Here is a topic which I can readily speak to. Ask me how to poison your gut, I’ve got you covered. Seek advice on what to eat to ensure sluggishness, remorse, and weight gain; I’m your man. Want to know how to ruin your clothes in the wash, I’ve got a few stories and a couple sticks of lip balm through the dryer to help you out. The truth is, ruining things is a fairly easy thing to do. In most of life’s facets there are a million ways of destroying, but only one or two ways of perfection. The same is true in matters of the soul, where there are countless paths to doom and gloom, but only one strait and narrow way. I assume you already know all about that gate, so instead, I’ll spend a few words on some surefire mental habits to corrupt your soul. I can tell you from first hand experience that if misery and bitterness are your aim, these traits will lead you there directly.
Jealousy
The nature of reality is such that there are almost innumerable measuring sticks to gauge success and prosperity. The most obvious criteria are the ones that are most easily measured: wealth, athletic success, educational degrees, certifications, etc. Moving to less obvious is the number and quality of friends and family. Still less observable are things like integrity and inner peace. For those who come from a faith background, the clear answer is that those less observable and measurable attainments mentioned are of the greatest value. Never fear, though, because even with this gospel knowledge, you can still foster a detrimental level of jealousy. Yes, I know I have a loving family, but doggonit Bill Gates has a lot of money that I would love to have. Sure, I have peaceful assurance thanks to the Gospel, but man would it be nice to be as good at golf as Rickie Fowler. It sounds outrageous when you read it on paper, still more outrageous when the comparisons are as outlandish as these. However, if you dial back the extreme, though you may not have wished for Bill Gates’ billions, if you’re anything like me, you may have secretly wished for a colleague’s thousands.
The unavoidable truth of life is that you will always be able to find someone who is better off than you in some domain. In many instances, they have earned that advantage through hard work and shrewd decision making. More aggravating, though, is the truth that many people are outperforming you through sheer luck-of-the-draw. No matter how much you wish things were even across the board, it never will be. This is great news for anyone hoping to use jealousy as their preferred method of moral decay.
Resentment
Number two in the one-two knockout punch to the soul is resentment. Jealousy is a great precursor to this more developed and sinister poison to the heart. The great thing about resentment is that its applications are even more far-reaching than those of jealousy. Not only can I resent my neighbor for the things he has that I don’t, I can resent him for any little slight. An insult, an act of thoughtlessness, or even failing to wave back will do just fine as an excuse for resentment (if you’re looking for a treasure trove of petty reasons for resentment, look no further than the people you know and love the most intimately). The mind is a great tool in furthering the cause of resentment. As you play back the reasons for your anger again and again, you’ll be driving the hate a little deeper. Put that brain to work by formulating legal cases justifying your right to anger, and convicting the defendant of that awful crime of leaving the dishes on the counter. Do this enough, and not only will you find your own heart cankered and sour, but all of your relationships as well.
Oikophobia
What about the hipsters out there that might find jealousy and resentment a little too obvious and too mainstream to be reasonable methods of self destruction? I offer for these a sort of fringe gateway to begin the work of ruining your soul. Oikophobia is the hatred and distrust of the familiar; of home. The good news for those who choose this path as their preferred method is that it’s in plain abundance. Take, for example, your home country. Chances are if you are one of the few people reading this, you’re in the United States. Sure, America is the most prosperous nation in the history of the world. Sure, even the poorest here have food, medicine, and technology that would make Louis XVI drool. Sure, it’s been the greatest social experiment ever undertaken, fostering a level of peace and brotherhood among diverse populations which was previously unthinkable. But didn’t you know that the men who set this whole thing up were flawed? Don’t you know they participated in the evils of slavery (it’s important not to include here that slavery was a historical universal, and that the Western world was the first to fight for its abolition)? Once you start the mental putrefying practice of finding and enhancing each and every flaw of the society you live in, you’re on the fast track to doing so with an ever more intense microscope. The truly fun part is turning this accusatory microscope on everything that makes you feel any sense of belonging. Start with your country, move down to your state or city, your church, and your neighborhood. Before you know it, you’ll have reasons enough to even start hating your family. Once you’ve reached that point, hating all of humanity isn’t much of a stretch.
An Alternative
I suppose if spiritual suicide through healthy doses of poison aren’t your cup of tea, you might do what that man Jesus taught. You might understand and accept that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. You might find that those people you resent should actually find their way into your prayers. It may be that just as you rely on Him to look on your myriad flaws with grace and forgiveness, you should be extending the same to your fellows, both past and present. You may have to look at the country and world you live in with gratitude for its blessings, in spite of its shortcomings and sins. I have to warn you that if this is the path you choose, the love of Christ might start to elbow its way in and mend those wounds to your soul you’ve worked so hard to gouge, leaving you with nothing but joy and gratitude. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, pick your poison.
