Noonday Demon

Kathleen Norris is a poet and author of the bestselling books, The Cloister Walk and Amazing Grace. A popular speaker, she is editor at large at The Christian Century. She divides her time between Hawaii and South Dakota, USA.

• Kathleen Norris had written several much-loved books, yet she couldn't drag herself out of bed in the morning, couldn't summon the energy for daily tasks. Even as she struggled, Norris recognized her familiar battle with acedia. She had discovered the word in an early Church text when she was in her thirties, and instantly recognized herself in a passage describing the affliction as sinking into a state of being unable to care. Fascinated by this 'noonday demon' so familiar to those in the early Church, Norris read intensively and knew she must restore this forgotten but utterly important concept to the modern world's vernacular.This burden blights not just individuals, but whole societies: "restless boredom, frantic escapism, commitment phobia, and enervating despair that we struggle with today are the ancient demon of acedia in modern dress."See photocopy for more.