways.
• 15:16
  Speaker A: Okay, what are we at? Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Okay, next one. Greed. Easy. Wanting more shit than everybody else.
• 15:21
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 15:21
  Speaker A: Okay. Is that mine? What's mine? Is mine green?
• 15:23
  Speaker B: I don't know what yours did. Okay, clearly you already know. You've thought I don't know.
• 15:27
  Speaker A: Right. Okay. Six. One. Gluttony. Okay, that's my problem.
• 15:29
  Speaker B: That's it.
• 15:29
  Speaker A: I'm a fat. It's gluttony. Yes, it is. No, but gluttony it's not.
• 15:33
  Speaker B: It's just overindulgence.
• 15:34
  Speaker A: Yeah, I cuz I thought it was about food. Only because I'm so.
• 15:38
  Speaker B: Gluttonous.
• 15:39
  Speaker A: It's overindulgence. You are totally right. It could be sex, drugs, rock and roll, anything. I was a total glutton for Gabby, if you know what I mean. Okay, and then the last one Is lust and not just like sex lust. I thought it was sex lust. Cause you know me with the sex, right. When I looked it up, it meant a desire to be detached from responsibility, like wanting without caring about consequences. So the idea was it reduced people to objects. So immediately you think of men like looking at women lustfully, but like it's really anything that gets dangerous when you just reduce it to an object. Yes, that's sort of it. Those are the seven.
• 16:13
  Speaker B: So basically none of these were actually like rules rules. They were more just what was happening in society. And they were kind of like cherry picking the worst of the worst in society.
• 16:23
  Speaker A: Correct. Amundo.
• 16:24
  Speaker B: So then if we wanted to live.
• 16:25
  Speaker A: Together nicely, sure, that was it.
• 16:27
  Speaker B: But those have obviously, I would assume, somehow transformed that we can still see whatever that was in the society back then and today's society, but it just kind of comes out in a different way.
• 16:37
  Speaker A: Oh, totally. Yeah, absolutely. Because here's the deal, right? Over thousands and thousands of years, society changes and then you're just sort of left with these same core, like, I don't know, like patterns. Right.
• 16:45
  Speaker B: Like this kind of evolves.
• 16:46
  Speaker A: Yes, that's the idea. Right.
• 16:48
  Speaker B: Okay, so then if we were to talk about like pride, what would pride be today? If pride is like being prideful of self, being full of self, being elevating self.
• 16:56
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 16:56
  Speaker B: Like, wouldn't that just then be personal branding? Like if you think of all the people that are on social media right now.
• 17:00
  Speaker A: Yes, you're absolutely right. Okay.
• 17:01
  Speaker B: No, you're not like to get political. But just like all these now political heads is what kind of comes to mind. Right. You have the Candace Owens. It's all about her. It's her show. I mean, on the flip side, you look at tv, I feel like we've done that with all of these, you know, Kelly Clarkson or Jennifer Hudson, like they were these people who rose to stardom and now they have their own shows and it's all about them.
• 17:22
  Speaker A: Okay, so I feel like you just held a mirror up to me and tell me if I'm wrong. So how's that any different than us trying to promote sort of sophisticated on TikTok or something?
• 17:30
  Speaker B: Peter Balinsky show.
• 17:32
  Speaker A: But I mean, I know, but like, am I being too prideful? Because it's sort of like, oh, me, me. Like the idea is we're trying to share information with people. Is that what Kelly Clarkson thinks she's doing or Candace Owens? Or is it because they have a certain bent that we're saying maybe?
• 17:48
  Speaker B: No, but I think I think it's more because it's like. It's their show. It's about them.
• 17:52
  Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, well, then I would say that's pride, right? Yeah. I think maybe I'm having a moment trying to, like, draw the line between, like, where we end and someone else starts. Because the idea is, like, I don't really care how bad this is. We're just having fun and trying to figure out and share information with people. Like. And if you like it, you like. If you don't, you don't. I. I feel like there's humility behind it.
