How do you define sin?

Is anger, an emotion which stems from our very own faults, from our frustration in life, a sin? Is it so against nature and the biological way to get angry that social anger is frowned upon in our society? How come a lion doesn’t stop to think before killing a deer? Why don’t birds grow on a healthy diet of fruits and seed, instead dive into the cold flows of thundering rivers to catch a bite of fish by putting their lives on the line? Why doesn’t a male bear feel remorse before eating a cub of its own race when the summers are ending and its stomach still rumbles?

Is spending your life in leisure really a sin? But isn’t it considered a human goal -a distant objective, a mark of achievement- to reach a certain future where one can simply enjoy spending their time looking at trees growing new leaves in spring and watch the flakes of frost fall during summer, without having to work for even their simplest of needs. Don’t we call those very few who have succeeded in achieving such level of leisure, winners?

Why is pushing our bodies through a course of mind-numbing pleasure in this receding cold world where everyone lives for their own selfish desire considered a sin? Why is reproduction and birthing a new life considered a blessing; while enjoying the sexual practice -the burning desire which can relieve us from every ounce of burden and thought, free us from the pressure which our society puts on our soft shoulders- the one which leads to such a grand achievement considered an evil, a vile devilish desire, a direct path to corruption of the mind?

Why is Envy branded as evil, when it’s only thanks to its presence that we humans can grow a motive, can awake a hunger, a will, to succeed, to accomplish greater things in our lives? If it is a sin to Envy others, then why is this sense of completion -to become greater than everyone else- is applauded in our monasteries of education, in the fields of life? Don’t we send our children to schools so they can learn and become better than everyone else? Don’t we genuinely get happy when the spawns of our lust win in life breaking the hopes of others?  

And why wouldn’t one feel prideful of their achievements when they finally grow from the lowest place of human society and enters the leagues of those whom others would Envy? Don’t we live our entire life to achieve such success? It is said, 'pride births selfishness', which is another form of corruption; but a coo-coo bird doesn’t create a nest, it empties the nests of other birds and lays her eggs in them- is it selfish of it to do so or is it simply its nature, the reality which defines it? A wasp poisons and uses the living bodies of its prey as breeding grounds for its larva. A swarm of locust doesn’t wait for food to drop from the sky. Instead, they uniformly move from one place to another in search of food and devour everything which they find in their way.

While some say it’s the greed which comes after success which is the greatest of all evil. To horde when one can provide; to decline when one can help. However, why is a person obliged to share what they have spent their whole life earning? Is it your decision to share the food you have bought with your hard work with others or is it others right to demand a bite from you?  

Build and prosper, rather than kill and destroy; Work instead of leeching; Control and love, not use and throw; Fight yourself, not the others; Be magnanimous; Give instead of hoarding  

But how does one classify Gluttony as a sin? Is it even possible to eat everything without sharing? Can a single person eat a thousand people share? To my mind gluttony is not hoarding and potentially wasting food which could have settled the hunger of hundreds and thousands of empty stomachs; rather, it is an undying urge to eat without stopping, to devour everything and anything -whether its flesh, fruit or rock and dirt- which is not possible.

In the end, what is considered a sin and why is considered such is up to the emotional and computations understanding of free individuals. After all, one can’t read about life and understand the struggle and tribulations of it. Life has to be lived to understand what it means to be alive, to judge for oneself, the boundary which categorizes humans as humans, and sinners and such.