As a Benedictine oblate, I was very interested in reading Kathleen Norris' (also an oblate) book on acedia. Acedia is notoriously hard to nail down. It has been applied to many different negative psychological states and even sin over the centuries. Norris thoroughly traces the history of acedia from the Desert Fathers (and Mothers) of early Christianity to present. There are numerous quotes showing how the idea of "just don't care" was recognized as a spiritual illness or demon, among monks, how it was later fixed to the sin of Sloth, then got mixed up with melancholia, enjoyed a romantic period as a fashionable state of languor for poets, and ended confused with depression. By the time you finish the book, you will know much about how acedia has been viewed.
At the same time, the book is autobiographical. We see episodes and hints from Norris' life, not all of which are obviously linked with acedia. It is personally engaging, however, as we share Norris' frustrations with an erratic, then, sickly husband. Some of the stories illustrate an unacknowledged counter to acedia's negligence. They also keep the book from being a boring study of "Acedia Through the Ages."
The result is a book that is not only instructed but inspiring. In other words, you'll not just be a smarter person having read it; you might be a better one.
The best thing the book does is re-inject the word acedia into the popular culture. It is a word we have needed for a while. Acedia is not a sin per se (although it can lead to sin), nor is acedia depression (which is a mental illness). This is especially valuable for people who may have a vague concept of Sloth or Acedia and may wonder if their clinical depression is a sin. (The answer is no.) There are points where symptoms intersect and the conditions are doubtless "comorbid" at times, and acedia is probably misdiagnosed as depression as well.
Other reviewers have found the length and apparent lack of organization a weakness. Do they not talk to people? The book is written almost as a conversation (not to mean a conversational style). There is a payload of information that comes in the person of the author. The topic of the conversation is acedia, but the conversation is leisurely, and, as the subject unfolds, it is frequently illustrated by episodes from her life. Sometimes it seems to wander off into interesting digressions before returning to topic. Perhaps it seems unfocused because it is biography mixed with the history of a concept. I am not a particularly fast reader, but I stayed up all night until I was finished. Perhaps that made it seem more like a conversation.
The only complaint I have about a book I enjoyed very much is a brief, but ultimately confusing discussion of depression. The author acknowledges this is dangerous subject. Part of the problem with writing a book about a word that has carried so many different meanings over the years is that we are sometimes not sure "which acedia" the author is discussing. The original sense was not the grief-stricken paralysis of clinical depression. The early monks suffering from acedia were described as restless and ready to bolt for greener pastures. That is more activated than one would expect to find in clinical depression. I believe there is plenty to explore in the original view of acedia as "the Noonday Devil" without contaminating it with later additions of melancholy and laziness. I think there is tremendous value in keeping acedia as a spiritual illness on one hand, and recognizing, on the other, that the mental illness of depression has its own spiritual elements and consequences. Today, we live in a world where your priest is likely to send you to a psychiatrist and your psychiatrist is likely to offer New Age spiritual exercises.
But that's just acedia for you. Slippery, confusing, shape-shifting and mind-boggling. Acedia is one demon that resists all attempts at capture. Norris may come closest than anyone in modern times.
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