STL 12-15

In chapter 12 Screwtape writes about a patient who said they spent their life on things the shouldn't have, and didn't enjoy either. It is amazing how easy it is to fall into this place where misery and failure go so hand in hand. There is often a lot of focus on certain fun things being bad ideas, but perhaps more focus needs to be put on bad things that cause the same types of damage. In chapter 13 Screwtape progresses to the types of things that the nephew should try and rid from the patient's life. They are such things as reading and stamp collecting. Much emphasis is often put on how such things can be bad, but it is also interesting to think about how necessary it is in life to have interests, and how they can be geared towards things that don't hurt faith. Chapter 15 wraps up nicely how these two ideas go wrong. When addressing WWII, Screwtape brings up how the patient should have either "tortured fear" or "blind confidence." Either one of these states of mind are doomed to bring about problems when circumstances get tough. Realistic optimism is a better option, but also much harder to achieve. However, we are talking about the difference between a more optimistic life and a life that is terrible all around. Realistic optimism maximizes the ability to get the most out of the stamp collecting, reading, and such. The alternative is to become overly judgmental or just plain scared of everything. Parts of life that are not religious in nature are fair game in the struggle for religious success, and should not be forgotten or taken in a manner that only leads to more problems.

Letter 9

In letter 9 Screwtape says, "A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all- and more amusing." This is very interesting to me in the context of religion and politics. A popular opinion in the US these days is to say that politicians should feel free to retain their religious beliefs, but not even think of bringing one iota of their religious beliefs into their politics. Would this not qualify as moderating one's religion? If religion is to go out the window when it comes to politics, why not throw it out the window a few more times? I mean, political decisions affect millions of people and religion is too dangerous to be allowed into that arena of ideas. What arena is it safe for? If you pray at night, the kid next door might get some night vision binoculars and spy on your bedroom. Good luck to you when his parents find out that now he's also taken a liking to prayer, even though the parents have declared that they never want their child to say a bible right? I do realize this is sounding extreme but I think it is the kind of question that Lewis is bringing up with this message. It is easy to blame disasters involving religion and politics on religion, when it is in fact the people who are crazy. But there are obviously places where religion is not so interesting. I do not need to seek biblical help to find the keys on my keyboard. I certainly did not find my WEP code in the book of Isiah. Somewhere between religious insanity and moderation there is a wonderful place of balance, the key is getting there.