i claim, nothing embodies mediocrity more than sin. you might respond, but nothing embodies evil more than sin, for isn’t that just what is coequal with it? and i say, then nothing embodies mediocrity more than evil. isn’t that obviously true? we all commit evil, but there are few to none who can rise above it. there is nothing heroic about evil [i say to myself: and haven’t i always wanted to be a hero?]. it is not difficult to be evil. evil is a failure. case study: it is not the genius of the archvillian which is evil; if it were, my point would be refuted. no, the genius, the strength, they are good–it is the archvillian himself who is evil, and if evil he is, it is only out of a failure to be good.
therefore sin is mud in water, a smudge on the canvas. it threatens to blur the sharp lines of reality. it takes beauty and stifles it–no, instead it dulls our senses of beauty and truth (it can never actually harm them). it is self-replicating and narcissistic. the only paradox is that it does not self-annihilate. or maybe, it does, in a vacuum–it requires hosts to thrive. weak hosts–but not too weak, or it won’t last long. whatever the case, it never lasts forever. either the parasite or the host die. if the host waits too long, they both die, passing from existence with the mingling strains of the shrill laugh of victory and the echoed whisper of powerless regret.
if only regret weren’t powerless. it’s such a great injustice that that which most naturally motivates us not to sin always occurs after the error we should not have made.
i suppose that’s what was wrong with nature.
romans 8:20-21.
