The Dark Side of the Soul by Stephen Cherry
Bloomsbury, £16.99
Stephen Cherry does not under-estimate the terrible consequences of sin. It can “open up unimagined trajectories of harm and hurt and diminishment”. Sin is an extremely useful concept, however, at least if we wish to fathom the workings of the human mind and soul. It is “intrinsic to who we are”. Unfortunately, Cherry writes, sin “is a dodgy word today, and much mocked”.
It is regarded as old-fashioned, even faintly comical, and for many it has “ceased to be a piece of helpful vocabulary”. Undermining the notion of sinfulness “has been one of the more subtle projects of modernity” and “the task … has now been almost fully achieved”.
Cherry wants to rescue the idea of sin because it is central to the experience of every human being. Sins should not be dismissed as the “pernicious eccentricities of the few” and “the category of ‘sinners’ is not a subset of humanity”. When confronted by the pervasiveness of sins our best hope is to “limit their power over us and the damage they can cause”.
Consequently, “vice is not typically something that we need to exclude, prohibit, or exorcise, but something with which we need to develop a critical and constructive relationship”. In the end, “we must learn to live with our vices”.
One proposed strategy is to acknowledge that, while some behaviour is utterly abhorrent, sin can often result from a commonplace instinct or tendency being taken too far. “A little greed,” Cherry quips, “may be necessary to help move things forward socially or economically,” but we would not want it to morph into insatiability.
Vanity can be ruinous, but if it vanished entirely “romance would be over, and there would be no amateur dramatics to amuse us on a lonely Saturday evening in the autumn”. The real trouble begins when vice becomes, as Cherry terms it, “vicious”. An ounce or two of envy can spur us on to do better and can even be “trained to a worthy purpose”. Vicious envy – when we become obsessed with the achievements of others – can destroy us.
This does all sound a little risky. Where are we to draw the line between workaday, supposedly containable vice and truly heinous or destructive behaviours? Still, there is an important issue at the heart of Cherry’s book – when it comes to sin, “how can we live with it, given that we will never entirely control it?” When wrestling with our demons it is also handy to know their names. Cherry is “not aiming to reinstate the seven deadly sins in their traditional form” and he does not want sin to be “ossified in a definitive list” which, in bygone times, “was needed for purposes of discipline and control”. Accordingly, the book ranges widely and at least 23 vices – from hypocrisy and rage to cruelty and boredom – come up for discussion. Familiar sins do make appearances, though they are usually examined through a contemporary lens. Gluttony, for example, provokes talk of obesity epidemics and eating disorders.
Newcomers on Cherry’s list include snobbery – which can easily signal prejudice and has “moved on from being a matter of taste, decency and amusement to an affront against justice and social inclusion” – and talkativeness. “We live in a time when being outgoing, extroverted and bubbly is prized and praised” and when “the case for ‘Quiet’ is harder to make”.
Cherry is particularly interesting and provocative on excessive “abjectness” which can, he argues, be “contaminated by vainglory” and helps to explain “why some people never flourish or make the contribution to the common good that they might”. Cherry has compassion for the truly oppressed but “grovelling without good reason” is not to be excused.
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