This document is an e-book titled "The 7 Pervasive Whims" by Scott E. Byorum. It explores interpretations of the seven deadly sins - lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. The introduction frames the sins as pervasive aspects of human nature that can be detrimental if not overcome. Each sin is then examined individually through poetic passages and short quotes from various contributors defining when one knows they have succumbed to that sin.
This is a study of Jesus being empathetic. He could enter into the feelings of others and feel compassion for their suffering and be motivated to heal them. He felt their pain as not other could feel it.
Elements of sin and spirituality in the selected works of graham greeneIJRRR
Abstract - Greene feels that the remoteness with spirituality of the human in the modern society has led to a loss of faith in God and traditional human values. The peace, belief and moral values are absent among the human. In addition, he condemns the modern civilization with its deep sense of spiritual sense to reach God from the darker side of life. However, he suggests the hope that any human activity exercised with a strong faith in spirituality, there the souls remain unaffected from all evil forces and sufferings. He also reveals the universal dictum that faith in spirituality ultimately wins. It is the only means known on this mortal Earth that can put human at liberty (Moksha) from all kinds of worldly sufferings.
Keywords - Spirituality, Sin, Christianity, Redemption, Purification, Religion, Morality.
This is a study of Jesus being empathetic. He could enter into the feelings of others and feel compassion for their suffering and be motivated to heal them. He felt their pain as not other could feel it.
Elements of sin and spirituality in the selected works of graham greeneIJRRR
Abstract - Greene feels that the remoteness with spirituality of the human in the modern society has led to a loss of faith in God and traditional human values. The peace, belief and moral values are absent among the human. In addition, he condemns the modern civilization with its deep sense of spiritual sense to reach God from the darker side of life. However, he suggests the hope that any human activity exercised with a strong faith in spirituality, there the souls remain unaffected from all evil forces and sufferings. He also reveals the universal dictum that faith in spirituality ultimately wins. It is the only means known on this mortal Earth that can put human at liberty (Moksha) from all kinds of worldly sufferings.
Keywords - Spirituality, Sin, Christianity, Redemption, Purification, Religion, Morality.
The book of Judges is filled with tragedy and humor, and though this commentary will deal with all of the tragedy, it will focus on the humor that is often neglected in the study of this book. The first thing about it that is funny is the name itself. Judges gives us an image of men and women with long black gowns holding a gavel and keeping order in the court as they make judgments on people who are
brought to trial. The judges in this book do not bang gavels on their desk, but,instead, they bang farm instruments and animal bones on the heads of the Canaanites, and by this strange means bring some order to the nation. Shamgar
banged his ox goad on the heads of 600 of the enemy and sentenced them to death,and Samson banged his jawbone of an ass on a thousand of them and pronounced the verdict guilty, and sentenced them to capital punishment They were what you call hanging judges for sure, but they were not really judges as we think of them. They were more like Robin Hood and war heroes. They were not behind a desk, but out in the field with hands on executions. They were judge, jury and executioner. If these Judges ever got together and formed their own company a good name would be, "Sears, Burns, Hurtz and Hollers." They were devastating when they passed sentence on any people or town, and there was no appeal, for there was usually no
one left to appeal.
First, a disclaimer. I don’t presume to have all the answers, let’s make that perfectly clear right from the beginning. However, looking back over some seven decades now, all the while prayerfully wrestling with this personal “holiness dilemma,” seven illuminations have now surfaced and settled in my thinking.
I use the word “illuminations,” as opposed to “revelation” and “inspiration” because I’m not totally clear on the source, often vacillating between the human and divine. I can say, without reservation, that it has been a sincere and honest quest for Truth, the substance of this mini Ebook evolving.
During this lengthy pilgrimage, it has surprised me to find so many others along the way wrestling with the same “dilemma,” and this emerging generation now joining in on the chorus. Thus, I feel Spirit-led to share the results of this quest, to date, in (7) simple personal illuminations.
