Thoughts on apathy
Apathy (or sloth) is diagnosed by the bible as one of the seven deadly sins. A character trait that can lead to hell if it is unchecked. Apathy is one of the central sins that modern people struggle with, with so many things competing for our attention and with such a lack of objective value and meaning being provided to people, it is easy to feel your energy being sapped and your mind turning towards superficial, easy events rather than focusing on practical, serious problems.
What is apathy? The Greeks used the word acedia to describe a state of ‘not caring.’ Christian monks spoke about it in the 4th-5th century and described it as a state of listless boredom and dejection. Very much like our descriptions of depression. Aquinas said that sloth is ‘an oppressive sorrow which, to wit, so weighs upon one’s mind that he wants to do nothing’.
The way i see it, apathy is most precisely defined as a lack of meaningful, purposeful activity. This can take two forms:
a complete lack of activity
frenzied activity that has no real meaning or purpose.
The first type is probably the most easily recognisable form of apathy, it is the one that we can all identify in ourselves. The second one however, is underrated, and needs to be better acknowledged. Many of us think that mere movement is an indicator of discipline. But ask yourself this, what are you putting off by doing the thing you’re currently doing?
Apathy also has about three emotional states connected with it. Sadness, boredom and anxiety. These three are likely to be not all present at once, so that one can be just bored, or bored and anxious, or just sad, and so on, but one of these states will be present anytime somebody is in a state of apathy.
Finally, i think there are two fundamental thoughts, or cognitive distortions, associated with apathy:
I am useless and there is no way that i can succeed in what i want to do.
What i do doesn’t matter so i may as well just not bother.
The two thoughts that characterise apathy can be experienced in combination or separately in different situations. But for the genuinely apathetic man both will run through him as a matter of course.
We should also specify what apathy is not. It is not mere depression. A person can be apathetic and not depressed, for instance the man who surfs all day and smokes weed in the evening with his buddies is not depressed but i would say that he is apathetic. He may not feel apathetic whilst surfing and smoking weed but as soon as he is at home and does not have those escape routes he begins to feel listless. This is not true if surfing carries some special importance for him and is not just a means to socialise and enjoy himself.
Also, apathy is not mere laziness. Laziness is a lack of activity, but as i said someone can be in a frenzy of activity which is completely meaningless, therefore being apathetic.
So apathy is a state of meaninglessness, generally accompanied by sadness, boredom and laziness.
How to attack apathy? The goal should be to redirect the attitude and slowly reshape behaviour. Meaningful activity needs to be sought. In order to impute some meaningful activity into one’s life, there are two general paths. You can use the egocentric attitude or the self-surrendering attitude. The egocentric attitude basically says ‘i am going to work hard to become a success so that i can have the best car and flip off everyone who doubted me.’ Andrew Tate encapsulates this attitude a little bit, although he has become increasingly religiously motivated recently.
The self-surrendering attitude says ‘i want to submit myself to a cause larger than myself and work tirelessly to bring about its fruition.’ This attitude is one that medieval knights and explorers exemplify perhaps better than anyone, as they routinely risked their life in battle and travel so that their kingdom can grow and flourish.
These two attitudes should help cease apathy, though the self-surrendering attitude does sound more fulfilling. But i would not dismiss the egocentric attitude. Many conquerors and leaders had dreams of personal glory and honour as well as an ambition to see their people flourish. Watch the ‘Last Dance’ Michael Jordan documentary and you will see that Michael was deeply motivated by personal goals as well as team goals. He did not just want to be in the best team, he wanted to be the best player.
How is apathy related to the other sins?
Apathy is a disease of inaction. The other sins often involve wrong action, such as lust, greed and wrath. I would say that the more one indulges in inaction the less capable he is of resisting other temptations. Everybody has only so much self-control available to them, and like any muscle, you need to constantly exercise your self control in order for it to become strong. If you spend your time doing meaningless things that require no effort then i do not think you will be able to resist the allure of a casino or a whorehouse.
Idleness is also a temptation just as much as lust and greed. We love resting and doing nothing, only to realise that doing nothing is often dissatisfying. But this realisation doesn’t stop us from then craving rest the very next day, just like the sex addict may hate himself after visiting a whorehouse but will still visit the same whorehouse everyday. Idleness and rest are enticing distractions that can become real addictions. Our current world, which has such a large number of entertaining distractions, makes idleness a very easy option. To resist this temptation is maybe the most important thing you will ever do.
‘‘It is a mighty error to suppose that none but violent and strong passions, such as love and ambition, are able to vanquish the rest. Even idleness, as feeble and languishing as it is, sometimes reigns over them; it usurps the throne and sits paramount over all the designs and actions of our lives, and imperceptibly wastes and destroys all our passions and all our virtues’’ La Rochefoucauld.
The relationship of apathy to pride is interesting. Pride is the mother of all sins, so every sin that is committed is always caused at least partially by pride. This can be easily seen if we reflect on our own moments of apathy, they are usually spurred by personal loss or a feeling of personal ineptitude. They narrow our frame of vision so that we stop caring about other people and things and become increasingly absorbed in our own plight, even making a tragedy out of it.
But though apathy always comes from pride, pride does not always lead to apathy. Prometheus, the man who had the hubris to steal fire from the gods, had more than enough pride, but this pride, rather than driving him into apathy, spurred him to commit a brave, daring act, obscure in its moral qualities but absolutely impressive nonetheless.