Stephen Lau, with a pen-name, is the author of this book.
A description of the book:
The Seven Deadly Sins—pride, envy, lust, wrath, greed, gluttony, and sloth—have their origin from the Bible, even though the Bible doesn’t have any specific reference to them.
This book is not about the Bible; it is not about God—whether you believe in His existence or not. Neither is this book about the TAO, which is the ancient wisdom from China more than 2,600 years ago.
This book is all about you—how you should live and survive in this secular material world. It’s your blueprint to live in this world as if everything is a miracle through your self-intuition of all the questions and answers with respect to the Seven Deadly Sins.
This book is all about asking many questions and seeking answers regarding how and why real people in real life commit the Seven Deadly Sins. Charles Proteus Steinmetz, a German-born American mathematician and electrical engineer, once said: “There are no foolish questions and no one becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.” It must be pointed out that we all have committed the Seven Deadly Sins in our lives. But looking at examples of real people in real life may help us not only reflect on our own Seven Deadly Sins, but also avoid them, instead of continuing to indulge and wallow in them.
The fact of the matter is that the Seven Deadly Sins make us live only n fancy and fantasy, instead of living in reality.
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A sample from the book:
Do we all have a dark side of life?
The darkness of life is a reality, not a myth, and that everyone has a dark side to his or her being. The dark side doesn’t necessarily mean it’s something evil. Any connotation of evil may only lead to our denial, instead of acceptance.
But, in spite of the human inclination to be good, we all show our own dark side every now and then—such as not expressing as much compassion and loving-kindness as we should to our fellow human beings, or telling white lies—because we’re all imperfect, and, as such, all human behaviors are also imperfect.
Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous Scottish novelist, calls this dark side of human nature the dualism of man. In his famous story of “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” he presents Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both as having a dark side within them, where evil is lurking to surface anytime. Both of them hide their evil away, pretending it never exists. In the end, it turns out that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are actually one and the same person.
If the darkness of life is deemed as something “evil” as depicted by Robert Louis Stevenson, it may immediately lead to self-denial and downright rejection. The dark side is ideally described as a “not-so-good” quality, or just human flaws and weaknesses that we see in others as well as in ourselves. Whatever the definition may be, the darkness of life, ironically enough, may make life wholesome, without which life is incomplete and unreal—at best, a self-delusion. The reality is that human darkness is part and parcel of human existence. Denying its existence only leads to more pain, regret, and resignation. So, understanding the dualistic human nature may offer a way of returning to wholeness, which is an important ingredient in the art of living in reality.
Thinking questions: What is your dark side that you’re afraid to reveal to anyone? Do you have your own darkness that you may not even be aware of?
Darkness is dualism of human behavior—the shadow as opposed to its bright side. The voluntary action of the conscious mind to do good may be held back or even suppressed by the involuntary action and response of the subconscious mind to do something quite the opposite. In other words, your own voluntary desires to do good may also demonstrate your subconscious involuntary inclination to do quite the opposite.
Dualism creates the dilemma that you’re somehow responsible for the consequence while at the same time you may also think that you’re a helpless victim of a meaningless accident or cruel destiny. Sadly, dualism is debilitating because it creates the paradox, which is the natural state of human condition. Simply put, your subconscious mind tells you that you’re both the aggressor and the victim.
Understanding the dualistic human nature may be illuminating and enlightening in that it opens a door to understanding the true nature of the human mind, which is critical to living in reality.
What are some of the domino effects of human darkness?
The darkness is forever contending with the light, just as the subconscious mind is constantly at odds with the conscious mind in that the former is forever trying to dominate the latter.
The dark side of human nature has domino effects on an individual, creating many illusions and self-deceptions for that individual.
An illustration
Say, you’ve a drinking problem. The truth is frightening. Like most alcoholics, you may outwardly show secrecy and inwardly internalize the fear into denial and deliberate self-deception.
Deep down, you may feel shame and guilt because of your secretive behavior of drinking behind closed doors.
To mitigate your shame and guilt, your mind readily dispenses judgment of others for self-justification of your darkness as well as for relief of your emotional pain from your shame and guilt.
Your own judgment naturally leads to blame and accountability. Someone or some event in your life is responsible for your alcohol addiction. Your drinking is no longer your problem, but someone else’s problem. You’ve now become only a victim.
Your drinking problem continues unimpeded until it becomes out of control, and turns itself into an addiction, spiraling down the road to self-destruction.
All alcoholics and addicts express their denial and deceit, guilt and shame, justification and blame, and unaccountability.
The bottom line: The dark side of human nature may come in many different forms and shapes; they’re just the demons inside you who will turn you into a demon yourself and not being to live in reality.
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