I pointed out in the previous paper 1 that Christianity is,
before all things, the apotheosis of woman. It has done greater
things for her than for any other class. It has done more than
reinstate her ; it has given her the dominion. The handmaid
has been placed on the seat of the mighty, and the mighty have
been dethroned. The charter of this social revolution is the
Sermon on the Mount. The originality of that sermon is not
the virtues it describes, but the blessings it promises them.
Karma yoga chapter ii each is great in his own placeRavi Ramakrishnan
Swami #Vivekananda Bengali: , Shāmi Bibekānondo; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born #Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of# Vedanta and #Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising #interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century. He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India, and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India. Vivekananda founded the #Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is perhaps best known for his speech which began, "Sisters and brothers of America ...," in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
Born into an aristocratic Bengali family of Calcutta, Vivekananda was inclined towards spirituality. He was influenced by his Guru, Ramakrishna Deva, from whom he learnt that all living beings were an embodiment of the divine self; therefore, service to God could be rendered by service to mankind. After Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent extensively and acquired first-hand knowledge of the conditions prevailing in British India. He later traveled to the United States, representing India at the 1893 Parliament of the World Religions. Vivekananda conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and Europe. In India, Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint and his birthday is celebrated there as National Youth Day.
The book of Judges is filled with tragedy and humor, and though this commentary will deal with all of the tragedy, it will focus on the humor that is often neglected in the study of this book. The first thing about it that is funny is the name itself. Judges gives us an image of men and women with long black gowns holding a gavel and keeping order in the court as they make judgments on people who are
brought to trial. The judges in this book do not bang gavels on their desk, but,instead, they bang farm instruments and animal bones on the heads of the Canaanites, and by this strange means bring some order to the nation. Shamgar
banged his ox goad on the heads of 600 of the enemy and sentenced them to death,and Samson banged his jawbone of an ass on a thousand of them and pronounced the verdict guilty, and sentenced them to capital punishment They were what you call hanging judges for sure, but they were not really judges as we think of them. They were more like Robin Hood and war heroes. They were not behind a desk, but out in the field with hands on executions. They were judge, jury and executioner. If these Judges ever got together and formed their own company a good name would be, "Sears, Burns, Hurtz and Hollers." They were devastating when they passed sentence on any people or town, and there was no appeal, for there was usually no
one left to appeal.
First, a disclaimer. I don’t presume to have all the answers, let’s make that perfectly clear right from the beginning. However, looking back over some seven decades now, all the while prayerfully wrestling with this personal “holiness dilemma,” seven illuminations have now surfaced and settled in my thinking.
I use the word “illuminations,” as opposed to “revelation” and “inspiration” because I’m not totally clear on the source, often vacillating between the human and divine. I can say, without reservation, that it has been a sincere and honest quest for Truth, the substance of this mini Ebook evolving.
During this lengthy pilgrimage, it has surprised me to find so many others along the way wrestling with the same “dilemma,” and this emerging generation now joining in on the chorus. Thus, I feel Spirit-led to share the results of this quest, to date, in (7) simple personal illuminations.
I pointed out in the previous paper 1 that Christianity is,
before all things, the apotheosis of woman. It has done greater
things for her than for any other class. It has done more than
reinstate her ; it has given her the dominion. The handmaid
has been placed on the seat of the mighty, and the mighty have
been dethroned. The charter of this social revolution is the
Sermon on the Mount. The originality of that sermon is not
the virtues it describes, but the blessings it promises them.
Karma yoga chapter ii each is great in his own placeRavi Ramakrishnan
Swami #Vivekananda Bengali: , Shāmi Bibekānondo; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born #Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of# Vedanta and #Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising #interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century. He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India, and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India. Vivekananda founded the #Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is perhaps best known for his speech which began, "Sisters and brothers of America ...," in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
Born into an aristocratic Bengali family of Calcutta, Vivekananda was inclined towards spirituality. He was influenced by his Guru, Ramakrishna Deva, from whom he learnt that all living beings were an embodiment of the divine self; therefore, service to God could be rendered by service to mankind. After Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent extensively and acquired first-hand knowledge of the conditions prevailing in British India. He later traveled to the United States, representing India at the 1893 Parliament of the World Religions. Vivekananda conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and Europe. In India, Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint and his birthday is celebrated there as National Youth Day.
