I recently examined the Ten Commandments for truthful life lessons. As a follow-up, I'd like to examine the Deadly Sins. For my investigation, I searched long and hard on the Wikipedia site- and came up with a list of sins worth examining in full.

Lust According to Wikipedia, "Giving in to lusts can lead to sexual or sociological compulsions and/or transgressions including (but not limited to) sexual addiction, fornication, adultery, bestiality, rape, perversion, and incest. In Dante's Purgatorio, the penitent walks within flames to purge himself of lustful/sexual thoughts and feelings." Lust   can however, also result in the continuation of life through pro-creation, happy relationships, and happier people. (It has been proven that orgasms actually have health benefits for men and women.)

Gluttony. This is more workable as a life lesson to me than lust. While the occasional eating or drunken frenzy is not so bad, gluttony can certainly have detrimental health or emotional effects over a long period of time. Realistically deserving of a life in hell? Maybe not so much. Balance seems to be the key here.

Greed. I also tend to think that the idea of avoiding Greed in yourself is a good rule of thumb for rather obvious reasons. Greed can be seen in all walks of life, and in corporations, the government and in all of us.

Acedia. This stands for "depression without joy". I believe that depression is not a sin, but is an affliction that affects many people. As a lesson to live by, I think it is important to take joy as it comes and to give ourselves times of pleasure to balance out hard work. Finding joy in the simple pleasures of enjoying your children, going on walks, or laughing with friends is a way to ward off some of the depression people might experience.

Despair. To me, this relates to Acedia and depression. Living without hope is a horrible state of life to be in. As a life lesson, I think that finding joy when you can and surrounding yourself with inspirational people that help make you feel alive are two ways to combat this terrible feeling. However, I think it is rare to find anyone in life of a certain age who has not experienced honest despair in some point in their lifetime.

Wrath. Rage against others or yourself and anger are hard to fight internally. As a life lesson, learning to deal with anger and hatred is one of the most important things someone can do to heal themselves. It does, however, seem ironic that this is a sin in the context of the Ten Commandments, which themselves indicate a wrathful God.

Envy. I believe that envy is natural, although when taken to extremes it can be detrimental. As a lesson to live by, I think avoiding envy in yourself can hopefully make you happier with what you have. I also think it is difficult not to envy, thus making it difficult for me to imagine as a "deadly sin".

Pride. It is said that "Pride goeth before the fall." Throughout literature and history, excessive pride is known to give people a bit of schadenfreude as they watch others fall. (sometimes literally as in the case of Supermodels falling on the runway, or sometimes figuratively as a fall from grace ala Bill Clinton after his affair with Monica Lewinsky).

Pride in your accomplishments can lead to a greater self-esteem and confidence in your own abilities, whatever they may be.

I know this list differs slightly from other lists, but I was particularly interested in Despair and Acedia.

For a demographic sampling of where the "sinners" are in the United States, please check out this link.