I am now enjoying Kathleen Norris' A Cloister Walk and therefore was drawn to this book on the remainder table. Here's a little explanation of acedia, a word I did not know that describes something I confess I know very well:

Q&A with Kathleen Norris

What is acedia?

I think of acedia as the spiritual aspect of sloth. The word literally means not-caring, or being unable to care, and ultimately, being unable to care that you can't care. Acedia is spiritual morphine, but it does more than mask pain. It causes us to lose faith in ourselves and in our relationships with others.

Why is it so little known today?

In the fourth century the early Christian monks regarded acedia as one of the worst of the "eight bad thoughts" that plagued a monk trying to live and pray in peace. Acedia was right up there with anger and pride. Over the next few centuries, however, as the "eight bad thoughts" evolved into what the church came to define as the "seven deadly sins" acedia was subsumed into the sin of sloth. And as sloth became associated more with physical laziness, we lost the sense of acedia as a deadly spiritual affliction.

Also, for centuries people believed that only monastic people, who were deliberately pursuing a disciplined ascetic life, would suffer from acedia, growing bored with the daily routine and ultimately so discouraged that they could no longer care about what had drawn them to monastic life in the first place.

To fight acedia, which is a vicious force in my life, I am releasing this book for BookCrossing Day. What is BookCrossing Day? Read about it here: https://www.bookcrossing.com/news/806

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