The Screwtape Letters is a book written by C S Lewis. The book talks about the various ways in which the Devil tempts humans. As a framework, the letters are written by a senior tempter Screwtape to his nephew and junior tempter Wormwood. Through these letters, Screwtape trains Wormwood in the art of tempting. Wormwood is assigned a human, who is only referred to as the Patient in the book. The book touches various aspects of the life of a Christian such as church, family, marriage and love.
The Screwtape Letters presents the Biblical truths and fine-tunes them for the modern age (restaurants, industrial age, jobs, various schools of thought such as communism and socialism). The book provides a Christian with many thoughts of wisdom and practical means to deal with trials and temptations. After reading this book, certain aspects become more apparent or pronounced in daily life. We begin to actively pursue certain goals (e.g. reading a book).
Trials vs. Temptations
James 1: 2, 3
“Consider it pure joy, my brother, wherever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”
James 1: 12
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised for those who love him.”
e.g. covid-19 is a trial; Abraham faced trial;
James 1:13
“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted nor does he tempt anyone but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death”
e.g desire for absolute novelty leads to temptation;
The Devil exploits trials to tempt humans.
Summary
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Screwtape rejects Wormwood's plan to use the power of reason as a weapon to turn the Patient away from the Enemy. I remember Ravi Zacharias signing off one of his books with the words “a world a reasonable faith.” Instead of overwhelming the Patient with doctrines and arguments, Screwtape recommends distracting the Patient with simple, ordinary matters of life because the pressure of the ordinary is too powerful a force to be reckoned with.
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Screwtape is shocked to hear from Wormwood that the Patient has committed himself to Christian and has begun attending a church nearby. Screwtape now recommends to distract the Patient with the idiosyncrasies of the fellow church-goers. The underlying idea here is the challenges associated with achieving dreaming aspirations with laborious doing. I remember the advice I received as a Master’s student that research is dirty work but the final product is a significant and original contribution to science.
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Screwtape recommends Wormwood to exploit the domestic tension between the Patient and his mother. The Patient should get irritated by her annoying behavior and his newfound spiritual experience should not help him deal with this crisis. The Patient should pray for her spiritual well-being and forget to pray for her physical and mental needs.
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Screwtape touches upon the painful subject of prayer in this letter.
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War has broken out in Europe. Screwtape recommends Wormwood to exploit the situation and ensure the Patient spends a lot of time worrying about his future. Wars, pandemics and recession offer uncertainty, pain, sorrow and suffering. According to Buddhism, human desire, which is the root cause of all pain and suffering, should be dampened through asceticism, meditation and good works.
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Screwtape admits that the Patient will have a certain amount of benevolence due to this newfound fath in the Enemy. However Wordwood should direct the benevolence towards unfamiliar, faraway people and thus rendering it an imaginary feeling. At the same time, Wormwood can direct his malice towards his friends, family and neighbours rendering it a real experience.
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Screwtape suggests Wormwood to exploit the European war and push the Patient to have extreme worldviews---either patriotism (so that he’s ready to take part in the ongoing war) or pacifism (so that he’s constantly disturbed by the ongoing war).
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The Patient is experiencing a period of dryness in his spiritual life. Screwtape reminds Wormwood not to get too excited due to the law of undulation. According to this law, the Patient goes through highs and lows in this life and the Enemy works the most in times of distress. Some people of the Enemy (e.g. Sadhu Kochu Kunju Upadeshi) have experienced long spells of distress and have come out successfully.
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Screwtape suggests way to exploit the period of dryness through various temptations. According to empirical evidence, sensual temptations such as scantily-clad women and pornography are the most effective. Drinking and smoking also make sure the Enemy stays subdued with constant guild and shame.
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Screwtape is glad to know that the Patient has made some worldly friends. Screwtape now suggests Wormwood to make the Patient lives a double life---a pious life inside the church and a carefree life outside the church. This technique makes the Patient a hypocrite and further aggravates the wound of guild and shame in the spiritual front of this life.
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Screwtape teaches Wormwood on various forms of laughter. Laughter can be aroused in four ways---joy, fun, jokes or humour and flippancy. The Patient should be tempted to crack lewd jokes or engage in flippancy with his friends.
