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This book is very slow going. I am by no means a dummy or slow learner, but find this book tedious. Only have read four chapters and can only tell you that the "monks" have a hard time with depression because their daily routines are monotonous.
It is morphine to our spirits, squelching joy from life. Norris, the poet, has brilliantly crafted an accidic lair. It took Norris 20 years to produce her book on acedia; it took me 30 years to publish mine. Norris is a seductress. I wanted to hear her wisdom on the subject, but exhaustion won--my ticket was never redeemed; it is my bookmark in her book.
Damn her. This book is only for the serious soul pilgrim. CAUTION. In the fall, 2008, two of us published books which explore acedia.
It's an irony that there is so much creative energy bursting forth around acedia, often defined as sloth, torpor and lassitude. Acedia prompts dangerous lethargy, stubborn sadness, world weariness, restless boredom, and cynicism. And then, she suggests I read the Psalms--meditatively--to heal my soul. From the Greek akedos it described those who didn't care enough to bury the dead on the battlefield; their defeat drained them of zeal and passion. "This book is drudgery--too much work--I don't want to care about this book and this subject; Norris doesn't want a relationship with me--she doesn't care about me--I don't care either." All are symptoms of acedia, one of the seven deadly sins of classical Christianity and also one of Ian Fleming's deadlier sins of our day portrayed in both James Bond and his adversaries in the 007 tales. On the day I returned from England, having lectured on acedia (accidie) at the British Psychological Association, Kathleen Norris presented an evening lecture on her latest book, Acedia & me, at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC.
Countless paragraphs I read twice or more. So poetically has she crafted this lair that I felt acedia's tentacles tightening around my soul long before my mind grasped this elusive concept, known only by the astute through the ages. Acedia, accidie.you may never have heard the word, but I'm positive you've experienced it. I wanted to abandon and ban this book.but no--I read it, many sections more than once. It was like looking at my own soul's journey from the bottom side of the toilet seat.
CAUTION.
So elusive is acedia that it pervades our current culture but is seldom identified by name.
Don't miss the last chapter--a 43 page compendium of quotes on acedia from authors down through the ages.
Even God is no longer viewed as good.
To be read often--with humble patience and disciplined persistence.
She weaves a web with strands from her marriage, her writing journey, and her pilgrimage as a Benedictine Oblate.
Slogging through Norris's accidic web, I was sucked back into its clutches: I felt bored, tediously bored; I felt lethargic, tepid, like warm milk at midday; I wanted to escape the confining and cramped cell of this book; I enviously wanted to be elsewhere reading an exciting book; I felt cynical--angry, even bitter.
To read Norris's book requires extreme patience and persistence.
Reviewed by Benjamin Pratt, author of Ian Fleming's Seven Deadlier Sins and 007's Moral Compass.
I believe this book to be helpful for those experiencing depression or just acedia (defined as not caring about anything) or those who just lost a spouse. The author's concepts are difficult and presented in a somewhat confusing way which a second reading might help clear up.
It requires discernment.Throughout the book, which reads like a collection of mini-essays (that sometimes lack cohesion), Norris braids together stories about her childhood, marriage, monasticism (she is an oblate) and the writing life. One of the most poignant personal narratives of the book comes early, when Norris tells of how her husband, David, falls into a severe episode of acedia and depression and is hospitalized in a psychiatric ward after leaving a suicide note. We turn away from the daily news, complaining of "compassion fatigue," and enroll in classes to learn how to breathe and relax. Although not one of the seven deadly sins, acedia is seen as "the eighth bad thought" or a precursor to sloth. The dictionary defines acedia as spiritual or mental sloth, a state of listlessness; apathy, showing no interest, concern or enthusiasm.
Acedia was known as "the noonday demon" in early church history, when it was more prominently discussed. "For me, a measure of healing has come less from psychology than from religion, specifically the ancient practices of prayer and psalmody. She also vulnerably traces her journey with the condition and that of her late husband, David, as well as explaining the history of acedia in literature and the church, and in light of theology and psychology.Readers may be unfamiliar with acedia except in general terms, and Norris notes that the term has largely fallen out of usage over the past 1,600 years. She also shares about her marriage of 30 years, sometimes in passing, other times at length.
Increasingly, we need drugs in order to sleep. Norris shares her acedia toolbox, ways she and others throughout history have coped. It is, Norris says, difficult to see acedia at work in our lives. She tells us what acedia is ("our inability to get along with ourselves, our disunion with God") and what it is not (the classic "dark night of the soul.")Acedia keeps us from fully loving and thoroughly engaging with the world, and living a life as rich as possible, and may not look like "laziness." In fact, it might look like the opposite. It worked." The early church fathers, who she quotes prodigiously, offer many ideas sprinkled throughout the book, such as endurance, manual labor, fervent prayer and coping one day at a time.
In ACEDIA & ME, bestselling author Kathleen Norris (DAKOTA, THE CLOISTER WALK) brings her quiet wisdom to the age-old problem of being unable to fully engage with life and illuminates it for a contemporary audience. We are tempted to regard with reverence those dedicated souls who make themselves available `twenty-four/seven' and regard silence as unproductive, solitude as irresponsible."As Norris looks back on her life, she writes that she now realizes acedia influenced many of her life decisions, including not having children. Acedia --- and its close companion, depression --- also affected her marriage. She discovers he has let their medical insurance lapse: "He had been trying to mess things up so badly that they couldn't be fixed and I would reject him." Their phone is turned off, her computer goes on the fritz: "Everything was breaking down; first my husband, then the phone, and now the damn computer." It's narratives like this one that add richness to the historical and psychological insights.Once acedia is understood, it must be tamed or at least wrestled with. To defeat it, I learned to keep busy." She cultivated what she calls a studied aloofness, "not realizing that a refusal to suffer pain is also a refusal to love."Of acedia's modern-day manifestation, she writes: ".As we languish from spiritual drought, we are often unaware of what ails us. She notes that Thomas Aquinas recommended a hot bath, a glass of wine and a good night's sleep.Norris's wisdom on acedia is well worth mining for contemporary readers who know little about it but want to understand the condition, or for those who realize they suffer from acedia but are unsure what to do next. Or, as some name it, despair (but not to be confused with depression).
Modern-day readers will learn how to name it and, in knowing it, be better able to cope with this mystifying malady that leaves us listless, uncaring and unable to embrace life to the fullest. For Norris, experience with acedia "first came to me on the proving ground of adolescence, becoming my unknown and unnamed companion. We spend greater sums on leisure but are more tense than ever, and hire lifestyle coaches to ease the stress. Once when I was all but paralyzed by despair, a wise physician prescribed physical exercise and spiritual direction. --- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby
This another of Kathleen Norris' fine writings. As always her books cause me to look at my relationship with God as well as look at myself.I would recommend this book.
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