Project Oxford is a set of APIs that let's us, the developers, harness the power of machine learning without having the know how to implement from scratch. Project Oxford provides services focused on Vision, Emotion, Speech, and more and exposes it through REST API as well as client SDKs.
[IFPRI Gender Methods Seminar] Liquid milk: Cash Constraints and the Timing o...IFPRI Gender
Gender Methods Seminar, Dec 13, 2016
Berber Kramer, Research Fellow, Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division (IFPRI)
Abstract:
This paper analyzes implications of cash constraints for collective marketing, using the case of the Kenyan dairy sector. Collective marketing through for instance cooperatives can improve smallholder farmer income but relies on informal, non-enforceable agreements to sell outputs collectively. Sideselling of output in the local market occurs frequently and is typically attributed to price differences between the market and cooperative. This paper provides an alternative explanation, namely that farmers sell in the local market when they are cash-constrained, since cooperatives defer payments while buyers in local markets pay cash immediately. Building on semi-parametric estimation techniques for panel data, we find robust evidence of this theory. High-frequency high-detail panel data show that farmers sell more in the local market, in particular to buyers who pay cash immediately, in weeks with low cash at hand. Moreover, households cope with health shocks by selling more milk in the local market and less to the cooperative, but only in weeks they are not covered by health insurance. Effects are concentrated among female dairy farmers. For them, increased flexibility in payment and the provision of insurance through agricultural cooperatives can potentially reduce side-selling and improve the performance of collective marketing arrangements.
Screencast available here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d48bte3yzsd5iwz/2016-12-13%2012.03%2012_13%2C%207AB%2C%2012-1pm%2C%20Gender%20Methods%20Seminar%20with%20Berber%20Kramer%20.wmv?dl=0
End to-end native iOS, Android and Windows apps wtih XamarinJames Montemagno
Xamarin enables C# developers to become native iOS, Android, and Microsoft Windows mobile app developers overnight. Learn how to leverage your existing .NET and C# skills to create iOS and Android mobile apps in Visual Studio with Xamarin. See how to extend an app with Microsoft Azure App Service creating a connected experience while sharing logic with a .NET backend running on Azure. Next, we take a look at automating the mobile apps with Xamarin Test Cloud for automated user interface testing. Finally, we tie it all together into VSTS to build and distribute our mobile apps with HockeyApp with each commit. By the end of this session you will a full grasp of end-to-end development with Xamarin.
4. The 7 Pervasive Whims
4 Ω
per·va·sive
Pronunciation: pər-ˈvā-siv, -ziv
Function: adjective
Date: circa 1750
Meaning: pervading or tending to pervade <a
pervasive odor>
per·vade
Pronunciation: pər-ˈvād
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): per·vad·ed; per·vad·ing
Etymology: Latin pervadere to go through
Date: 1659
Meaning: to become diffused throughout every part
of
5. The 7 Pervasive Whims
5 α
whim
Pronunciation: ˈhwim, ˈwim
Function: noun
Etymology: short for whim-wham
Date: 1686
Meaning 1: a capricious or eccentric and often
sudden idea or turn of the mind
6. The 7 Pervasive Whims
6 Ω
The 7 Pervasive Whims
Preface 8
Introduction 12
Lust 14
Gluttony 22
Greed 30
Sloth 38
Wrath 46
Envy 54
Pride 62
Afterward/Acknowledgements 70
Addendum 73
About the Author 74
7. The 7 Pervasive Whims
7 α
To James Stuart
For reaffirming that many of the best things in life
are free, that life is short, and in 10,000 years this
probably won’t matter.
8. The 7 Pervasive Whims
8 Ω
Preface
I was really exposed to the full force of human
nature and its ability to create symbols both true and
false (and inbetween) in my early teens. I attended
a Christian summer camp during the summer
between the 7th
and 8th
grade because my best friend
invited me. It was a great time… mostly.
