Editing Seven deadly sins (section)

=== Sloth ===
{{Main|Sloth (deadly sin)}}
[[File:Abraham Bloemaert - Parable of the Wheat and the Tares - Walters 372505.jpg|thumb|''[[Parable of the Tares|Parable of the Wheat and the Tares]]'' (1624) by [[Abraham Bloemaert]], [[Walters Art Museum]]]]
''Sloth'' refers to many related ideas, dating from antiquity, and includes spiritual, mental, and physical states.<ref name="Lyman-1989">{{Cite book|title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil|last=Lyman|first=Stanford|year=1989|isbn=0-930390-81-4|pages=5|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }}</ref> The definition has changed considerably since it was first recognized as a sin. Today it can be defined as the absence of interest in or habitual disinclination to exertion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sloth?s=t|title=the definition of sloth|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-date=17 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617033740/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sloth?s=t|url-status=live}}</ref> Originally, however, Christian theologians believed it to be a lack of care for performing spiritual duties.

In his ''Summa Theologica'', [[Saint Thomas Aquinas]] defined sloth as "sorrow about spiritual good".<ref name="Aquinas"/>

The scope of sloth is wide.<ref name="Lyman-1989"/> In a spiritual sense, ''acedia'' first referred to an affliction attending religious persons, especially monks, wherein they became indifferent to their duties and obligations to [[God]]. In a mental sense, ''acedia'' has a number of distinctive components: the most important of these is affectlessness—a lack of any feeling about self or other; a mind-state that gives rise to boredom, rancor, apathy; and a passive inert or sluggish mentation. In a physical sense, ''acedia'' is fundamentally associated with a cessation of motion and an indifference to work; the sin finds expression in laziness, idleness, and indolence.<ref name="Lyman-1989"/>

Sloth includes ceasing to use the seven gifts of grace given by the [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]]; these gifts are [[Wisdom]], [[Understanding]], Counsel, [[Knowledge]], [[Piety]], [[Courage|Fortitude]], and [[Fear of the Lord]]. Such disregard may lead to slower spiritual progress towards eternal life, neglect of multiple duties of [[Charity (practice)|charity]] towards a [[neighbourhood|neighbor]], and animosity towards those who love God.<ref name="Manning"/>

The other deadly sins are sins of committing immorality; by contrast, sloth is a sin of avoiding responsibilities. The sin may arise from any of the other capital vices: for example, a son may avoid his duty to his father because of anger. The state and habit of sloth is a mortal sin; but the habit of the soul tending towards the last mortal state of sloth is not mortal in and of itself, except under certain circumstances.<ref name="Manning"/>

Emotionally, and cognitively, the evil of ''acedia'' (or sloth) finds expression in a lack of feeling for the world, the people in it, or the self. ''Acedia'' takes form as an alienation of the sentient self first from the world and then from itself. The most profound versions of this condition are found in a withdrawal from all forms of participation in, or care for, others or oneself. Nevertheless, a lesser yet more harmful element was also noted by theologians: Gregory the Great asserted that, "from ''tristitia'', there arise malice, rancour, cowardice, [and] despair". 

Chaucer also dealt with this attribute of ''acedia'', reckoning the characteristics of the sin to include despair, somnolence, idleness, tardiness, negligence, laziness, and ''wrawnesse'', the last variously translated as 'anger' or better as 'peevishness'. For Chaucer, human sin consists in languishing and holding back, refusing to undertake works of goodness because (people tell themselves) the circumstances surrounding the establishment of good are too grievous and too difficult to suffer. ''Acedia'' in Chaucer's view is thus the enemy of every source and motive for work.<ref name="Lyman">{{Cite book|title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil|last=Lyman|first=Stanford|pages=6–7}}</ref>

According to Stanford Lyman, sloth subverts the maintenance of the body, taking no care for its daily needs; sloth also slows down the mind, diverting its attention away from important matters. Sloth hinders a person in moral undertakings, and it thus becomes a significant source of a person's ruin.<ref name="Lyman" />