On the question of sin, such a conversation is always to be dragged either towards sex or towards luxury. These are things which most people experience or consider on a somewhat frequent basis and thus often feel complicit in the supposed sins that one faith or another may place upon the head of one who partakes in either of these things. Therefore it becomes central to any such discussion.
I will address one of these two issues in this article, that is luxury. The Sodean take on sex should be quite clear — there is very little that one can do which is truly unworthy of the Sod. Being fallen, we must accept our shortcomings in many regards, and as such it appears that all manner of consensual sex is deemed generally appropriate by the Sodean priesthood and thought to be absurd to admonish.
Luxury, opulence, these things are however much more controversial. It is essential to the Sodean life that one does not simply hoard for the sake of indulgence and self-aggrandizement. However, opulence itself has no inherent sin, and in fact, when applied under appropriate conditions is strictly laudable. There is simply no question that the Church is in full support of all that is truly beautiful — both spiritually and physically. So then, when does opulent beauty become opulent excess? That is the real question which the sod must ask their self.
The answer is in fact very simple. If we consider the scenario in which a sod happens upon — either through sheer luck or grueling Excruciating or Tragoedian toil — some fortune or another, there are a few questions the sod must ask themselves before using this fortune. The first, and most crucial of all, is the question of the health of their respective sodalitas. If you do not know what a sodalitas is, I have written a full article about it here, but in short it is a sod’s most immediate, beloved, and trustworthy group of friends and family. It is absolutely vital that the health of one’s sodalitas is observed in the face of sheer success. Let no member of this group starve nor leave them to the streets if resources to provide them warmth and love are at hand. To leave behind your loved ones in the face of fortune is a truly grave sin which cannot by any means be reconciled on Earth without great charity.
That said, there are other factors to consider before one uses their fortune to enrich the beauty of the world [through opulence]. Does one’s intended opulence create great spoil and waste that does not in fact enrich the beauty of the world? Do you intend to use your wealth to destroy or denigrate God’s creation? If what you intend to bring onto Earth is in fact uglier than the Earth it resides on then you simply should not bring any such thing upon Earth. A sod should consider themselves wiser than such truly frivolous excess.
If these questions are sufficiently answered: if one’s sodalitas is in good health and beyond justifiably desperate despair, and one’s intentions towards beauty are entirely positive, then there is no harm in creating human beauty on Earth. But harmony with nature, as well as harmony with Poesis must be considered at all times as this opulence is exercised. Failing to consider these things may easily allow one to forget the initial considerations that were made (those of the sodalitas and nature).
Should any of these considerations be failed, should one take God’s creation and make it ugly, spend selfishly in the face of material poverty within their treasured and holy sodalitas, then they have committed a grave injustice unto nature and/or their loved ones. This is where opulence and luxury become greatly sinful.
If your only concern is on avoiding sin with regards to opulence, then you may stop reading here, but if you are in fact intending to do truly great and holy things with your wealth then I will suggest some unorthodoxies which we deem to be far more laudable than the typical, institutional forms of charity.
The sodalitas comes first! Do you want to create a kingdom of heaven on Earth? It is simple! Should you provide land for the members of your sodalitas to work, live, and take refuge in, then that is a truly noble and laudable act which goes far beyond merely avoiding sinful wastefulness. This is an act which I believe in to an extreme — land ownership is the escape button on consumerist hell-cycles, and to provide that to your entire sodalitas — that is more beautiful than any self-aggrandizing act such as simply donating to charity or some other such thing.
If your sodalitas appears to already be well taken care of, then I would humbly suggest that one uses their wealth for the furtherment of the Sodean message and life — specifically towards the end of good people finding God where they were otherwise incapable of seeing divinity in everyday life. This can be done by creating or providing patronage to great works of romantic art, monuments, etc. It may seem quite a vain thing to even suggest, but keep in mind that the Church has indeed spent a portion of their own petty fortunes producing and distributing pamphlets and indeed writing poetry to expound the glory of creation and the beauty of life as seen through our fallen eyes.
There is no obligation to do these things however, but I do beseech you not to use your wealth to destroy the goodness of nature or humanity. That is all that can be said or asked of, for we all have our own unique and holy motivations and goals.