• 18:09
  Speaker B: Yeah, I do pride, though. Of, like, no, my show's better, my product's better.
• 18:12
  Speaker A: Right. That's what I'm thinking. That's. So I'm saying you're.
• 18:15
  Speaker B: I don't know if these people actually intend, like, what they feel internally. Yeah, but that's just, like, how do we check ourselves? And that's, like, to be too prideful. Right. Maybe it's at the core of it. What, your heart.
• 18:25
  Speaker A: Is that better said? I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, are we gonna, like, go through, like, each one of these, like, how it shows up today? Okay, fine. Envy. Well, I don't know. I envy everybody, and I'm jealous as.
• 18:34
  Speaker B: Fuck, but I feel like in social media, it's very easy to become envious.
• 18:37
  Speaker A: Because that's what you see.
• 18:39
  Speaker B: And everyone's life on Instagram or on TikTok is this glamorous life. But in reality, it may not be so glamorous.
• 18:45
  Speaker A: Right. So.
• 18:46
  Speaker B: But then as a person, we shouldn't envy or covet things that we don't know the truth.
• 18:49
  Speaker A: Right. So it's opposite. So somebody who's being prideful is branding themselves on social media. But then the envious person is watching that and buying into all that and then trying to be different because of. Okay, I'm with you so far. That's two. Got it. Okay, what was next? Wrath. Wrath. Where's Wrath is everywhere. Wrath is. Wrath is a road race.
• 19:09
  Speaker B: I was gonna say it was the guy who, like, flipped me off.
• 19:11
  Speaker A: It's me driving home from the podcast studio. Right. That's where you see it today? No, because people are impatient as, like, go holiday shopping two weeks ago. Three. That's Wrath. It's everywhere. That one's easy. That's Wrath.
• 19:25
  Speaker B: Sloth. Sloth being lazy.
• 19:27
  Speaker A: Sloth. Well, it wasn't just lazy. Remember? It was like. It was apathy. How about, like, burnout? Like, you hate your job. You are over the pause, pivoting or piecing out episode. Like the whole idea of sort of just going through the motions and not giving two shits about contributing anymore. I would say that is how it shows up today. I mean, that's not me being lazy. Don't get me wrong. I'm saying it's being apathetic. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:55
  Speaker B: Okay, so then we have greed. So wanting more than your own share.
• 19:59
  Speaker A: Greed. I don't know. Like. Like, how about being busy?
• 20:04
  Speaker B: Like, is that being greedy?
• 20:05
  Speaker A: I don't. I'm thinking, I'm trying to put it together. I'm thinking of our busy. Remember we talked about busy culture?
• 20:09
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 20:10
  Speaker A: In one of our episodes. Yeah, like. Like filling our. I'm trying to connect wanting more with filling our days and not letting us relax. So like, I'm just using the opposite of sloth. But like, I don't know that that might be the reason why or not. But otherwise it's the same. It's chasing a paycheck. Right. Like whether back then you were after something. Right? Yeah, yeah. One way or the other. I don't know. That one's a hard one.
• 20:31
  Speaker B: Gluttony.
• 20:32
  Speaker A: I just eat too much. I'm a fat.
• 20:33
  Speaker B: No, I think it's more like I.
• 20:35
  Speaker A: Had apple pie, pumpkin pie, a bunch of frosted cookies even.
• 20:38
  Speaker B: Just like weight and food. Right. I think it could be anything.
• 20:42
  Speaker A: You were right. It's binge culture. It's the fact that both of us just friggin watched four hours worth of Stranger Things when it came out because like, oh my God, we have to watch it right now. That's it. That is absolutely gluttony. Like times 10.
• 20:54
  Speaker B: So then the last one would be lust. And that's anything easy.
• 20:57
  Speaker A: What?
• 20:58
  Speaker B: Lust.
• 20:58
  Speaker A: Why is that easy?
