This post marks the third in a series of book reviews on the book Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life by Kathleen Norris. The first two reviews can be found here and here.
The ancient Latin concept “acedia” has come to be understood by many as what we moderns would call, in psychological terms, “depression”. The drug industry would like us to lump all our ill-at-ease feelings together so they might sell us a pill (or many pills) to fix the problem. Norris observes -
Pharmaceutical companies advertise in newspapers and popular magazines with lists of symptoms– feeling down, anxious, fatigued, or discouraged– that would seem to cover most everyone at some time, as is no doubt the point. These advertisements can inspire people who need treatment to seek it, but they also serve the purposes of commerce and feed a disturbing tendency to medicalize all human experience.
Sometimes unsettledness is more than a sign of depression. It can be a great spiritual temptation to try to do something other than what we are doing in the present. Norris comments that discernment is needed to do battle with acedia, to know when to move and when to be still, when to act and when to stand back, when to serve others and when to seek solitude. Describing her own experience in writing, she notes -
When I know that I should remain in my study, writing if I am able, and if not, being willing to be alone with God, doing nothing, I am easily tempted to leave and seek the company of other people. But if I am honest with myself, I will admit that my inability to be alone is no reason to abandon my solitude: the danger is that I will use others as an excuse to avoid confronting matters that require my full attention.
Paying full attention, being mindful and grateful for the gift of present time is one way we combat acedia. One of the great temptations of the demon is a sort of nostalgia for better days. The danger of this, Norris points out is -
As we come to prefer living in the past, we grow less able to enjoy the present or invest in the future.
I’m intrigued by the term ‘acedia’…
The Pistol fires back: Norris does a great job of unpacking the term in its historic usage. I highly recommend the book.
Interesting…I’ve never heard of the term “acedia” before…With regards to depression though…I used to ( and still do to some degree) suffer from depression- and I have to say that it certainly doesn’t help matters that every time I turn the television on (literally), there is ALWAYS a commercial advertising some sort of anti-depressant med…it’s as if you can never get away from it, and it makes me seriously consider using meds sometimes…
The Pistol fires back: Good point. The drug companies know how to hit us where it hurts.