Morning Myth - Gluttony

Gluttony, typically associated with the excessive consumption of food, can more broadly be interpreted as excessive consumption of anything. It would appear that gluttony is almost universally considered a vice that should be avoided. Almost. 

There is a mythical beast in northern Scandinavia called the Gulon. It is a very large hairy dog-like creature with many feline features. It has a cat's face, claws, and ears. It is variously described with a fox's tail. The beast is a voracious eater. It attacks and kills animals larger than itself and proceeds to fill its belly. It eats so much that, when it can eat no more, the gulon finds two trees through which it can barely squeeze. It then proceeds to squeeze itself through the trees forcing itself to excrete as much as it can. it then goes back to eating.

Gluttony is interesting. It is, at least in the judeo-christian tradition, considered a sin. The same can be said to varying degrees to be the case amongst many religious or philosophical beliefs. In some cases its more a prohibition rather than a sin. Yet, gluttony is one of the surest paths to social status. 

If I recall correctly (and I may not), during the middle to late Roman Empire, the elites would engage in a practice of having parties where eating and drinking to excess were the goals; eat and drink, then go vomit and return to the table to eat and drink more. The Satyricon is where I first came into contact with this idea. It occurred to me then that this had more to do with status than the pure enjoyment of food. To be able to be wasteful is only within the pursue of the wealthy and elites. To act wastefully is to establish social ranking. The accuracy of the Satyricon (it is a satire) is not issue, rather it is the idea. 

In large part the 'sinning' of gluttony is a prohibition against wastefulness.

In the case of the gulon, we have an interesting prohibition. Rather than the gluttonous act being outright sinful and punishable, it is associated with a disgusting act - forced excretion, much like the vomiting associated with those party goers in ancient Rome. This would be a mild prohibition against gluttony as far as I understand it. 

art by Hyun Lee

This would be my immediate, poorly thought out, take-away. The sinning of gluttony is probably quite old and likely existed shortly after man became conscious of himself and the consequences of his action. Being wasteful is bad, it is especially bad in lean times or amongst hunter-gathering societies. Gluttony continues to climb the rank of sins as more is produced and more is wasted. What is considered gluttonous also shifts depending on ideas and beliefs about scarcity. For example, the excessive consumption of fossil fuels is now being shifted into a social sin category. 

Anyway, the gulon got me thinking about consumption and sin and early man and evolution and sin and just carried me away on a path that lead.... nowhere really. Though the concept of wealth as a sin even makes it way into modern gaming.