• 20:59
  Speaker B: Because that's how everyone dates now.
• 21:01
  Speaker A: Oh, sure.
• 21:01
  Speaker B: It's all like, you know, does this person. Is this person enough visually or whatever they're putting down on the.
• 21:08
  Speaker A: What is it?
• 21:08
  Speaker B: And if not his wife? Yeah, I mean all the. All the apps.
• 21:11
  Speaker A: Okay. Like, whatever. Like, you go on hinge.
• 21:14
  Speaker B: I don't go on hinge.
• 21:15
  Speaker A: Okay, well then who are us to talk about.
• 21:17
  Speaker B: But if you think about it though.
• 21:18
  Speaker A: No, I think you're right. Like, yeah, yeah.
• 21:20
  Speaker B: As a culture, online dating, it's quite lustful.
• 21:23
  Speaker A: Well, yes, I think we are objectifying anything. Right? I think that's a really easy example to use.
• 21:29
  Speaker B: But also at the end of the day, what. I just feel like the Internet has like amplified all seven of them because.
• 21:34
  Speaker A: That'S basically what we just, well, save greed. I think we Just six of them were like, Internet, Internet, Internet, Internet. Or some version of it. Yeah, absolutely.
• 21:40
  Speaker B: I mean, that's crazy.
• 21:41
  Speaker A: Yeah. Because it's easy because you can hide.
• 21:43
  Speaker B: That's true. So you could be, like, total rage bait. You can anger.
• 21:46
  Speaker A: So herein lies the issue. They built these seven deadly sins. Or the idea behind it was, we have to live in a community together.
• 21:52
  Speaker B: Right.
• 21:53
  Speaker A: Whatever it was 2,000 years ago. And now what are we doing? We're not living in community together. We hide behind our phones. And then it gets really easy for us. So we've completely separated ourselves from. Right. And now, because we can live in our own brains a lot. Um, it sucks because this is the shit people do every day. Cause they don't have to talk to anybody about it anymore. So they can be all of these things secretly and quite. Okay. I was, like, looking some shit up and getting ready for this episode. I watched Seven. Do you remember Seven?
• 22:21
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 22:22
  Speaker A: Brad Pitt.
• 22:22
  Speaker B: It was like a big deal.
• 22:23
  Speaker A: Okay. So I literally just finished rewatching it. Holy shit. Go rewatch that movie.
• 22:27
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 22:28
  Speaker A: I think it was Academy.
• 22:29
  Speaker B: I mean, it was a good movie.
• 22:30
  Speaker A: Morgan Freeman, people. Brad Pitt, incredible. Kevin Spacey. I think. Yes. It goes through all of the seven deadly sins and. And it gives such a glaring example today. Well, it was 1995, but it does, like.
• 22:43
  Speaker B: Of how it plays out.
• 22:44
  Speaker A: Oh, my God. How it plays out. And how, like, I don't want to give the whole plot away, but basically there's a serial killer who's, you know, basically taking each sin out on people.
• 22:54
  Speaker B: Right.
• 22:54
  Speaker A: And then the whole twist is like, he's like, I'm the bad guy. Like, are you kidding me?
• 22:59
  Speaker B: Right?
• 23:00
  Speaker A: I'm just making an example of holding a mirror up to each one of these people. Like, what are you talking about? Amanda, please watch it. It's so good.
• 23:06
  Speaker B: I will.
• 23:07
  Speaker A: Okay, fine.
• 23:07
  Speaker B: I feel like, though, a lot of what we do in, like, modern culture today maybe glorifies the seven sins a little bit. I feel like we mask it with a different, like, title. So not like we rebranded it, but it's like, example, like, we think of, like. I think you said greed of just, like, being busy. Right. Isn't that kind of like the culture today, though, is like the hustle, the grind, the. You know.
• 23:32
  Speaker A: Yes, that's what I was trying to say.
