Acedia

Accedia, or sloth also known as the spiritlessness of the heart, is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

There are so many people who have tried their hands at this theme before me, I know. I still feel this is a great theme, so I'm trying to do it my way.

While I have read what is "usually associated" with all the sins - in this case the colour light blue and the goat - I chose not to follow this traditional approach, but instead try and find out what comprises the sins for me. I do not want to give you my whole thought process (this is a bit too personal, I'd say), just a little bit of insight maybe:

• listlessness can have many reasons: some people are just lazy and procrastinate endlessly cos they "just do", while others may be in a deep state of depression which this image is supposed to portray
• nothing can bring them to get up, even if someone were to "put them upright": in the image, the woman still very much seems to be in a sleeping position despite the perspective
• she covers herself with blankets, but those blankets have holes and she feel vulnerable despite it all
• her world is colourless, and she tries not to look, but her mind races on about what she should be doing (brushwork and clouds around her head + more vivid colours there)
• She feels bound to the floor even though objectively it's just a week link that she could tear off if she just wanted to

I know that the sin is not a sin if you're suffering from an illness, but I know people that aren't really ill who just wallow in self pity like this all day. No one can help them cos they don't really want help. They want pity maybe, I dunno. But the fact is that every attempt at getting them cheered up leads to the helper getting frustrated and depressed instead and that is when sloth is a sin in my book.

More from this series:

• Acedia (Sloth)
• Avaritia (Greed)
• Gula (Gluttony)
• Invidia (Envy)
• Ira (Wrath)
• Luxuria (Lust)
• Superbia (Pride)

The Seven Deadly Sins Collection

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Stock from *mjranum-stock & ~teatoo as well as my own