March 14, 2008--Fanaticism XCXIII: The 14 Deadly Sins

I worry, if he were still alive, what the visionary Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch would do with the Vatican’s new additions to its list of Mortal Sins.

Recall his magnificent, hallucinogenic painting, The Seven Deadly Sins. The torment and horror he represented was magnificent when he had only the original seven by which to be inspired—the wonderful lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.

Now he would have to figure out how to represent “genetic modification,” “carrying out experiments on humans,” “polluting the environment,” “causing social injustice,” “causing poverty,” “becoming obscenely wealthy,” and “taking drugs.” (See NY Times article linked below.)

All very contemporary and up-to-date, but lacking the force and poetry of the original transgressions. They, thus, will present considerable challenges for poets and artists who want to incorporate them into their work.

Be that as it may, art as have known it at its best has been so trivialized and commodified that no artists today would consider dealing with sin as subject matter when they can get into the Whitney Biennial, as one just did, by creating an installation in which they fill a gallery space with teapots that have lava lamps stuffed into their tops. Though, come to think of it, this work might qualify as a manifestation of “polluting the environment.”

But what about these latest seven themselves, which, like the earlier ones, threaten one’s immortal soul with eternal damnation unless absolved before death through confession or penitence?

What is so different about the sin of “becoming obscenely wealthy” and the starker “greed”? I myself prefer single-word sins. Among other things they are easier to remember and incorporate in stain-glass windows.

And why should anyone be condemned to a Boschian hell if one’s “experiment on humans” includes perfecting better ways to transplant organs or check the safety of life-saving new medications? I know, the Vatican is really talking about things like human cloning and perhaps in vitro fertilization. But if they were to make a detailed list of forbidden human experiments it would run on for pages and have to be updated every year.

“Taking drugs” I also assume is intentionally not specific but means . . . . Well, what does it mean? No heroin of course and I am certain no crack. OK, though I don’t see using either of these as being quite the equivalent of lust or gluttony. What then about marijuana? Maybe some time in Limbo would do for pot smokers. But then didn’t the Vatican recently eliminate Limbo as one of the three places where we go after death? I guess this then might mean that crackheads would go directly to Hell while those who only enjoy an occasional joint will be sent to Purgatory. If so, what are the implications for those of us who love our (non-sacramental) wine and booze? And what about cigarettes? I assume other Vatican documents will be released to straighten this complicated stuff.

And though I do like the new sins that focus on the causes of poverty and the need to care for the environment, I do wonder why “sins” such as bigotry, deceit, corruption, betrayal, and pedophilia didn’t make the list.

All right, strike pedophilia. Boys still will be boys and they, like girls, like to have fun.