• 23:33
  Speaker B: Yolo.
• 23:34
  Speaker A: That's exactly what I was trying to say. You're absolutely right. It's like we're glorifying this thing. That's the whole point of. I feel like we've gotten so far away from it all that we're making it like it's this great thing now. They've just changed the word to hustle.
• 23:44
  Speaker B: Instead of being greedy for you, think of greed. You're like, oh, greedy. Like, you. You want to keep it all or whatever. But I think it can be applied in different ways.
• 23:52
  Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I think it's a knife set. You have to. We have to be very careful of, like, what we're losing. So. Same, same, same. So pride. Being prideful. So think of authenticity or being authentic. Right. We think that's really good. Right? I mean, like, I always try super hard to be authentic whether people like me. But, like, so it's. It's so hard because for me, then I'm admitting on the one hand, I think that's my superpower, but then on the other hand, I'm like, well, wait a second. Am I making it all about me?
• 24:15
  Speaker B: Yeah. Too much about me.
• 24:16
  Speaker A: And I. And I am. And I mean, you've called me out half the time on the show where it's like, that's such the balance of. Wait a second, Pete. You've gone too far. And it's so weird that, like, if you don't have someone like, I like on air, I'm, like, appreciating Amanda, like, calling me out. And Gabby used to do it all the time. Like, it was so helpful, because otherwise, you tip the sword the wrong way, and the superpower becomes, like, the worst thing in the world. And I think that whole pride and being authentic thing is a very slippery slope, but we are glorifying that concept. So the same thing you just said about hustle. Same thing about being authentic. It sucks. Right?
• 24:51
  Speaker B: I mean, if you think about pridefulness, right. Of the self absorbedness and absorbent.
• 24:57
  Speaker A: I like that. I think that should be our word of the day. Wait, what was our word of the day? We haven't even used it yet. What was it?
• 25:01
  Speaker B: Decorous. So maybe when you're too prideful, it is very hard for you to be decorous.
• 25:06
  Speaker A: Oh, my God. That was, like, such a cheat code. That was bfi. Fine. All right, you win. That's fine.
• 25:13
  Speaker B: I. I think all of the seven deadly sins, I don't know if we as a society today weigh them as heavily as previously. And I do probably make the assumption that we do a lot more of the seven, because mine would absolutely be the busyness. Right. Which I guess would be greed, but I don't see it as greed.
• 25:32
  Speaker A: Right.
• 25:33
  Speaker B: But I guess I do want to do everything I want.
• 25:35
  Speaker A: Like, I think, I think that's passing the wall. Therein is the trap. Right. It's like me with my pride thing that I just talked about. So. So get there. I guess we just self identified our two. Right. Because now that we got far enough through it, we figured it out. But I think, yeah, I think as a society in general, first of all, I love the idea of the seven deadly sins. I love, like, I completely understand how they're totally outdated and someone would be like, oh my God, this is so stupid. But as soon as you do what we just did is like bring them to today and sort of help people think about them that way. It's like, hold on a second. Why am I not thinking more about these types of things? These are patterns that are occurring differently today.
• 26:12
  Speaker B: Well, a lot of it's the same as it was back then. Just in the days as we evolved, it just evolved.
• 26:17
  Speaker A: That's exactly my point. Okay. So I'm actually gonna give credit to the Catholic church. Christianity, religion in general, like does a good job helping remind you that it's not all about you.
• 26:27
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 26:27
  Speaker A: And in the absence of that. Ugh.
• 26:31
  Speaker B: Well, the whole point of the, you know, seven deadly sins or eight, was the fact that they were trying to build a community.
• 26:38
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 26:39
  Speaker B: So if you yourself want to be a part of a community.
• 26:41
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 26:42
  Speaker B: Then you have to be able to self reflect, have that self awareness which is what source sophisticates all about. Becoming cultured and curious and knowing that it's not just about me.