Every evening we would gather in the bleachers of
a great hall before a big stage. A guest Christian
artist would give a lecture while he painted on a
large canvas. At first, you couldn’t make out what
the image was. That was the draw… the fascination.
The point of his lecture reached a crescendo with
the last few strokes of the image as it blossomed
into its full reality. It was really quite a show,
especially for young teens.
Every lecture and painting was about Christianity,
but on day 1 it started soft. By day 7, the message
was hard. But it wasn’t so hard that you were
scared; it was just hard enough to convince you to
believe the word and the symbol. The final image
was a white cross.
After each session, the camp counselors would go
into a side door off the hall as the guest artist would
ask if any of the kids in the bleachers wanted to
accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. And
9. The 7 Pervasive Whims
9 α
each evening, more and more individuals would
tentatively arise from their benches and make their
way to the room the camp counselors had entered.
My best friend had already made the Christ
commitment long before camp. He never pressured
me into doing the same, but these evening
performances did. Each night I saw kids going off
to a room to accept something that I was told was a
new birthday, a new relationship with our Lord and
Savior.
By the 7th
evening I could bear it no longer. I was
one of a handful of hold-outs that finally rose from
their seats and entered the unknown room ---
needing to gain knowledge; needing to gain
acceptance. Inside, there were pillows on the floor
with a camp counselor and a candle sitting next to
each. We were each shown to a pillow and set to
kneel next to a counselor and a candle. We were
asked to accept Jesus Christ into our hearts as our
personal Lord and Savior… and we accepted. We
had become Born Again.
That evening, back inside the cabin, my camp
counselor gave me my own Bible and selected
several passages in different books “especially
chosen for me.” One of them was Proverbs 6:16-19,
which were the basis for the 4th
century monk
Evagrius Ponticus’s 8 “evil thoughts” --- later
refined to the infamous “7 Deadly Sins” by Pope
Gregory I several years later.
10. The 7 Pervasive Whims
10 Ω
My parents were appalled at what happened at camp
when I told them on the way home, especially my
mother, who is an Atheist. Over the next several
years I struggled with Christianity and the power of
its symbolism, then with religion in general.
I have done my soul searching over the years and
suffice to say that I am comfortable with being
Agnostic, but only because it is the closest thing
there is to a belief system that accepts the fact that it
doesn’t know and doesn’t think any of the other
religions have the answer either. Atheism has its
draws, but it is as powerful a faith system as any
one religion.
I am fascinated with religion and its various
symbolisms, not because of the spiritual answer
they profess, but because of their power over the
human condition… their ability to influence and
shape humanity’s destiny through symbolism.
Christianity’s “7 Deadly Sins” is one of the most
fascinating of religious tenants, not because of their
consequence to religious faith, but because of their
power and truth in describing the main undesirable
elements of the human condition --- aspects
ingrained in each and every one of us; the ultimate
detrimental factors to our success in life.
The power of my spiritual journey, and of many
others, I surmise, is recorded in my book “The A.M.
God.” One of the underlying themes in the book is
how these 7 very human and undeniable aspects of
11. The 7 Pervasive Whims
11 α
our psyche both subtly and overtly seep their way
into our individual lives: personally, professionally,
socially, and spiritually. At one time or another,
each of us has succumbed to their influence, at
whatever level of power.
They can be overcome, but they cannot be denied;
no more than we can deny our very senses. For if
we try to deny them, then that is when they gain
traction and influence in our lives. No God
punishes us for our indulgence in these sordid
aspects of our nature; we punish ourselves. And if
any Heaven exists, it merely weeps at our
weakness… and smiles at our strength.
Although the premise of this booklet has religious
overtones, it is not intended as a criticism or
comment on any one religion. I respect all faiths,
for as an Agnostic, I do not have the answer either.
What I have intended by collaborating with my
network contacts is to create here a human
examination and commentary of our key
weaknesses, in a way both satirical and serious alike.
For when we can recognize our core weaknesses,
we can draw our strength to reach for success and
meaning in this short and unpredictable life.
