The Screwtape Letters

 

"...you must keep him praying to it--to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him" (25).

C.S. Lewis is a name that echoes continually through the labyrinthine annals that constitute the 20th century literary canon. He was a man who wrote for children, for adults, for Christians, and for those less inclined to trust in an omnipotent spiritual figure. The Screwtape Letters perhaps straddles the gaps amongst all of these groups, as it whimsically presents the sinister intentions of two demons plotting for the destruction of an average chap navigating war-torn Britain. The demons function both literally (as Satan's fallen counterparts of ancient times) and figuratively (toying with the emotions, thoughts, and desires of a man's most hidden psychological landscape). The intrepid letters are either cynical satire or a hopeful fight against the subversive manipulative powers that inhabit the domain beyond what we can see. Whatever a reader's response to the novel, its creative conception is undoubtedly the work of a writer deeply in touch with his own personal failings, and to a greater extent, the troubles and temptations that plague each of us. The reader approaches the text hoping to easily point the finger of condemnation at others, but instead, he or she finds the inner workings of their own soul--the personal foul play that human beings are ever attempting to veil and forget. 

1. "...fix his attention inward that he no longer looks beyond himself to see our Enemy or his own neighbors" (35).

Humbling reality. My mother-in-law recently read TSL, and she was horrified by it. Her response could possibly have something to do with reading the text in a language to which she is not native, but I tend to think that perhaps her sensitivity to the spiritual matters may be of a greater influence. Sometimes I catch myself nodding along to the profane wanderings of a demon's mind; the mind finds familiar ground when not actively guarding itself against the book's meditations on the theories of practical temptation. The content itself is rather benign, lacking the sensational elements of great evil, terrifying gore, or even easily identifiable hypocrisy. When "the Patient's" mother is passing undue judgement, it is easy to decide that she is the villain and can reasonably be treated with disdain. But isn't that the point that Lewis is attempting to prove? The work of the devil is to corrupt us, not necessarily to outrageous crimes of passion, but in the less obvious, everyday missteps.

I am much more concerned with a lack of horror when it comes to the personal commentary that I refuse to see. I suffer through many days entrenched in my own victimhood, hypnotized by the perceived cruelties and inconveniences that plague my interactions with those around me. But in reality? I am the one who grits my teeth at the sour taste in my mouth created by my subtle animosity for those around me. The architecture of my mind has convinced me that others have created the problems that, truthfully, can only come from within.

2. "He must have some real reason for creating them and taking so much trouble about them" (112).

The contrast. Hope is found in the truth that pours through the mind like fresh streams of cool water. One of my personal copies of TSL is inscribed with every Scripture that jumped out to me from between the lines of Satanic manipulation. As Jesus in the desert proposed verse after verse to combat the lies of the devil, so have I used this same weapon in my fight against the temptations that strike me where it hurts the most. Satan is clever, and my corruptible humanity is susceptible to the mere suggestion of selfishness. But at the end of the book, when "the Patient" transcends the reach of his demon's grasp, I see the goal of all this striving: freedom from the world's cloying grasp and eternity in the presence of the Savior.

3. "This animal, this thing begotten in a bed, could look on Him. What is blinding, suffocating fire t you, is now cool light to him, is clarity itself, and wears the form of a Man" (186-87).

Heavenly hope. I would be remiss if I did not quote this portion of text. Reading the intellectually challenging moral war of TSL can be just as exhausting as actually living it. However, encountering a description of heaven's arms opening wide to receive the weary Christian is even more poignant when considered from the viewpoint of he who can never again approach that celestial gateway. All of TSL is striking in its literal portrayal of the "devil's advocate," but considering this final triumph from the perspective of a demon's ultimate defeat feeds some desire of the soul. There is a sense of justice fulfilled, safety and serenity absolutely achieved, and humble meditation on the rescue from a flaming plummet into unrestrained damnation.

4. "There are two equal and opposite errors...One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them" (xlvii).

Preoccupation. C.S. Lewis says it here, right at the beginning of his text, that such preoccupation with the unknowable evils of the spiritual realm can only result in spiritual sickness. Not acknowledging it at all, however, will result in a similarly negative repercussion. The author himself stated that he would not be writing a sequel to the book, as his time inhabiting the hypothetical mind of a demon had left him bereft in a strange weakness of body and spirit. There is no way, at least on this side of heaven, to know how close these imaginative letters come to the reality of what we face each day on earth. If the after-effects of reading TSL are any indication, I would say that he was supernaturally inspired to write that which is needed for us to soberly self-evaluate our willing participation in our own allurement from the path of righteous living. I agree that after spending annual time in this book, I am glad to leave it behind until the next year. The work of self-evaluation through the lens of other-worldly influences is good, but there is a reason why we are solidly grounded in the physical world.