• 26:52
  Speaker A: Right. Which is the really hard, heavy lift here. So here's what I'm gonna do. I am going to leave the studio and I am gonna post the seven deadly sins on my bathroom mirror.
• 27:05
  Speaker B: You only like next level this shit.
• 27:06
  Speaker A: Well, I gotta try. I gotta try this Fair. All right. You gotta remind me in like a month.
• 27:10
  Speaker B: I just try not to.
• 27:11
  Speaker A: And you gotta be like, dude, you didn't get anywhere. Or you gotta be like, all right.
• 27:15
  Speaker B: I'm not as gluttonous anymore.
• 27:19
  Speaker A: But I'm always going to be glad.
• 27:20
  Speaker B: Glutton for punishment anyways.
• 27:21
  Speaker A: Is that what I am? All right.
• 27:22
  Speaker B: Okay. Are we good on the seven?
• 27:24
  Speaker A: I'm done, dude.
• 27:24
  Speaker B: Yeah. You feel good?
• 27:25
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
• 27:25
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 27:26
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 27:26
  Speaker B: How? Fun facts.
• 27:27
  Speaker A: Fun facts.
• 27:27
  Speaker B: I feel like, is there any. I mean, if I was gonna find them, it's you.
• 27:30
  Speaker A: So I got fun facts.
• 27:31
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 27:32
  Speaker A: Wouldn't it be cool if I had seven fun facts?
• 27:34
  Speaker B: Exactly. It would, but you'd probably have more, I think.
• 27:36
  Speaker A: I do.
• 27:37
  Speaker B: I feel like there'd be a lot of good fun facts. There are some, like, random that you're like. That was a good one.
• 27:41
  Speaker A: I have eight fun facts. So, like.
• 27:43
  Speaker B: Okay, okay.
• 27:44
  Speaker A: There we go. All right, here we go. Number one. So did you know the order of the seven deadly sins was intentional, actually not random? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they were.
• 27:54
  Speaker B: I'm just kidding.
• 27:55
  Speaker A: That would have been funny if they were. Yeah. So they were purposefully arranged from inward mindset problems like pride to outward behavioral problems, like lust.
• 28:06
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 28:06
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 28:07
  Speaker B: I mean, it kind of makes sense because on the internal comes to the external. And so you got to fix your internal before you configure how your private.
• 28:13
  Speaker A: Thoughts translate to your public.
• 28:15
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 28:16
  Speaker A: Like world or action. Okay. Yeah. I thought that was totally cool. I did not know that. That's probably why they said pride was, like, always number one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Number two, back in the day, like, all the medieval writers agreed that out of all the sins, envy was the most contagious.
• 28:31
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, but that makes sense. Keeping up with the Joneses.
• 28:33
  Speaker A: Serious. Yeah. Std, dude. What are you talking about?
• 28:37
  Speaker B: Well, but, like.
• 28:38
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 28:38
  Speaker B: It's so easy to compare to others.
• 28:40
  Speaker A: Everything spreads through gossip, right? Through comparison. Yeah. So that was the easiest one to poison someone's mind. There you go. That was. That was.
• 28:46
  Speaker B: I like it.
• 28:47
  Speaker A: Okay, number three. So apparently, sloth is considered a more dangerous, deadly sin than lust.
• 28:51
  Speaker B: Really?
• 28:52
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 28:53
  Speaker B: That's interesting.
• 28:53
  Speaker A: I know, because. I mean, Come on. Okay, because I guess they say that lust burns fast and then burns out, like, because you're objectifying everything. So it's like, fast. But the idea of sloth is that it slowly drains your purpose over time. Remember, that's. That's like the whole apathy thing, right? So, like, sloth was always seen as a sin that makes people stop caring altogether. Lust burns fast, burns bright. All right, I'm not saying it's true. I don't know. That's the fun fact, man. Okay, number four. Did you know that each sin had its own animal symbol in medieval art?
• 29:25
  Speaker B: What is this?