~ Scott Byorum
December 12, 2008
12. The 7 Pervasive Whims
12 Ω
Introduction
Human Nature. Aside from the religious
connotations and overtones, the 7 Deadly Sins are
darkly fascinating aspects of genuine human
characteristics. Nobody is immune. They describe
the sordid aspects of our psyche... aspects we
condemn and yet are guilty of ourselves. Like the
virtues we so extol, our sins define us as well. We
truly are equal.
This free booklet is non-denominational. In fact, it
shies away from religious interpretation,
whatsoever, other than the base origin of the
subject. Sins are often impulsive, hence the re-
designation "whims." And they have weaved their
web throughout time and human
consciousness. Deadly or not, they are "pervasive."
Each of these maligned, enduring human traits is
detrimental to our success as individuals and
community members. They adversely impact the
quality of our personal lives, our professional
performance, our social interactions, and our
spiritual well-being. They capitalize on our human
weakness. To overcome them and realize our
positive human potential, we must recognize their
incarnations.
13. The 7 Pervasive Whims
13 α
In the following pages, real people interpret these
unseemly characteristics of the human condition.
Esoteric, eccentric, existential, satirical, serious…
the people are real… the answers are real. How
would you respond?
Lust: "You know you are over-stimulated
when..."
Gluttony: "You know you are self-indulgent
when..."
Greed: "You know you are greedy when..."
Sloth: "You know you are lazy when..."
Wrath: "You know you are vindictive
when..."
Envy: "You know you are jealous when..."
Pride: "You know you are self-absorbed
when..."
14. The 7 Pervasive Whims
14 Ω
Lust
Latin: Luxuria
Alt.: Lechery
I see black hair pouring
past her shoulders
Spilling down her
backside
Arms dancing upwards
flowing
Heat smoldering forwards
from my eyes
Young supple slender
body slinking
White lace floating
clinging closely
Fire blazing between
thighs
15. The 7 Pervasive Whims
15 α
You know you are over-stimulated when you
cannot redirect yourself towards another activity.
16. The 7 Pervasive Whims
16 Ω
You know you are over-stimulated when you click
on your last link online and a message says:
"You are finished. That’s it! You are all done with
the web. There are no more unread links to click!"
17. The 7 Pervasive Whims
17 α
You know you are over-stimulated when you get
excited about the word and just keep typing.
18. The 7 Pervasive Whims
18 Ω
You know you are over-stimulated when you keep
seeing your company logo over the head of your
lover while making sex at night.
19. The 7 Pervasive Whims
19 α
You know you are over-stimulated when you can’t
get your brain and your hands to sync up enough to
type coherently.
20. The 7 Pervasive Whims
20 Ω
You know you are over-stimulated when you
cannot wait and pull out too soon and crash at a
road junction.
21. The 7 Pervasive Whims
21 α
You know you are over-stimulated when you
realize it’s 3 AM, you are wide awake, you feel like
you’ve been working all day, and then you realize
that all you have done is browse blogs and social
media sites.
22. The 7 Pervasive Whims
22 Ω
Gluttony
Latin: Gula
Alt.: Over-consumption
A feasting banquet laid out before just one
Choice morsels calling calling calling
Tongue slathering teeth
Moisture seething free
What they’re eating mine mine is feeding feeding
more in me
Throat moving squeezing choking pushing down
Stomach churning colon working and free
23. The 7 Pervasive Whims
23 α
You know you are self-indulgent when you look at
your credit card bill.
24. The 7 Pervasive Whims
24 Ω
You know you are self-indulgent when you want to
answer really big questions beyond your vocabulary.
25. The 7 Pervasive Whims
25 α
You know you are self-indulgent when all you can
think about is what you want next to increase you
pleasure.
26. The 7 Pervasive Whims
26 Ω
You know you are self-indulgent when you
complain in a tiny whine that the champagne in
which your feet are soaking for your weekly
pedicure is of an inferior vintage to the champagne
you have been served.
27. The 7 Pervasive Whims
27 α
You know you are self-indulgent when you stop to
fill up your vehicle with gasoline and you also buy
two bags of potato chips as a snack, when in reality
you should be having none at all.
