Acedia

You may not heard of "acedia." It's an ancient word that's been lost for centuries. But the condition it describes is as current as your next breath, and chances are, you've even felt it. The Oxford Concise Dictionary of the Christian Church defines acedia as "a state of restlessness and inability either to work or to pray". Some see it as the precursor to the seven deadly sins. The writer Kathleen Norris describes acedia as a kind of spiritual morphine, and she's lived through it. Her most recent book is Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life," published by Riverhead Books.