• 29:25
  Speaker A: Yes. Its own animal symbol.
• 29:27
  Speaker B: Zodiac ness. What is it?
• 29:28
  Speaker A: Sloth was sloth right back to the.
• 29:31
  Speaker B: Beginning, back when sloth was founded in 1700.
• 29:33
  Speaker A: Okay, whatever. Wow. Okay. It made the sins easier to recognize for people who couldn't read. That's why they did it. Yeah. So pride was a lion. Enemy was a snake. So far, so good. Wrath was a bear. Sloth was a donkey or sometimes a snail. Greed was a wolf.
• 29:49
  Speaker B: Snail an animal.
• 29:52
  Speaker A: I said donkey. Gluttony was a Pig. Go figure, right? And lust was a goat. A goat. Lust was a goat.
• 30:00
  Speaker B: He's like, bah. Get over here bad. I don't know.
• 30:03
  Speaker A: I want to know why Les was a goat. I need you to do, like, a super fun fact on that. I don't have that. Okay, number five. So do you know in the Catholic Church we have, like, something called confessions?
• 30:11
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, go in a box.
• 30:12
  Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I get in the box. Oh, my God. By the way. In the box. It's so decorous. Okay, so I guess back there's, like, nothing in there. So what? I had to use it. I used it. Okay. So I guess back in the day, like, the seven deadly sins were used in the confessional for Catholics as a shortcut. Oh, right. So the idea was they didn't have to remember everything, all the little mistakes, because, like, right now I have to keep.
• 30:33
  Speaker B: This is how this was.
• 30:35
  Speaker A: Yes, that's it. That was the pattern. So it was way easier and they could, like, get through it way faster.
• 30:39
  Speaker B: Control you.
• 30:40
  Speaker A: Right. It's because Catholics just want to move through everything fast. Right? They want to control you and move you through the system.
• 30:44
  Speaker B: Let's go.
• 30:45
  Speaker A: Okay. Number six. Lust was thought to weaken with age.
• 30:50
  Speaker B: Well, no.
• 30:51
  Speaker A: What do you mean no? Erectile dysfunction. Yes. Yes. Dude, when men get old, it's like. That's exactly what it is. That has to be what it is.
• 31:00
  Speaker B: No, sure.
• 31:00
  Speaker A: Okay. Sorry. Here's why. Medieval thinkers noticed that the raw physical desire tended to cool over time because our desire shifts from impulse to imagination and memory instead of pure physical drive. And, of course, menopause for women. So there. Number seven. Since the beginning of time, writers use the sins to drive their stories. Remember what we said about good literature? Good stories? Yes. It was an easy cheat code to make their villain.
• 31:23
  Speaker B: Oh.
• 31:23
  Speaker A: A character ruled by a single sin becomes predictable and dramatic, which is what every story needs in their antagonist. Go. Jane Austen. Right? I love Jane Austen. Shout out to Jane. All right. And finally, Last 1, Number 8. Many philosophers and psychologists actually believe a moderate amount of pride actually prevents you from being too slothy. Is slothy a word or just too sloth? Slothy.
• 31:45
  Speaker B: Slothy sounds better.
• 31:45
  Speaker A: We're. Yeah. So here, check this out. So they argue, if you don't have enough care for yourself or what they call self. Regarding.
• 31:51
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 31:51
  Speaker A: It will ultimately lead to apathy. But then, on the other hand, having too much. Like I was talking about earlier, my problem. Right. Then you're sort of the arrogant asshole.
• 31:58
  Speaker B: Right?
• 31:59
  Speaker A: So, like, not too hot, not too Cold, like right in the middle. Right in the middle.
• 32:02
  Speaker B: I mean, that's what all of those sins are.
• 32:03
  Speaker A: I just think it's weird that.
• 32:04
  Speaker B: Don't be too much.
