The environmental movement, by its very nature, wants to get rid of human activities and progress, both of which are hated by the demons of Sloth. The essential operating instructions they try to download within the human spirit is this: “When people do things, they disrupt other processes. That is arrogance, and should not be allowed. Therefore, the highest calling is to stop others from doing things.”
Naturally, the slothful are pro-abortion. “Those babies will just grow up and become people who will want to have and do things. We can’t have that.”
The slothful are also pro-euthanasia. “When people get past a certain age, they should die so that they don’t disrupt natural processes.”
The slothful are in favor of more government control. “We simply have to be able to stop people from interfering with natural processes.”
The demons of sloth seem among the lowest-ranking in the body of the apostate angel. (Some of last month’s columns concerned The Discadalicon, written by Hugh of St. Victor around 1150, which teaches that “Those who do evil are part of the body of the apostate angel.”, certainly one of the best summings-up of evil that was ever made.) In fact, the other living viruses committed to our destruction find the “sloth viruses” useful in paralyzing thoughts, words, and deeds that might get in the way of their own ravenous desires.
The more active demonic tribes of Pride, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Anger, and Lust all vie for dominance over each of our souls, and all of them know that Sloth is useful because it paralyzes those they wish to destroy, keeping them from fighting back. “You don’t need to go to Church.”, says Sloth on Sunday morning. “You haven’t really done anything bad.”
Sloth is as quiet as a tomb, as slow as January molasses, and as useless as thick fog. Chemically, it is represented by tranquilizers and various “downers”. Its demons want to extend sleep to cover entire mornings, days, and weeks. If allowed, the demons of Sloth quickly devour months, and years of lives spent circling around the drains they can’t wait to see our souls go down.
