I am currently reading Kathleen Norris' "Acedia and Me", a marvelous book on the ancient sin or "bad thought" of acedia.

Acedia is something of an untranslatable word, but includes the idea of spiritual apathy, sloth, listlessness, malaise, despair. It is connected to, but also differentiated from, the medical diagnosis of depression. I, along with Norris and others, believe acedia to be the fundamental sin or demon of our age and culture.

Alasdair MacIntyre has this very profound word:

"Our present age is perhaps no more evil than a number of preceding periods...it is evil in one special way at least, namely the extent to which we have obliterated...[our] consciousness of evil. This becomes strikingly apparent in the contemporary modes of instant indignation and denunciation. It is marvelous how often the self-proclaimed defenders of the right and the good do not seem to have noticed [in themselves] the vices of pomposity...exaggeration and self-righteousness....it was left to our time for what had been an eccentric vice...to become a dominant social mode."

We are outraged and offended and self-righteously engaged in our social media clicktivism, from all sides of the political spectrum, but not necessarily engaged in anything concrete or real. We are quite satisfied in our judgement of others, quite smug about our socio-political positions, but quite safe from actually having to bear any of the consequences of the opinions we spout.

"Liking" is not caring.

And we don't care, and this is a temptation, a diversion, a thought that can lead to a pattern of life, even a passion, if we continue to feed into it. We fool ourselves into thinking we have cared about something, and we communicate that we really care about something, but really we don't, and certainly don't live as if we do.

I know that it seems awfully cliche to say this, but the answer is prayer. Stillness and prayer. Avoiding the easy path to feeling like we have done something, and choosing to be still and listen and obey.

This is difficult. The moment we stop, we will think of all kinds of other things we could be doing, and want to do them. Anything to avoid the terror of encountering ourselves, from staring into the scary void of existence denuded of our distractions and self-delusions. Trusting that we are known and loved and set free by God, and operating out of that security.

"But now thus says the LORD, who created you; O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."
Isaiah 43:1-3