Acedia IV - Spiritual Laziness or Dark Night of the Soul?

Acedia is sometimes simplistically referred to as spiritual laziness.  It is usually considered a vice; something we have more control over than, say, an illness like depression.  Its origins in the Christian monastic communities of the 3rd Century identified it as one of eight "bad thoughts", or obstacles to intensive contemplative practice.  It later got thrown in with Sloth, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.  


Is it just a vice?  Or is it part of the process of deepening spiritual practice?


Here are the "different ways in which acedia overcomes a monk"  and takes him off the path, by John Cassian, one of the Desert Fathers:

"AND so the wretched soul, embarrassed by such contrivances of the enemy, is disturbed, until, worn out by the spirit of acedia, as by some strong battering ram, it either learns to sink into slumber, or, driven out from the confinement of its cell, accustoms itself to seek for consolation under these attacks in visiting some brother, only to be afterwards weakened the more by this remedy which it seeks for the present. For more frequently and more severely will the enemy attack one who, when the battle is joined, will as he well knows immediately turn his back, and whom he sees to look for safety neither in victory nor in fighting but in flight: until little by little he is drawn away from his cell, and begins to forget the object of his profession, which is nothing but meditation and contemplation of that divine purity which excels all things, and which can only be gained by silence and continually remaining in the cell, and by meditation, and so the soldier of Christ becomes a runaway from His service, and a deserter, and "entangles himself in secular business," without at all pleasing Him to whom he engaged himself."

John Cassian shows us that acedia appears differently in different people.  It could look like a total retreat from activity, or it could look like an increase in activity or distraction.  One way or another, it pulls the practitioner away from meditation.  

St John of the Cross

Later in the 16th Century, St John of the Cross, a Carmelite (contemplative) monk wrote the poem called The Dark Night of the Soul, describing the process of Union with the Divine; a two-part process of purification.  The first part is sensory purification, the second (and more difficult) part is spiritual purification.  His writings describe the process as orchestrated directly by God, according to each person's readiness and ability.  


It is a weaning process, in which God titrates a practitioner from dependency on pleasurable experiences in spiritual practice, burning away the more selfish motives for practice, leaving the  practice of virtue for its own sake.  


From the translation by Mirabai Starr:

"Beginners may become bored with the very things that are the most deeply spiritual, which are the things that belie sensory satisfaction.  These souls are lazy.  They are addicted to sweetness in spiritual practice, impatient when they cannot find it.  For their own great good, God may withhold this gratification, to test and prove them.  Yet if even one time they reach out in prayer and do not come away with the delights they crave, they may not want to return to it.  They may abandon prayer altogether or go about it with serious reluctance...

It is clear how urgent the need beginners have for God to place them in the state of the adepts.  And he does this.  He leads them into the dark night.  Here is where he weans them from the breasts of personal pleasure, through pure aridity and inner darkness.  He removes all the gratuities and childish attachments and helps them acquire the virtues by very different means."

He goes on to more clearly differentiate laziness / acedia from the Dark Night:

"Internal aridities may not always be the result of the dark night of the soul.  Sometimes they arise from transgressions and imperfections, or from laziness and apathy, or from some other kind of bad humor or bodily weakness."  

He states that if it's part of a purification, then the dryness and lack of pleasure in spiritual practice will be global -- there is no escape anywhere, and other sensory distractions are not attractive or enjoyable either. 
   
On the path of deepening practice, there is also a pain and sadness for the loss of her former abilities.  This "purifying dryness holds within itself a longing, a passionate concern, and grief about not serving God."

This is caring about not caring.  In acedia, all caring is absent.

Ode to PG Tips

This is about to be a decidedly non-Zen post. This is about how much I am attached to PG Tips tea, and I want to shout it from the rooftops. PG Tips makes this samsaric world a better place. If I never had this tea again, I would be glad I got to have it in this lifetime.

I was first introduced to PG Tips in England. My ex-partner was English, and we went there a couple times. I had previously tried many different kinds of black tea from American grocery stores -- Lipton's is pretty well undrinkable. I have tried Red Rose, and Tetley's -- it sounds British, and I think it is. You'd think it would be good. No, not really. They are weak, and cannot stand up to milk with them, no matter how long you steep them. Any brand of Orange Pekoe - not quite. And then the various brands (Constant Comment, Stash, Twinings, even Celestial Seasonings) of English Breakfast -- meh. I think the closest I ever came to a nice cuppa black tea in a common grocery store brand was Twinings Irish Breakfast.

But when I had PG Tips, I could tell that my world had changed. There was clearly something very different going on here. The pyramid-shaped bag can go in a cup for just the briefest rinse, and the resulting color is impressively deep. And the more you steep, it does get stronger, but there is no need for the bag to languish. You can have a strong, bracing, full-bodied cup after just a minute or two. Even with longer steeping, it does not seem to turn bitter. Its strength successfully balances a plop of half and half without being diluted. The half and half brings out a beautiful near-orange hue when it's steeped just right.

I've been sussing out PG Tips in various stores for some time now, and have collected some accoutrements to go with my love of PG Tips (see photo). I have this cute elephant-shaped tin, that I had to go through its contents of non-PG Tips in order to repurpose the tin for its true calling: A container for PG Tips. Now that I have boxes of 240 bags, I am wondering how to store them. I am hoping that they are divided into smaller sealed bags.

I have used the little kitty creamer for many years now, and there's just something about a dollop of milk or half and half from it that brings me joy.

And our china set -- for years, Patrick and I had simply pooled our mismatched college dining ware, since we started out as "roommates". But then when we became an item, we were made fun of by a friend of mine who visited, and noted that we could not match four place settings. Nope. So we went out shopping, sure that we'd have a difficult time choosing from not-quite-right patterns, and that we'd have to go broke, or limit ourselves to getting a few sets at a time. But once we hit Cost Plus, we were so pleasantly surprised to find this, simple, common, durable, pretty set, with white plum blossoms, no less. We both agreed, and high-fived at how little it cost to have a matching dining set. And I love using the teapot and having tea in the cups.

When traveling to meditation centers, I usually bring some with me, but there have been occasions when I have not, but found that PG Tips was, in fact, in stock. This would result in an inordinate sense of relief and joy. Like having a very close friend there with me.

I brought a little ziploc baggie of them with me on our China trip. We were suffused with green tea the whole time, but occasionally, a cuppa PG Tips, even without milk, would be just the thing. We traveled with a Canadian, who, expressed aloud how he was really missing black tea. When I told him I had a stash of PG Tips, he suddenly brightened, and I gave him a few. He was so grateful. I completely understood.

When I kept going to the store a few months ago and they kept being out of it, I kind of freaked out. I wrote a postcard to the central office, and they arranged to get more, but by the time I got there, there were only two boxes left. Someone or someones around here shares my love.

So my sweetie figured out that you can order this caffeinated goodness in bulk from Amazon. And got me two mega-boxes of PG Tips that have 240 bags of bliss in each box. So you know this is what I'll be protecting in a backyard bunker if our country goes all Mad Max.



P.S.: OMG! you MUST watch this hilarious PG Tips video. This is really not far from my relationship with PG Tips tea. These people understand me.