Here is Part 6 of my series "The Terrain of the Seven Deadly Sins". My previous posts dealt with Pride, Lust, Slothfulness, Wrath, and Envy. This one will deal with Gluttony and my last one of the series will deal with Greed. As with everything in this series, what I describe here is meant to be a metaphor of what we actually deal with and by dealing with the metaphor that is a tangible thing we can address, we effectively also deal with the issues we face. So now once again we delve into the world of "Catharsis Hall" and as Gluttony deals with internal issues, we will go deep underground.
The land is a metaphor for our soul, or our "flesh". The terrain is the land where the battle between Sin and God takes place and the how the terrain will look depends on who rules it. Gluttony is most known to reference food. But it also deals with anything we take in to feed and fuel our bodies. And it can be good things or bad things. Food is just the most common area where we see gluttony. But drinking or doing drugs also counts for this. Alcoholism is a drinking form of gluttony. So is addiction to drugs. If it goes into your body, it is subject to this terrain. The opposite of this is Internal Satisfaction. It is knowing what is good for your body, feeding it what it needs, but in proper moderation. It knows when to stop and it feeds the body with the right stuff.
Because Gluttony deals with internal issues, once again we go underground. Lust and Gluttony are actually related in how they deal with these issues. In this terrain, we are not just in a mere cave, we are going deep underground. We have large caverns where it is easy to get into but hard to get out. As with any addiction, the way is easy. Sometimes it is a soft decent for a while but other times it is a steep decent. In this deep underground cavern there is everything you would want to live off. Water flows in from above ground into a fresh water pool. From the pool, all sorts of drinks are made. There is a wine refinery as well as a beer refinery.
Light is provided for the cave by a series of mirrors. This light can be provided by natural sunlight or by a beacon. In a large room around a corner, the light is concentrated to provide for crops. What is grown depends on who rules the land. The ground here is very fertile and with the ambient temperature of a cave always at a constant 58 degrees no matter what is going with the weather outside, there is always a growing season, so all the crops are always producing. If you were to pluck all the ears of corn from the stalks, the next day, there would be more, fresh and ready to go. If Gluttony is ruling, you will grow what you want, not what you need. You could end up growing drugs or foods that merely taste good rather than help you out. If God is ruling, you will be satisfied internally. You will grow what you need, including the right foods. You won't grow the bad stuff and when you have excess, you will store it for when you need it later or you will provide it for who needs it.
Where Gluttony has great danger is that it can provide all you want to live. It is easy to go down to this cavern and never come out. You can live in this cavern and indulge yourself. As if you indulge beyond proper moderation, it will not take long for the other Sins to join hands. Slothfulness and Gluttony can go hand-in-hand pretty well. When you are underground, it is very easy to lose track of time, having no clue what time or season it is. And if you stay and indulge too long, you will not be able to physically get out of the cave, even if you know how without having to work it out the excess. And we know from the testimonies of those who have tried to lose weight or get off addictions, it does not happen overnight without divine intervention.
The way to get rid of Gluttony is to drive it out of the terrain. As long as Gluttony has permission to dwell in just one area, it will rule it. And Gluttony does not want you to leave the cavern...EVER. And with cavern systems, you must be careful about the trails you leave. Many caves have circuitous tunnels that will only lead you back to where you came from. And Gluttony will sabotage the routes out so you cannot take them. It will knock down boulders from the ceiling to destroy paths or natural bridges over chasms. But when God is the ruler, he will restore the cavern to its natural state. He will repair the paths. He will remove the crops that damage us and replace them with crops that will feed us. God's crops don't just feed the body. They feed the soul. When God rules our terrain, he will plant love, joy, peace, patience, as well as the physical internal needs we have as well. When Gluttony rules, it will plant the crops of its brothers including Pride, Envy, Wrath, and Lust. It will rip out the crops of God and not let them grow. And what is in the cavern is determined by who rules it.
So that is what is off the top of my head on Gluttony. I cannot think of much else to say right now without merely rambling. As I've been saying in this series, nothing here is a finished product but just a foundation of what should be there. It will need many more details and descriptions including maps and locations for everything. My last post of this Seven Part Series will come shortly and it will cover the terrain that could be ruled by Greed. After that one, I will have a few posts on how the terrains can overlap and how something like Depression is a joint ruling of Pride (or more realistically, Shame) and Slothfulness. There are many other issues we deal with that is some combination of these Seven Deadly Sins. In fact, I cannot think of any sin or area we deal with that does not have some root or combination of one of these Seven Deadly Sins. And if we know how to deal with each of the Seven, we can learn how to deal with all their children.
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