It’s the dark side of human nature. The rage in traffic when someone cuts in front of us. The feeling we have of wanting more, more, more. Lying on the couch and saying ‘I can’t be bothered.’ Staring at ourselves in the mirror and wondering how we might be enhanced: new hair colour, new clothes, new face? Fantasising about the stranger or the ex. Envying the success of a friend or colleague. Eating and drinking too much.

The seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony) have been etched in our collective imagination as the instinctual human drives that must be suppressed, swallowed and denied. We are conditioned to avoid these impulses, and we judge ourselves when they lurk into our daily lives. There is a small group of people that witness our dark side, which is generally limited to our partners, families, close friends, and occasional medical professionals. 

But the seven deadly sins are in fact just the shadow sides of extremely powerful emotions. And ignoring or suppressing these drives may be keeping us away from our highest potential. These dark shadows are simply our mind’s way of communicating a blockage to us, like the flashing lights on the dashboard telling us that the car needs more fuel, more water, or more oil. Rather than shaming ourselves out of experiencing these urges, we actually need to talk to them. We need to see our dark side as a clear invitation to healing. We often find our greatest power in our deepest challenges. The task is to transform our ‘sins’ or shadows into light. 

In my next post, I talk about how we can begin the work of transforming the shadow. 

Most of us value ourselves according to externals: what we achieve, who notices or desires us, and how much influence we have in the world. These things are illusions. The only reality that exists is on the inside. Once you focus your attention on your interior life, the exterior will take care of itself.  

I was sharing dinner with friends recently and the conversation came around to religion. The six of us – two hosts and four guests– are all in our early 30s and were raised as Catholics and/or Anglicans who stopped going to mass/church when we left school and were no longer required to participate in religion.