• 32:05
  Speaker A: They're already arguing, like, in the. Whatever, 1300s, over. Well, I need a little bit of an owl. A little. That's only cool. Whatever. That's it. Fun facts out. I'm done. Eight cool fun facts. The eight deadly fun facts.
• 32:17
  Speaker B: They were good. They were good. Thank you, Peter, for always coming in with a good show with those. So I guess now we just got to wrap it up. So what is our call to action? What else besides watching 7 the movie?
• 32:27
  Speaker A: Everybody go back and watch 7. I don't care if you saw it already.
• 32:30
  Speaker B: Fair, Please. But there has to be, like, Is there a documentary? Is there something else?
• 32:32
  Speaker A: There's other stuff. There's. You watch a Good Place.
• 32:34
  Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah, I did.
• 32:35
  Speaker A: Okay, go watch the Good Place. Kristen Bell.
• 32:36
  Speaker B: Oh, I guess you're right. That does tie in.
• 32:38
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yes. Four seasons. It's a comedy. I don't. For those of you. Have we both watched it and. Yeah, I think it's all about moral behavior. Right? I mean, it's not exactly all the seven deadly sort of things, but it's. It's.
• 32:47
  Speaker B: You question your.
• 32:48
  Speaker A: I think it's excellent. Yeah, y. Yeah, really well done there. It's old Ted Danson. Old Ted Danson. Or check out something called Crash course philosophy on YouTube. So I look this one up. I didn't know about this one. It's free, and it's been around, like, 10 years. It's pretty cool. So they do everything. Western philosophy. So think like, Aristotle, Plato, guys like that. Like, it's all for beginners. Kind of like our show, honestly, but specific to philosophical ideas. They answer, like, the big existential questions, like how to live a meaningful life or, like, logical reasoning or shit like that. Like, and you don't have to, like, binge it or anything. You literally could just go find an episode that's interesting to you. And they do a better job than we do, don't get me wrong, because we're only sort of sophisticated, but they, like, take ancient moral framework and bring it together to our world today. Sort of like this episode, but in a million different ways. So it's excellent. I would totally watch it. And then if you don't do any of that, just remember these key takeaways to feel sort of sophisticated. Number one, the seven deadly Sins are not biblical commandments. They were created by early monks as a way to name repeating human Behavior as patterns that quietly break down individuals and more importantly, communities. Number two. Originally, these sins weren't about one time mistakes, but about habits of the mind. Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust were seen as default reactions people fall into under stress and insecurities. Number three, over time, these ideas shaped our Western culture, art, literature, storytelling, and became a shared language for understanding characters, motivations and moral failures. Number four, in our modern world today, these sins didn't just disappear, they got rebranded, like we were saying earlier. And they've been amplified by technology, like times 10 and quietly rewarded by culture through things like we were talking about hustle or like outrage or validation or optimization. All those things we were chatting about earlier. And finally learning the seven deadly Sins isn't about being moral or religious. It's about pattern recognition, helping us read people and more importantly, ourselves, with more clarity and less judgment, like we were trying to say at the beginning. And Amanda, if that's not sophisticated, I don't know what is.
• 34:45
  Speaker B: Well, there you have it, dear listeners. The seven deadly sins in all their glory. Not as some scary medieval warnings, but more like a surprisingly honest mirror we hold up to ourselves. Learning about them isn't about guilt or rules. It's about understanding the patterns humans have been repeating forever and realizing we're not as original as we think. If we did our job today, you're walking away a little more aware. Maybe being able to spot pride in a movie, villain envy in a group chat, or sloth hiding behind I'm just tired. The kind of awareness that quietly makes you better company at a dinner table.
• 35:16
  Speaker A: And that's all we're after.
• 35:17
  Speaker B: If this episode made you pause before judging someone or yourself, leave us a review and tell us which sin surprised you the most. Or even better, which one felt uncomfortably familiar. Until next time, stay curious, stay honest, and remember, self awareness isn't about being perfect. It's about noticing the patterns before they start running the show.