A Brief Note On Acedia (& Me)

Naming is a spiritual act.  It confers a sense of love, dominion, or power over something or someone else.  To be able to name is to be able to know something.  When something is unknown, it is unnamed.

Something that has been lost from our lexicon is the word acedia.  It means, a state of restlessness and inability either to work or to pray.

This describes my life sometimes.  When people ask about the state of my spiritual life I often describe times of “writer’s block” but the spiritual version.  I go through times when my spirituality is numb, frozen, static.  I go through times when I don’t participate in any of my loves, and go for a week or two or three without reading much at all, or drinking tea, or writing poetry.

I struggle with acedia.  It was described as a bad thought or “demon” by early monastics, and it struck them with great power. It ate at the heart of their vocation.  It distracted them from their call to glorify God and enjoy him forever through work and prayer.

We are called to the same thing, whether we are monastics or not, to glorify God through worship.

Acedia & Me is a book by Kathleen Norris I have just started, and it is an extended epiphany on my current spiritual state.  I encourage you to pick it up and read it.  I’ll be writing more on it as I continue thorugh the book.