Abandoning apathy

Ever feel spiritually dull? Ever have trouble praying because it seems like too much work? You’re not alone! Ever heard of acedia (also called accidie)? This word describes a condition of thought that’s been around for centuries. It’s something that has troubled people seeking a spiritual path in life for hundreds of years. It was described by early monks and theologians as a kind of “demon” and was more recently written about by Aldous Huxley as an affliction that’s actually grown in the modern age.

Acedia has been defined as an exaggerated form of indifference, laziness, apathy, boredom. In fact, it was identified as a precursor to one of the seven deadly sins, which was finally defined as sloth or “torpor.”

Let’s take a closer look at this problem and how we can approach it metaphysically, through prayer. Acedia is a phase of thought that would derail us from staying on our spiritual path. It would keep us from engaging in an authentic and inspiring way with the Divine.

Mary Baker Eddy, through her earnest searching of Scriptures and deep prayer, came up with a term that would describe evil in all its forms. She chose the words animal and magnetism, when used together, to denote evil of every sort. It is helpful, when working a problem out, to boil things down to their common denominator, animal magnetism, or “error.” Mrs. Eddy describes error as powerless and as “… neither person, place, nor thing, but … simply a belief, an illusion of material sense” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 71 ).

Simply stated, error is a mistaken belief in the absence of good, God. Let’s use light as an example. Light is something that can be measured. It has power and it can be projected. Darkness, however, is defined as the absence of light. It isn’t measurable; it can’t be projected. It is nothing. Light penetrates darkness, but darkness doesn’t penetrate light. God, good, is analogous to the light, error to the darkness. 

But what about the power error seems to wield? It certainly seems powerful when apathy pulls on us, for example, to ignore our spiritual study for the day. “I’ll get to it later,” we might think. Later becomes, “Tomorrow for sure,” and on and on it goes until we suddenly realize we never got to it. Eddy, in her article “Ways that are Vain” in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, goes into some detail about how animal magnetism attempts to work. She writes, “Animal magnetism, in its ascending steps of evil, entices its victim by unseen, silent arguments. …

Life would be an appropriate synonym to pray with when dealing with indifference, numbness, acedia.

“Other minds are made dormant by it, and the victim is in a state of semi-individuality, with a mental haziness which admits of no intellectual culture or spiritual growth” (p. 211 ). This seems like a perfect description of acedia.

How to get free from this insidious state of thought? Here are several approaches I’ve found helpful in praying about it.

Beginning prayer with one of the seven synonyms for God given in Science and Health is a good way to get started. Life would be an appropriate synonym to use when dealing with indifference, numbness, acedia. Life is God. Therefore, since God is all, Life is all. Life permeates existence. Life is vital, vibrant, lively, active, radiant, consistent, moving, unfolding. It doesn’t start, slow down, stop. In fact, Life is being. We wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Life. It is our “spiritual DNA.” We can’t be separated from it or lose it. In the very face of the lie about Life (inertia, dullness), our conscious identifying with Life will banish these affronts to God’s allness. We can expect the stupefying clouds to lift and reveal the glorious, joyous freedom that comes with persistent prayer. 

Science and Health says, “The counter fact relative to any disease is required to cure it” (p. 233 ). I’ve found it very effective, when approaching a problem that needs a spiritual solution, immediately to find the spiritual “counter fact” and then apply it in prayer. What might this be for the claim of acedia? How about divine energy?

In one place in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, Eddy suggests that we “… feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy” (p. 249 ). How do we accomplish this in the midst of feeling disconnected, listless? Here is where we can enter into the “closet of prayer” (see Science and Health, p. 15 ) and, in the vernacular, “tune in” to God. We reach inward and upward, in sacred quietude, and open wide our consciousness to the presence of the Divine in our midst. Our hearts yearn wordlessly for deeper meaning to our lives. We silence the daily chatter that goes on in our heads. We yield up all personal sense in the letting go and trusting of the infinite to replace any elements of limitation we might be holding on to. This is the heart of prayer. This is where we feel God’s presence instead of thinking about God. This feeling is a quickening, an inspiration, an energizing power. It is all-encompassing, all-embracing. It is divine. It heals.

It is also important to take into account some of the underlying factors when we’re treating situations through prayer. A few of these factors to address, and then a quick review of specific spiritual counter facts, might include:

• A feeling of being overwhelmed by the pace of life, the demands for our time and attention, and a tendency to “shut down” and/or escape. One counter fact could be dominion. We have God-bestowed dominion over every aspect of our life (see Genesis 1:26–28 ). In prayer we acknowledge this fact, give gratitude to God for this provable spiritual gift. We have every right to experience dominion. We include it as part of our identity.
• A rampant materialism that is seen in numbness and disinterest in spiritual things. A counter fact is that spirituality is the essence of Life. The dulling of spiritual sense through materialism and its soporific pull can only hide, not extinguish, our natural quest for spirituality, for answers to life’s questions and a satisfying approach to living. We can reject materialism as a cause by affirming that our very nature is to be attracted and drawn to the things of Spirit. God’s man (and there really is no other man) wants to do right. God’s man inherently has a moral compass that will guide him rightly, no matter what the circumstances might be.
• Distractions such as excessive TV watching, gaming, or daydreaming, which tempt us into being passive observers (or dreamers) of life rather than active engaged participants. These can be quite a pull, keeping us from thinking for ourselves as we either “veg out” and watch others or allow fantasies to unfurl in our imaginations. A counter fact is that we are in charge of our thinking. We are the very expression of Mind, God’s thinking. We can choose rightly, every minute, what we want to allow in our lives—either dreams and the inaction of passive preoccupation with a screen or productive, contributory, healing thoughts and ideas!

To sum up: Active, spiritual thinking will pierce through the apathy, dullness, disinterest of acedia, and cause it to fade. As we shine the light of truth onto this darkness of animal magnetism, we will see it for the imposition it is and individually experience an enlivened, active spiritual eagerness for progress. Because light spills out into the darkness, we can expect to see healing of the “demon” of acedia radiate out from our “closet of prayer” to the churches, communities, and even the world. Let there be light!