Sloth and Zeal

Given the topic, this article should have followed hard on the heels of the last one, but I was busy with other things. You'll have to take my word on that.

So now the vice of interest is sloth. What is sloth? As always, look to the virtue to understand it. Zeal is a forcefulness, an enthusiasm, a drive. But for what? In the virtuous sense, zeal is an enthusiasm for love, for other people, for their happiness. The most dynamic people in the world have that virtue. They don't just hope that somebody has good things happen, they act to make sure that they do happen.

If that's zeal, sloth becomes pretty obvious. Vices are the absence of virtue, so someone without any enthusiasm and drive to pursue the well-being of others is being slothful. The vice of sloth is usually associated with some lazy good-for-nothing who sits on the couch all day. Sure, that's slothful, but not just because that person is being physically lazy. The physical side is a lesser sin. The complete lack of interest in acting in a loving way towards others is the greater sin. It is far more debilitating than simple laxity.

Consider the man who is constantly on the go, running his business and seeking out new ways to improve his product. A man of great passion and zeal, right? Not if he's doing it all because it just fills his time. If he just wants the money. That might be greed, but it's also sloth. When it comes to acting in a loving way towards others, the man is a couch potato. In truth, sloth covers a lot of ground because it is so fundamentally a simple lack of love. There's no maliciousness or hatred involved. Just a lack of love. It's a tragic vice.

So why have zeal? How could anyone develop zeal for loving other people? It's hard enough trying to deal with just one person or a family. Loving everyone is a ludicrously tall order. Isn't it?

Of course not. All it takes is the right beliefs. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you view other people as a collection of cells run by a computer, how much credit are you giving people? They're just fancy machines running some computer program, devoid of any true virtue or greatness. If they're not machines, then they're mean, nasty, often explosive crazies. Or they're emotionless robots that can look right through you and ignore you. You might be thinking "Which one of those am I supposed to have zeal for?"

Have zeal for all of them. Why? Because of the potential that each one holds. Just as a child has the potential to become an Einstein, a Mozart or a Mother Theresa, any person you meet has the potential for zeal, modesty, generosity, chastity and so on. We love others because we know that they have that potential and that it is simply unrealized. The more firmly we hold that belief, the greater the zeal that we have for loving others. Mother Theresa of Calcutta had it. Pope John Paul II had it. Ghandi had it. And those are only the most public figures. Surely you know people who have great zeal for loving other people. It pours out of them like a flood no matter where they go. That's because they see people as inherently worthy of their efforts - making it no effort at all.

The next time you're faced with the decision about whether or not to greet the guy or gal you walk by every day on your way to work, summon your zeal and not only greet them, but put a sparkle in your eye and a smile on your face. Show them the magnificence of being human.