Acedia, the Writer’s Demon

When the eight “demons” of the early desert monks mutated into medieval Europe’s seven deadly sins, acedia (the “noonday demon") was folded into sloth. A mistake. This demon deserves special recognition - it is so-o-o very active in it’s own unique way, especially in the lives of writers. And it can hardly be called "sloth" since, more often than not, it demands a deal of activity.

Here is Evagrius’ description of acedia (translated from the Praktikos by Luke Dysinger). Just substitute “writer” for “monk,” “desk/computer” for cell, and “book” for “way of life” “manual work” or “the place.”

12. THE demon of acedia, which is also called the noonday demon, is the most burdensome of all the demons. It besets the monk at about the fourth hour (10 am) of the morning, encircling his soul until about the eighth hour (2 pm).

[1] First it makes the sun seem to slow down or stop moving, so that the day appears to be fifty hours long.

[2] Then it makes the monk keep looking out of his window and forces him to go bounding out of his cell to examine the sun to see how much longer it is to 3 o’clock, and to look round in all directions in case any of the brethren is there.

trns: “Ooh wow, look at that snow coming down. Hey, the bird feeder is all piled up. I better clean it off; the poor birds can’t get anything. Hmmm, now I’m up, might as well walk the dog… Ah that was good, I’m all energized to write… but the laundry, better get that in… Well, that’s done… Ready to write… Hmmm, while the ol’ computer revs up, might as well call Cl___ to say hello and watch out on the slippery roads coming home… O.K., feeling a bit sleepy and dazed after 30 minutes on the phone, better get another cup of tea and then I’ll just get started… Ahhhh. It’s 5:00. Time to stop work and make dinner.”

[3] Then it makes him hate the place and his way of life and his manual work. It makes him think that there is no charity left among the brethren; no one is going to come and visit him. [Note: the desert monks were not isolated. Twenty or thirty might live in caves within a few feet of each other. Which is why there was a lot of instruction about visiting, mean gossip, and other social distractions.]

[4] If anyone has upset the monk recently, the demon throws this in too to increase his hatred.

[5] It makes him desire other places where he can easily find all that he needs and practice an easier, more convenient craft. After all, pleasing the Lord is not dependent on geography, the demon adds, God is to be worshiped everywhere.

trns: “This life sucks. And I’m no good at it. Surely I can be equally creative doing something else… Something where I’d make some money. Like getting an actual job, fr Christ’s sake, which would be of some use in the world… Not like the navel-gazing, self indulgence of thinking I am a writer… Especially when this book is going nowhere fast.”

[6] It joins to this the remembrance of the monk’s family and his previous way of life, and suggests to him that he still has a long time to live, raising up before his eyes a vision of how burdensome the ascetic life is.

[trns: "Nnnnn…. a job… hmmmm… paycheck… ahhhh… respect… oooooh… nice house… huhhhh… retirement... ungggg… health insurance. Waah!!! The writing life is just too hard. What if I break a tooth and can't afford a crown? My stomach hurts, I'm so sick of hitting up my folks for funds to keep going."]

So I just applied for a full time, nicely paid job as administrator for the youth arts program where I've taught classes off and on for years...

Letting the noonday demon eat my soul or a sensible move in a rough economy? If I'm offered the job, I guess I'll have to discern which.


Note: Evagrius was a proponent of Origenism. He wrote extensively on the passions – their vice side and their virtue side (yes, each vice, turned around, is a virtue). His writings were declared anathema in the mid-500s, along with Origen's, when their theology - that included reincarnation and universalism - was declared a heresy. Yet Evagrius' teachings on monasticism infiltrated - and greatly influenced - the Western church through the writings of an ex-follower, Cassian.

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