Libido Sentiendi, Libido Sciendi, Libido Dominandi
This chapter offers a report from the front lines where the battle for self-achieved happiness and well-being (or flourishing) is decidedly not going well. After counter-reports of success from those in the field are examined, secular reasons are offered for thinking that these reports are very likely to be unreliable and so lack the power to trump the mountain of evidence for the view that there are precious few who flourish when drawing only on the resources of their own willpower, creativity, and ingenuity. But it’s not due to lack of trying; people want desperately to enjoy happiness and well-being. The real causes of failure, it is argued, are found in the noetic effects of sin—particularly in inordinate self-love and self-deception, but also (especially in those who have been further harmed and humiliated by relentless and systemic oppression) in insufficient self-love and the lack of safety, resources, and opportunities. The tale to be told is not merely a chronicle of failed bids at happiness and well-being ultimately grounded in our shared condition of sin; it is also a tale of the unhappiness that visits so many of those who fall into this pattern of failure. This portion of the story will be informed and structured by the seven capital vices (also known as the seven deadly sins), and it will culminate in a sustained examination and exploration of the sin of sloth.