Everyone has their own opinion about what’s wrong with society: the government, decay of moral values, etc. But have you ever heard anyone cite acedia as the root of our problems as a society?
Acedia is a Greek word that describes both uneasiness and growing disinterest with daily life. It was originally identified as a distracting state of being that early monks were susceptible to due to their solitary, routined and disciplined lifestyle.
I first heard this term in first-year theology at Notre Dame during a discussion of the eight tempting thoughts (the other seven are pride, vainglory, sadness, greed, envy, anger, and lust). My professor asked the class which tempting thought we believed to have the worst effect on current society. Based on the title of this article, you can guess which one I picked, and here’s why:
Acedia is a prevalent distraction in daily life
Acedia used to be referred to as “the noon day demons”, and for good reason. By the middle of the day, many of us at work or school day are ready to go home and become restless. This is demonstrated by glancing at the clock every two minutes or constantly checking for texts/emails/notifications on our phones. Acedia makes us easily bored and disinterested in what we are doing, and thus we seek both a release from a boring situation and quick sources of entertainment. When doing these things, we are distracted from the real tasks at hand, the ones that we perform at our jobs or in class. We cannot perform at our best if we are distracted by the idea of being somewhere or doing something else.
Acedia is a motivation killerPassion in life is a wonderful thing to have, and it is necessary for a thriving society of people who make the world a better place. We can be passionate about academics, service, our interests, our dreams, and about the people that mean the most to us. Among the many obstacles we face when pursuing our passions, acedia can be the biggest obstacle of all. When we repeatedly say to ourselves, “I wish [fill-in boring class or task] was over”, that slowly morphs into the thought, “I don’t want to be here”. That thought morphs from “I don’t want to be in [fill-in boring class]” to “I don’t want to be in [school/job]”.
When we don’t want to be in a given situation, we stop caring about that situation, and we lose our motivation to do anything related to that situation. We don’t do homework because that class has become worthless to us. We don’t share ideas in work meetings because there’s no point in contributing to a place we have come to hate. We don’t voice our opinions or vote because we hate the government and figure it’s too broken to fix anyway. We skip Facebook/internet articles about global issues and social injustices because we stop caring about the world around us. Acedia makes us apathetic people in an apathetic society. Nothing destroys passion for life like apathy, the literal state of lacking concern, care or motivation.
Acedia creates a “culture of death”
The “culture of death” is an expression that my history teacher in my sophomore year of high school used during one of his classes. He observed how people often remark that they wish a bad day was over already, or that, on a Monday, they couldn’t wait until it was Friday. This is a tragic attitude to have because we miss out on the daily miracle that is life, the very gift to be alive. When we wish a day was over, we reject that amazing gift, that daily miracle. No day is worth skipping to the end, or it wouldn’t exist.
When we give in to acedia too often, over a very long period of time, we begin to believe that we have nothing worth living for; life itself loses meaning. This doesn’t just mean the dismissal of each day, but of everything and everyone we know. The people we love and care about are taken for granted. The things we love doing lose their value.
Humans are, by nature, passionate and innovative people. We fulfill our nature by contributing to society and making life the very best it can be for the people around us. By neutralizing passion and replacing it with disinterest and resignation with the way things are, acedia is contrary to what it means to be human. It is the death of our human nature.
Acedia is a dated term that is hard to define
Often, the worst problems are the ones we can’t recognize or identify. This is one of the major reasons that acedia is so dangerous and prevalent in modern society. How can we combat against acedia if it is no longer a common word in modern vocabulary? Acedia is really hard to define or describe in modern terms. Is it apathy? Restlessness? Boredom? Disinterest? If we can’t define it, can we actively defend against it?
The word acedia is usually used in a spiritual context, but I think acedia is a valid concern, religious or otherwise. Acedia damages what it truly means to be human.
I believe we, as members of modern society, need a serious attitude adjustment if we are to combat acedia. Instead of loathing the present moment, we should enjoy it, even the moments that seem boring, worthless or simply in between “real” life events. If you’re bored at work or school, remind yourself why you are there, and remember that you are blessed to have the opportunity to be there. It’s okay to look forward to the future as long as you don’t hate the present in the process. Let’s turn this culture of death into a culture of life.
The HCND application is now open! For more information contact Rebecca Rogalski at rrogalsk@nd.edu or Katrina Linden at klinden1@nd.edu.
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