| Depression vs Despair . . . vs Spiritual Dryness |
Thu, 29 October 2009 11:47  |
Karl
Messages: 1167
Registered: April 2004 |
Senior Member |
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Since Anne has chided me to contribute an affirmative topic, here's one, prompted by Rod Dreher's post today on the conflation of depression and despair:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/10/kierkegaard-on- prozac.html
It seems to me he (and, thus far, his commenters) have overlooked a third dimension that is often elided: spiritual dryness. American Christians (Catholics included) tend to be poorly prepared by their shepherds (clerical and lay) for extended (I'm talking multi-years, even multi-decades) experiences of spiritual dryness. I sense this unaddressed dryness lurking behind a good deal of the hot and cold wars in the Church over various issues. And I don't think those issues are really what it's all "about" in many instances; therefore, resolving them may be misdirected energy.
Discuss.
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| Re: Depression vs Despair . . . vs Spiritual Dryness |
Fri, 30 October 2009 07:07  |
Anne
Messages: 3023
Registered: April 2004 |
Senior Member |
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Despair, spiritual dryness is not a mortal sin. The Church once taught that it was a deadly sin. I think its better and more helpful to believe that this emptiness is still God continuously working within us to examine our lives and start over again. Be compassionate, not condemning...at all levels. Condemnation because of despair and spiritual dryness can send people into depression. Actually, it could be a vicious cycle.
Also, it may be the case that our shepherds are in a period of spiritual dryness that is unaddressed. I believe it is happening more and more, especially with priests who worked very hard to implement the changes of Vatican II. If our pastors are spiritually dry how can they help us?
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| Re: Depression vs Despair . . . vs Spiritual Dryness |
Tue, 30 March 2010 14:21 |
 Mark S.
Messages: 205
Registered: April 2004 |
Senior Member |
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I had totally forgotten about this thread.
This may be my individual take on the present state of the Church, but it appears to me that there is a kind of dryness or lifelessness pervading it. My observation is that people don't regard sin in the same way past generations did and don't necessarily think that peace is something to be cultivated and sought after. I think behavior that once was thought of as sinful is now described as disordered, anomalous, or infirm --that its causes lie with some nameless pathogen rather than with the actor or that to speak frankly about responsibility is bad manners. Likewise, peaceful sufficiency seems to implicate a kind of subjugation of others and true peace seems impossible, that interest being in constant competition with other unattainable ambitions.
Mark
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