10 February 1930
When I said that your besetting sin was Indolence and mine Pride I was thinking of the old classification of the seven deadly sins:
They are Gula (Gluttony), Luxuria(Unchastity), Accidia (Indolence), Ira (Anger), Superbia (Pride), Invidia (Envy), Avaritia(Avarice). Accidia, which is sometimes called Tristitia (despondence) is the kind of indolence which comes from indifference to the good—the mood in which though it tries to play on us we have no string to respond. Pride, on the other hand, is the mother of all sins, and the original sin of Lucifer—so you are rather better off than I am. You at your worst are an instrument unstrung: I am an instrument strung but preferring to play itself because it thinks it knows the tune better than the Musician.
FROM 9780061947117
From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume I
Compiled in Yours, Jack
The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume I: Family Letters 1905-1931. Copyright © 2004 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
When I first read the above, I couldn’t understand the acciadia, indolence part. After mulling it over I realized it was the “sloth” I’d learned about. I always thought of it as physical laziness but here it has a spiritual sense.
If it’s despondence, then it can be just a passing mood. But if it’s part of one’s character like the others, then it’s not just a mood, it’s a serious character defect.