It’s one of those amorphous, uncommon words that can be devilishly difficult to define. It’s also a churchy word. “Acedia” was considered both a sin and a demon by various monastics, although the basic idea is listlessness. Kathleen Norris has made her mark as a spiritual writer, and my wife and I have read a few of her books. Dakota, her first non-fiction, was stunning. We just finished Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life. It revolves around this concept of acedia and for a writer to admit it, it seems, takes courage. But the question that remains unresolved for me is whether it really exists. It seems that acedia was devised by monks to name their ennui with monastic existence. When all you do is pray there comes a time when you just don’t want to. Or can’t. They called it acedia.
There is a rich vocabulary for such states, reminding me of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows as well as the Existentialist literature I grew up reading. I think of Kafka. Of Kierkegaard. Of angst. Of boredom. More to the point in Norris’ case, writer’s block. This is a terribly personal book for her. She describes the death of her husband and coping with widowhood. And on top of it all, that dreaded block of inspiration that is a plague upon writers. Interestingly enough, the book took me back to my Nashotah House days. Norris, as do many monks, appreciates the slow reading of the Psalms. One of the points of contention at Nashotah House—I kid you not—was how long to pause between the halves of the verses in the Psalter. But is this a demon or only human nature?
“The noontime demon” was another common term for acedia. This connects it to yet another of its aspects: depression. We tend to think of depression as a clinical problem, but Norris explores the possibility that it’s a spiritual problem. Some claim acedia as a sin, as I’ve noted, which shoves it back on the experiencer. Norris has some interesting definitions of sin in her exploration. Tellingly, in an appendix she presents the Webster’s Dictionary (1913) words related to acedia and there are over 100 of them. And these words range from lust to world-weariness. Is the word too promiscuous to be really useful? For a writer like Norris, influenced by monastic practice, a poet by trade, and yet a writer of New York Times bestsellers, she makes the word fit. There’s much to ponder here.
