Today we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the death of the Irish writer C. S. Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963). We offer a chapter from his timeless book "The Screwtape Letters," which was published during World War II (1942). The individual chapters take the form of letters in which the experienced tempter Screwtape instructs his novice nephew Wormwood on how to lead a human (here referred to as the patient) towards eternal damnation.
My dear Wormwood,
you have disappointed me a little. I expected a detailed report on your work, but instead, I received some kind of panegyric. You write that you are "screaming with joy" because people in Europe have started yet another war. I fully understand what has happened to you. You are not screaming; you have just become drunk. When I read between the lines of your (very unbalanced) description of the patient's sleepless night, I can well imagine what you felt. For the first time in your entire career, you have tasted the wine that is our reward for all the toil – the torment and chaos of the human soul – and it has gone to your head. But I do not blame you, for I know how inexperienced you are. Has the patient reacted to some of your terrible images of the future? Did you add a few striking and self-pitying memories of a happy past? Did his stomach churn a little? Did you play nicely on your violin for him? Well, all that is perfectly fine. But remember, Wormwood: duty comes first, then pleasure. If you were to lose your prey due to some indiscretion, you would thirst forever for what you have just tasted. But conversely, if you secure his soul by using your medicine readily, persistently, and wisely, then he will be yours forever: a living chalice, filled to the brim with despair, horror, and wonder, and you will be able to bring it to your lips whenever you wish! So do not let any temporary excitement distract you from your true mission – to undermine his faith and prevent him from virtues. In your next letter, describe in detail how the patient reacts to the war so that we can consider whether it is better to make a war patriot out of him or a radical pacifist. There are many possibilities. But for now, I must warn you: do not expect too much from the war.
Of course, war is entertaining. The immediate fear and human suffering are a well-deserved and pleasant refreshment for our hard-working members. But what lasting benefit would we gain from war if we did not bring souls to Our Father Below through it? When I see people suffering only temporarily and ultimately escaping us, I feel as though I may taste the first course of a rich banquet and then must only watch. It is worse than having nothing at all. The enemy (according to his barbaric methods of warfare) allows us to glimpse the brief suffering of his favorites only to torture and torment us and to mock our constant hunger, which his blockade surely provokes at this stage of great confrontation. Therefore, let us rather think about how to utilize wars in Europe than how to derive enjoyment from them.
War indeed hides certain tendencies that do not benefit us in any way. Of course, we can hope for many cruelties and indecencies; but if we are not careful, we will see thousands of people turning in this suffering to the Enemy – and tens of thousands who have not yet reached that point turning their attention from themselves to those values and matters they consider more important than themselves. I know that the Enemy condemns many of those matters, but that is exactly how He fights so dishonestly. He often snatches away people who sacrificed their lives for things He considers wrong, explaining it with the absurd sophistry that those people thought it was right and therefore acted according to the best they knew. And also consider the undesirable deaths that occur in war. People are killed where they expect it, and if they belong to the Enemy's camp, they are often ready for death. How much better it would be for us if all people died in expensive sanatoriums – among doctors who lie to them, among nurses who lie to them, and among friends who lie to them, as we have taught them to! All of them promise the dying life and support them in the belief that illness excuses every weakness; and if our members are skilled in their craft, they do not even mention a priest so that the sick person does not learn how they are truly doing. And how disastrous it is for us to have that continuous awareness of death that war brings! One of our most potent weapons – complacent indulgence – then loses its effectiveness. In war, one cannot even think they will live forever.
I know that Slubgob and company have seen great opportunities for attacks on faith in wars, but I think they have exaggerated a little. The Enemy has clearly told his human followers that suffering is an important part of what he calls Redemption; if therefore war or disease has destroyed faith, then such faith could not be worth the effort. By that, I mean that long-term suffering which war brings. Of course, it is possible to seize a person in moments of horror, the death of a loved one, or physical pain, when their reason is not serving them. But I have found that if a person turns to the Enemy's main camp, even then they seldom remain without help.
Kisses from your Uncle Screwtape
(C. S. Lewis /1898–1963/, The Screwtape Letters, Chapter 5)