28. The 7 Pervasive Whims
28 Ω
You know you are self-indulgent when you spend a
trillion dollars on your private little war.
29. The 7 Pervasive Whims
29 α
You know you are self-indulgent when you eat a
fabulous dinner and then decide to order a piece of
cheesecake to go for later. But as soon as you get in
the car, you start nibbling on the cheesecake (with
your fingers) and even though you are too full you
eat the entire thing before you get home.
30. The 7 Pervasive Whims
30 Ω
Greed
Latin: Avaritia
Alt.: Avarice,
Covetousness
What I have is less
than what I want
What I want is to
have more of what I
have
And when I gather
what I hunt
It’s not near enough
What I need I want
more for what I have
I keep it in my pillow
But I don’t sleep like
I want
31. The 7 Pervasive Whims
31 α
You know you are greedy when you can’t ever
seem to spare money for a charity or donation
collection jar, you don’t seem to have a moment
ever to volunteer, and yet, if the collection drive or
the volunteer cause was for you, you would expect
everyone to come clamoring to help.
32. The 7 Pervasive Whims
32 Ω
You know you are greedy when you argue that the
grocery store should accept your expired coupon.
33. The 7 Pervasive Whims
33 α
You know you are greedy when you will abandon
all values and consideration of others to make more
money than you can ever spend.
34. The 7 Pervasive Whims
34 Ω
You know you are greedy when you ask the
waitress at a restaurant to bring you a take home
bag for some leftovers and then you end up putting
in all the sugar packets, leftover basket of bread
rolls, jelly packets, butter, and creamers.
35. The 7 Pervasive Whims
35 α
You know you are greedy when you are willing to
make a dollar off the misery of others.
36. The 7 Pervasive Whims
36 Ω
You know you are greedy when you can’t seem to
do anything for someone else, without a price tag
attached to it.
37. The 7 Pervasive Whims
37 α
You know you are greedy when you want to make a
killing, not just a living
38. The 7 Pervasive Whims
38 Ω
Sloth
Latin: Acedia
Alt.: Laziness, Despair
Sleep passes through the night into the day
Day to night to day world turning
Afternoon tomorrow floating through the rain
Sun comes up goes down comes up in time
Noises flutter busy noises talking noisy trill
Actions pass me by
I am still
39. The 7 Pervasive Whims
39 α
You know you are lazy when you ask all your
networking contacts to come up with content for
your next book.
40. The 7 Pervasive Whims
40 Ω
You know you are lazy when you don’t take a
shower for a week.
41. The 7 Pervasive Whims
41 α
You know you are lazy you use the sink in the
kitchen, rather than go upstairs to the bathroom.
42. The 7 Pervasive Whims
42 Ω
You know you are lazy when you consistently fail
to do what you are good at doing.
43. The 7 Pervasive Whims
43 α
You know you are lazy when you don’t even bother
asking someone else to use the remote to change the
TV channel you are not enjoying.
44. The 7 Pervasive Whims
44 Ω
You know you are lazy when you become notorious
for saying: “while you are up...”
45. The 7 Pervasive Whims
45 α
You know you are lazy when, eh...
46. The 7 Pervasive Whims
46 Ω
WRATH
Latin: Ira
Alt.: Anger, Rage
I feel the weight chill shiny tool within my hand
Tool to work the red blur within my mind
Tool thrusting forward
Finger squeezing inward
Terror in their eyes
Now they are running pleading screaming
Feel the power that is blind
47. The 7 Pervasive Whims
47 α
You know you are vindictive when you can’t help
tea-bagging fools on Halo 3.
48. The 7 Pervasive Whims
48 Ω
You know you are vindictive when you start a viral
campaign to destroy someone’s reputation.
