Wed Sep 2, 2020, 03:23 PM

The Ancient Greeks Had a Word for the Specific Kind of Bad You're Feeling Right Now

Listless and unable to motivate yourself to get your work and other things done? That's 'acedia.'

<snip>

Bringing back "acedia"

Acedia might be a new word to us in the 21st century, but it was well known to those living in the Middle Ages. Derived from Greek roots that mean a seizing up or freezing of feelings, the experience was apparently fairly common among Medieval monks shut away in monasteries.

One fifth-century theologian described one who suffers from acedia as "horrified at where he is, disgusted with his room ... It does not allow him to stay still in his cell or to devote any effort to reading." He confronts "bodily listlessness and yawning hunger as though he were worn by a long journey or a prolonged fast ... Next he glances about and sighs that no one is coming to see him. Constantly in and out of his cell, he looks at the sun as if it were too slow in setting."

Sound familiar? Monks and moderns might be stuck at home for very different reasons, but the human response to enforced immobility seems to be constant. For centuries, lockdowns have been making us exhausted and unable to motivate ourselves to do work that's sitting right in front of us.

https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/productivity-motivation-northwestern-acedia.html

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14 replies	Author	Time	Post
The Ancient Greeks Had a Word for the Specific Kind of Bad You're Feeling Right Now (Original post)	Newest Reality	Sep 2020	OP
Fascinating. Thank you.	zentrum	Sep 2020	#1
You're Welcome!	Newest Reality	Sep 2020	#3
Guess it sounds better than "malaise"...	Wounded Bear	Sep 2020	#2
Or "ennui"	Clash City Rocker	Sep 2020	#5
Yeah, well acquainted with the feeling	Leith	Sep 2020	#4
Is this what provoked the verses used by Orff in Carmina Burana? great word btw.	fierywoman	Sep 2020	#6
'ya gotta ask yourself	Chainfire	Sep 2020	#7
I continue to research and write my book. I can do lots of rewrites and rethinks.	CTyankee	Sep 2020	#8
Don't know that one, but	kairos12	Sep 2020	#9
So that's what I'm suffering from.	BarbD	Sep 2020	#10
Actually, the next phase will begin...	Pluvious	Sep 2020	#12
...	BannonsLiver	Sep 2020	#13
Message auto-removed	Name removed	Sep 2020	#11
Yes - but throw in a heavy burden of sheer terror - as if the Huns are thundering over the hilltops.	lagomorph777	Sep 2020	#14

Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 03:28 PM

zentrum (9,864 posts)

1. Fascinating. Thank you.

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Response to zentrum (Reply #1)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 03:32 PM

Newest Reality (12,712 posts)

3. You're Welcome!

I agree.

The idea of emotional granularity and being able to more accurately label our emotions makes sense and could be very helpful in order to help us generate and achieve appropriate responses.

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 03:31 PM

Wounded Bear (55,364 posts)

2. Guess it sounds better than "malaise"...

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Response to Wounded Bear (Reply #2)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 03:41 PM

Clash City Rocker (2,965 posts)

5. Or "ennui"

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 03:41 PM

Leith (7,651 posts)

4. Yeah, well acquainted with the feeling

That's been the last 5 months in my house.

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 04:38 PM

fierywoman (6,852 posts)

6. Is this what provoked the verses used by Orff in Carmina Burana? great word btw.

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 05:20 PM

Chainfire (12,735 posts)

7. 'ya gotta ask yourself

What did monks think it was going to be like?

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 05:27 PM

CTyankee (61,598 posts)

8. I continue to research and write my book. I can do lots of rewrites and rethinks.

I got a lot of books off Amazon and those and the Internet have been my invaluable sources. I have no deadlines as I am self publishing. So generally I am happy with that. But I miss visiting my kids and grandkids. I shop for food and take care of a partially handicapped husband. We are managing.

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 05:53 PM

kairos12 (12,093 posts)

9. Don't know that one, but

I know asshole-cedia. That's where I am motivated to toss my gin through the Teevee every time I see Hairplug Himmler.

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Wed Sep 2, 2020, 06:25 PM

BarbD (1,143 posts)

10. So that's what I'm suffering from.

And, voting is the cure. Only two months until we will be freed from this madness.

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Response to BarbD (Reply #10)

Thu Sep 3, 2020, 12:57 PM

Pluvious (3,611 posts)

12. Actually, the next phase will begin...

It will make the Bush/Gore recount period look like a minor clerical error.

Then will come the pardons for cash.

The riots by the Incel Infantry and Proud Bois will burn the cities.

Then the Orange BLOTUS and entourage will take flight to Moscow.

Then the investigations and trials will begin.

Oh, and the rushed vaccinations will begin to manifest the side effects.

And Covid infections will pass the 10 million mark.

I need a drink.

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Response to Pluvious (Reply #12)

Thu Sep 3, 2020, 01:26 PM

BannonsLiver (14,883 posts)

13. ...

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

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Response to Newest Reality (Original post)

Thu Sep 3, 2020, 01:31 PM

lagomorph777 (30,613 posts)

14. Yes - but throw in a heavy burden of sheer terror - as if the Huns are thundering over the hilltops.

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