The Seven Deadly Sins
To avoid falling into confusion over the names these defects should be called, let’s take a universally recognized list of major human failings – the Seven Deadly Sins of pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.
It is not by accident that pride heads the procession. For pride, leading to self-justification, and always spurred by conscious or unconscious fears, is the basic breeder of most human difficulties, the chief block to true progress. Pride lures us into making demands upon ourselves or upon others which cannot be met without perverting or misusing our God-given instincts. When the satisfaction of our instincts for sex, security, and society becomes the sole object of our lives, then pride steps in to justify our excesses. – Alcoholics Anonymous, 12 Steps & 12 Traditions pp. 48–49
Pride: 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, conduct, etc.
Greed: excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions.
Lust: intense sexual desire or appetite; a passionate or overmastering desire or craving.
Anger: a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong; wrath; ire.
Gluttony: excessive eating and drinking.
Envy: a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.
Sloth: habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness.
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