49. The 7 Pervasive Whims
49 α
You know you are vindictive when you gather all of
those cards for magazine subscriptions from every
magazine you can find until you have a stack of 50
or so. Then you put the name of the individual you
are seeking revenge on and their work mailing
address on half of the cards and their home mailing
address on the other half. Always choose the
magazines that will cause the most discomfort
and/or need for explanation for them. All they have
to do is cancel each and every subscription when
the invoices start showing up, but in the meantime
the sweet joy of watching them try to
understand/explain why they are receiving so many
magazines and the type of magazines they are
receiving... is priceless.
50. The 7 Pervasive Whims
50 Ω
You know you are vindictive when you vanquish
your enemies and drive them before you, deprive
them of their wealth, and see their dearest ones
awash in tears, while riding their horses while
clasping to your bosom their wives and their
daughters.
51. The 7 Pervasive Whims
51 α
You know you are vindictive when you are pleased
by the concept of comeuppance.
52. The 7 Pervasive Whims
52 Ω
You know you are vindictive when you go all out of
your way to fight someone who you know is weaker
than you.
53. The 7 Pervasive Whims
53 α
You know you are vindictive when you run a key
along the side of someone’s car because he made a
joke at your expense.
54. The 7 Pervasive Whims
54 Ω
Envy
Latin: Invidia
Alt.: Jealousy*
I see these things and what you have
Where you’re at what you do who you are is better than me
I see these things through senses full
Smelling touching tasting hearing feeling knowing
Who you are
I want them in me on me for me now
I want what you have
55. The 7 Pervasive Whims
55 α
You know you are jealous when you turn on the
rich and the beautiful.
56. The 7 Pervasive Whims
56 Ω
You know you are jealous when you storm out of a
bar on Christmas Eve.
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57 α
You know you are jealous when you say something
self-protecting and brilliantly catty, but feel sick
inside.
58. The 7 Pervasive Whims
58 Ω
You know you are jealous when you see her with
another guy just after you broke up and you deck
him
59. The 7 Pervasive Whims
59 α
You know you are jealous when you flush the toilet
while someone else is taking a shower. Then the
hot water turns cold and you say: “Hey what
happened to all the hot water?”
60. The 7 Pervasive Whims
60 Ω
You know you are jealous when you text your
daughter’s friends inviting them over for pizza and
soda and then mention that it’s not important that
your daughter won’t be there.
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61 α
You know you are jealous when you’re not happy
when good things happen to your friends.
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62 Ω
PRIDE
Latin: Superbia
Alt.: Hubris, Vanity
Fired filament flaring
burning bright
Flowing blossomed light
speeding swiftly to the
eye
Gaze reflection in the
silvered glass shines fine
Back and forth light
bouncing bouncing
bouncing by
Image feeds my sight
into my mind
Me wanting more of me
and mine
Echoes echoes through
the heart
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63 α
You know you are self-absorbed when you shout
out your own name while masturbating.
64. The 7 Pervasive Whims
64 Ω
You know you are self-absorbed when every
thought in your mind starts with “I” and every
conversation with friends and associates starts with
“I”.
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65 α
You know you are self-absorbed when the only
interesting (and funny) answer to a question is yours.
66. The 7 Pervasive Whims
66 Ω
You know you are self-absorbed when you Google
yourself and become angry when some other person
with your name is ranked higher.
67. The 7 Pervasive Whims
67 α
You know you are self-absorbed when you can’t
pass by a window or mirror without looking at your
reflection.
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68 Ω
You know you are self-absorbed when you see
someone having a bad day and ask what is wrong
and then turn their misery into a story about
yourself.
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69 α
You know you are self-absorbed when you stop
talking and look up and nobody is there.
70. The 7 Pervasive Whims
70 Ω
Afterwards/Acknowledgements
Like all great intentions, this project started off
seeming easier than it really was. After going
through the ordeal of producing my first book, The
A.M. God, I thought that this would be relatively
simple by comparison. It wasn’t.
It isn’t the writing. After over 20 years of practice,
writing comes pretty naturally for me… as long as
the ideas are there. And research… well, that has
been my bread and butter in my day job for the last
13 years and it has led to several writing projects.
The research for this was already done with the
publication of The A.M. God.