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“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one---the gentle slope, soft underfoot (on the ground), without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts, ”
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Screwtape reminds Wormwood to prevent the Patient from indulging in real pleasures of life such as enjoying movies, following cricket, enjoying music, reading books, walking, collecting stamps or meeting with friends. These are innocent pleasures and are not harmful in itself. “If something as pedestrian as reading a book saves one from evil, devil’s task is very difficult.” “An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop.”
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Humility
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Screwtape recommends Wordwood to make the Patient be too keen and anxious about the Future. Let the Patient spend all his time and energy chasing after the future (remember: chasing after the wind, Ecclesiastes). We do not know the what the future holds and so we strive for a better future by engaging in nobly pursuits such as social progress, evolution, communism, technological advances.
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Screwtape chides Wormwood for allowing the Patient to attend only one church. Wormwood ought to ensure the Patient becomes a connoisseur of churches and keeps looking for churches that suit him. Let the Patient be concerned with the unessential matters such as mass vs. holy communion, candles, clothes, jewellery, food, saints, speaking in tongues and baptism. “Mere Christianity”
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Screwtape talks about the temptation of gluttony which can operate in two ways: gluttony of excess and gluttony of delicacy.
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Screwtape talks about sexual temptations. Family is a single unit composed of distinct members but united though Love. The purpose of marriage is fidelity (preservation of chastity), fertility (transmission of life) and good will (mutual help). Hell promotes competition (as opposed to co-operation), distrust and zero-sum game of life.
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Screwtape discusses why God created humans? The answer, even Screwtape knows, is disinterested love (“unconditional love”).
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Screwtape reveals the limitations of the Devil i.e. the Devil can’t tempt humans for ever. The best approach is to admit one’s weakness and have faith in God (e.g. Ecclesiastes, Job).
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Screwtape suggests to develop a sense of ownership in the Patient---my time, my money, my body, my God. According to the Bible, we are ought to take care of everything on earth (Genesis 1:28). We don’t own anything. We are called to be stewards on earth.
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Screwtape again admits the limitations of the Devil. There are many good things human can do---sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working. The Devil has to twist them for its own benefit. Nothing is naturally on its side.
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--TODO--
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Screwtape talks about developing a sense of spiritual pride in the Patient. Encourage him to distinguish Christians from the rest (unbelievers).
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Screwtape talks about the horror of the same old thing. Humans tend to get fed up with monotony and tediousness associated with routine activities in life. Human like change (seasons, months, weekend/weekday, fashion). Wormwood should attempt to twist this need and make the Patient crave for absolute novelty. This is dangerous for humans because of the law of diminishing returns.
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Unselfishness vs. Selflessness
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Prayers
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Screwtape reminds Wormwood that death of the Patient is something they should try to avoid as much as possible. Wormwood has the opportunity to tempt the Patient throughout his life. In this way, Wormwood can exhaust the Patient with his temptations (e.g. mid-life crisis, quarter-life crisis). Perseverance is key. “Experience is the mother of illusion (remember Roman German class)” “You don’t have to be hopeful to fight for a better future.---Fridays for Future” Humans believe that earth can be turned into heaven by politics, eugenics, science, psychology, communism. So humans work hard for a better world and create a better future.
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Hatred vs. Fear vs. Cowardice vs. Courage
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Reality
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Screwtape chides Wormwood for letting him die. As the Patient was dying, he saw Wormwood, the angels and God.
Conclusion
The only goal of the devil is to win the human soul to its side. The Devil is not interested in what events happens on earth. For instance, Screwtape does not care about the European War (WW2).
Devil has many limitations. Everything is naturally good---eating, drinking, sleeping. The Devil has to corrupt them to be of use.
The temptations will keep increasing in life. Perseverance and courage are two keys virtues. Develop nice hobbies and interests---reading book, watching movies. It’s very easy to resist the devil.
He doesn’t always tempt us with material possessions, food or love. Instead the Devil attempts to:
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confuse the Patient (e.g. worldly friends, fellow church goers),
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to exaggerate his minor wicked characteristics (e.g. pride, sense of ownership) and
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to twist naturally good aspects of life (e.g. eating->gluttony, novelty--> absolute novelty).
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