Every moral order defines a "mark" or "target" of the most virtuous, perfect human and moral people try to get as close as possible to that mark before they die.
To sin is to miss that mark and the gravity of the sin is defined by how far away from the mark it was.
Virtue is the greater and sin is the lesser.
So it is like in Plato's allegory of a cave. The closer you get to the ideal shape from the projection the better person you are? And the ideal in this case is to live eudaimonic life and hitting all the marks.
And any deviation is essentially a sin.
This is super interesting, because that would mean that someone with very strict morals and high sense for meaningful fulfillment can end up far worse than a person who is just trying to be "a decent person."
Well, "worse".
And part of the Christian "mark" is humility and eschewing self-righteousness and scrupulousity.
So, effective religions have their own internal checks and balances because humans can't hit the mark precisely, by definition, as that would make them into a diety.
Do you mean, that they feel worse about themselves?
That would mean that they are too prideful, probably, and expect superhuman results from a mere human. I suffer from this tyranny of high expectations.
lol idk what to say about a person who doesn't understand that the shadows in the cave are illusions
Thank you for rephrasing. I was really not understanding.