It was partly the art and the formatting, some of
which was partially done and some of which needed
to be created. But again, I’m skilled in this. There
was nothing I really needed to learn or spend a lot
of time creating to produce this publication.
So what made this publication difficult? I mean, I
had a few hundred freely submitted answers from
my networking connections to create the content.
Therein lies the answer: so many of the submissions
were just so damn good.
It was very difficult to pare down the selections to
just 7 for each of the 7 sins… um, I mean “whims.”
I would have loved to include every answer, but
71. The 7 Pervasive Whims
71 α
then the publication would lose character, muddle
its point. There were valuable network connections
that I so wanted to include, and others who I hardly
knew that I couldn’t help but to include. And there
were still others whose answers were so relevant
that I included multiple times. It was that very
selection process that made this project difficult.
Words are cheap and free on the internet (yes, there
is a difference), as they are in life. But words that
are carefully selected, and channeled into a purpose,
into a publication, take on a value of their own.
Sometimes they are worth paying for… and
sometimes paying for them cheapens them.
This publication is a gift. Sure I may sell a few
more copies of my books or get some name
recognition, but that won’t compensate the time I
put into this publication. Religion aside, the
elements presented here, based on The 7 Deadly
Sins, are real human psychological manifestations
that detrimentally affect peoples’ lives and success.
They are our weakness, and as any successful
person knows: if you cannot identify and address
your weaknesses, then you will be a slave to them
and end in ruin.
The following talented individuals contributed to
the content of this publication: Adam Hyatt.
Adeyemi Fowe, Alison Diefenderfer, Bob Garrett,
Cher Wada, Dania Roker, David West, Dmitry
Polonsky, Frank Feather, Gerald Lo, Greg Poulas,
James M. Koenig, Jan Simpson, Jenna Papakalos,
72. The 7 Pervasive Whims
72 Ω
Jerry Richardson, Joy Fletcher Montgomery,
Katherine Howard, Ken Rochon, Kevin Harville,
Kevin Horst, Lee Schlesinger, Neil Jones, Peggy
Brockmann, Phil Lidster, Ravinder Bhan, Ray
Miller, Ronald Berg, Sam Brannon, Sheilah
Etheridge, Simon Hamer, Susan Shwartz, Taryn
Pisaneschi, Teresa Fields, and the incomparable
Tim Tymchyshyn.
Thank you all for contributing to my success and I
hope your contributions contribute to the success of
others, as well as yourselves.
73. The 7 Pervasive Whims
73 α
Addendum*
A question arose in my mind when posing the
questions to my networking contacts as to whether
or not to use the actual names of The 7 Deadly Sins.
For the sake of keeping this publication on a secular
level, I used synonyms in place of the real words
where I could (i.e. “self-absorbed” instead of
“Pride”, etc.). I have to give credit to one person
who called me on my term substitution: Frank
Feather.
In addition to his answer to “You know you are
jealous when…” he wisely observed and added:
“Jealousy should not be confused with envy:
jealousy concerns something you have, but are
afraid to lose. Envy can be non-malicious
(something you don’t have but want to acquire) or
malicious (wanting others not to have something).
Thus, for example, Othello is jealous at the thought
he might lose Desdemona, while Iago is envious of
Othello’s prestige or status. Jealousy comes from
the French "jalousie" or "jaloux" (jealous), also the
Latin "zelosus" (full of zeal), and the Greek "zelos"
(sometimes meaning jealousy but more often
meaning "emulation, ardor, zeal" -- and the latter
can have a positive connotation.”
The best laid plans, Frank… the best laid plans. =0)
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74 Ω
About the Author
Scott Byorum was born November 9, 1968 in
Petaluma, CA. He currently resides in Windsor,
CA with his wife Shandell and their pets. Scott has
a BA in Psychology from Sonoma State University
and certificates in Training and Instructional Design.
He has always been interested and involved in art,
writing, and music.
Scott has over 20 years experience in management
and the business world. He has expertise in
business development, process analysis and control,
procedure documentation, and skills training. He is
author to numerous articles on training and
leadership for bank management and directors.