This is the astonishing alchemy of evil

How to use your most sinful thoughts to lead a healthy, happy and more connected life

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The seven deadly sins. What do you know about these transgressions, really? And have you ever considered that they could actually play a vital role in a life of fullness, connection and vibrancy?

First, although we, in the West, might assume the concept of the seven deadly sins must have its genesis in the Bible, the official list wasn't actually compiled until the late 6th century by Pope Gregory the Great. It goes, of course, like this:

Pride, envy, wrath (that's anger, and yes, we do say "roth", not "rath", here in the UK), sloth (which is laziness), avarice (that's greed), gluttony (overindulgence), and lust.

Traditionally, these sins are seen as the root of all other vices – the root of evil. But that's not a particularly helpful or healthy way of looking at things. So, how do these "sins" feature in the modern world and, more importantly, how can we use them to lead happier, more connected lives?

The Seven Deadly Sins through the lens of Jungian psychology

Rather than examples of moral failings, the Jungian take on the seven deadly sins is that they are natural archetypal energies – meaning we all have the potential for all of them – and that, when unbalanced, these energies can lead to a disintegration of the self. That's not to say that we literally fall apart, of course, but that we can find ourselves psychologically fractured, conflicted and potentially unstable.

So, the deadly sins can be understood as primal forces that disrupt harmony, and as natural inclinations that become problematic when they aren't integrated into a balanced life. But that doesn't mean that they're inherently bad, wrong or evil.

Myth and the Seven Deadly Sins

When we take this perspective and apply it to famous stories that depict the "sins", there can be some really interesting insights up for grabs.

When talking about this, it's important to remember that the Jungian take on myth, folklore and fairytales is that every character and other element in these stories represent different parts of the psyche – of one psyche – not different individual (and external) characters.

So, Zeus' insatiable lust – honestly, that guy can't go five minutes without knocking up some water nymph – represents the innate potential in all of us to feel and act out of lust.

Similarly, Zeus' wife Hera's bitter envy of the nymphs, goddesses and mortals that Zeus has his wicked way with represents the universal human potential to resent and even punish (or want to punish) other people just for having something we want. Hera did things like send giant serpents after Zeus' lovers, or turned them into cows or bears.

Shadow content

So far, so good. I think it makes pretty easy sense that the sins are a natural part of being human. But don't these stories also portray nasty punishments for those enacting the sins? And, if so, does that not suggest that they're fundamentally bad and should be avoided?

The prideful Icarus flew too close to the sun and perished. The story of greedy old King Midas, who turned everything he touched to gold, seems to send a cautionary message about the spiritual poverty that can accompany literal wealth.

It's easy to see how the sins got firmly relegated to the shadow. For millennia, we've been consuming stories, which, when taken literally, would seem to suggest that we will and should be punished if we engage with these energies (which is, after all, true in many ways). As a result, we look down on the sins culturally. We learn to despise, hide and deny these traits in ourselves, too, forcing them into the personal shadow as well as the collective one.

The problem with this is the lack of nuance. Underneath every one of the sins is a natural, valid and vital human need or emotion, and these things are not evil. In fact, they only really become destructive and problematic when repressed – when forced into the shadow.

So, the sins are part of a long-standing vicious circle: we see them as bad so we force them into the shadow, which makes them more problematic, leading to even more ardent resistance and increasing submersion into the shadow. On and on it goes, getting darker and more problematic with every cycle.

Integration of sin

If we could only break this pattern by accepting the sins as natural, we would find it far easier to express them healthily, work with rather than against them, and ultimately (in theory, at least) bring them out of the cultural shadow as well as the personal one. The first step in doing this would be to understand what lies beyond our sinful behaviour.

For instance, wrath can be understood as the shadow's manifestation of repressed anger – a healthy and natural emotion. When someone doesn't acknowledge or accept their anger, it can erupt uncontrollably, leading to conflict in relationships or even abuse, and/or maladaptive coping strategies for numbing the emotion, like drinking, overeating or any kind of addiction. When we force things, even things usually considered positive, into the shadow, they mutate into monstrous versions of themselves and wreak havoc in our lives.

So, in order to avoid these particular problems, we have to stop seeing wrath as a moral failing, and start to understand it as an indication of a deeper psychological imbalance such as an unmet need or unexpressed desire, opinion, objection, or whatever. In other words, the way to heal is not to reject the dark and difficult parts of being human, but to integrate them; to bring them to conscious awareness, to acknowledge and learn to accept them in both ourselves and others.

Is integration the answer to world peace?

Here's a question:

Would a 100% integrated world mean no crime, no abuse, no disconnection, shame or loneliness?

Maybe? We’ll never know because this will almost certainly never happen. Psychological wholeness – i.e. enlightenment, complete integration, or whatever we want to call this nirvana-like aspiration is just that: an aspiration. It's a guiding light, not a destination, and we can’t hope to get there, really. However, every tiny step in that direction can improve our lives, health, and relationships in enormous ways.

Alchemical acceptance

So, a better way of reading mythical tales like those of lusty old Zeus, envious Hera, grandiose Icarus and greedy King Midas is that such stories implore us to bring these universal aspects of self into a new light. These stories can guide us on this quest by helping us catch a glimpse of our own shadow selves (which are otherwise very well hidden) in the rippling reflection of narrative.

Now, you might be thinking, "But I don’t want to accept wrath and just be freely angry at everyone" or "I don’t want to accept lust and start humping legs left and right like a horny little chihuahua".

It can be really frightening to consider acceptance of something we've spent our entire lives running away from. But acceptance is not what causes those compulsive, overflowing expressions of these drives; repression is. It's denial and avoidance that cause the problem. No matter how hard we try to bury them in the shadow, the seven deadly sins get out in one way or another. If we think they don't, we're basically lying to ourselves.

The good news is that conscious acceptance can alchemise these apparently dark energies.

Pride, when integrated, can lead to healthy self-esteem; lust, when understood, can lead to a deeper connection with one's desires and creativity, as well as with other people, of course. The key is to channel these impulses in ways that are life-affirming rather than restricting.

Taking the sins one at a time

Over the next seven posts in this series, we're going to explore each of the deadly sins, along with the myths, fairy tales, psychology and neuroscience behind them, one at a time.

The aim: to start a collective alchemical process that could literally change the world.

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Thank you for reading!

We’re Hazel (ex boxer, therapist and author) and Ellie (ex psychology science writer). We left our jobs to build an interactive narrative app for self-awareness and emotion regulation (Betwixt), which you can try on Android here and on iOS here.

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