Looking for something else, I came across some material on acedia, that spiritual state characterized by boredom, ennui, apathy, listlessness, just giving up and not caring anymore.
It’s a condition much discussed and treated in the centuries-long literature of spiritual directors, for churches that have such things–i.e., Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, especially in monastic circles. It’s a species of the vice of sloth. See this this article from the monastic tradition, which calls acedia “the bane of solitaries,” relates it to existential angst, and says it isn’t a sin so much, though it dangerously saps the gratitude for living and attacks the impulse of charity; that is, love of neighbor.
Acedia is said to be distinct from the psychological condition of depression. I suspect, though, that when most Christians go through this, not having access to any experienced spiritual counselors and left only with the medical profession as a resource, it’s often diagnosed as depression. Maybe some cases of what used to be called acedia really are depression. And maybe some cases of depression are really acedia. Perhaps depression is a symptom of acedia, or vice versa. (One way to distinguish the two may be the extent to which anti-depressant drugs help or don’t.)
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This story in USA Today tells about her experience and how God pulled her out of it. From Norris writes Acedia, finds Gods joy again:
When the tentacles of acedia encroach, she turns to the Lords Prayer. St. Gregory of Nyssa calls it “a way to remember that the life in which we ought to be interested is daily life. … Our Lord tells us to pray for today, and so he prevents us from tormenting ourselves about tomorrow.” There it is: One is saved by the small daily acts, by the most ordinary.
This recalls the doctrine of vocation, which finds God’s presence in the realm of the ordinary. Acedia is a word we need to add to our vocabulary. Have any of you wrestled with this? What helped?
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