This is the carving I ended up posing for. It is also the first Deadly Sin of this series that was carved. I had no other models lined up for this project, and wanted to make any initial mistakes on myself, first.
I found it hard to pose for this portrait and handle the camera as well. I had no one to coach me or make suggestions, and I felt rather foolish standing in front of a mirror with the camera between me and the mirror. But finally I had an image that came close. By the way, I used the time-delay shutter function on the camera to take these photos.
The Sin
Anger, or wrath, is a feeling of hostility, impatience, or rage that is often expressed in an aggressive manner. We often feel anger when we feel an injustice has been done against us, or when there seems to be no solution to a problem. Forgiveness is the antidote to all anger. It is said "The best way to get even is to forgive."
Anger in itself is not sinful, as long as it is directed by virtue and regulated by reason. It is when anger becomes passionate or hostile at the expense of reason and virtue that it becomes destructive. Most often, the sin of anger expresses itself in words that are intended to hurt and destroy. As the Apostle James wrote: "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."
But anger can also move beyond words to physical action, including violence and revenge. Anger that is supressed eventually turns into resentment, which eats us up from the inside out. Resentment is "the poison we take to kill our enemies".
We are better to take the advice of Paul who wrote "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."
