In this episode, the demon Screwtape gives advice to his junior tempter on the art of re-directing his patient’s thoughts from the appointed cross to hypothetical future fates, from God to Self, and from being self-aware of undesirable states of mind to being consumed with the danger itself...
Screwtape also teaches his protégé how to direct his patient's kindnesses away from his immediate neighbours to people he has never met, while directing his hatred to those around him, and pushing virtues into the realm of his fantasy only.
(0:31) “My age and profession…”. During WW2, you could fall into three categories:
a)"Called up" - On 1 January 1940, Britain called up two million 19- to 27-year-olds for military service. As the war progressed badly, this age limit would increase during the following years.
b)"Reserved Occupations" - Determined not to repeat the mistake of the First World War, when indiscriminate recruiting of men for the forces left a serious shortage of labour in the war industries, the British government prepared a reserved occupation scheme in January 1939. It covered some five million men in a wide range of occupations, from boiler-makers and lighthouse-keepers to teachers and doctors, with engineering having the most exemptions. Men in reserved occupations were to be exempt from military service, sometimes after a certain age. In fact, young men were unable to join the armed forces in certain professions without their employer’s approval. The scheme had to be revised, with fewer exemptions being allowed in 1941.
c)"Medically Unfit" - Men could also be rejected on medical grounds for a wide variety of reasons for minor heart defects, migraines or flat feet that could hamper his fellow soldiers or be disastrous in combat situations.
Later in this story the main character, John Hamilton, ends up joining the Air Raid Wardens (ARP) which was a part-time volunteer force who carried out their ARP duties as well as full-time jobs. This means the character was one of the five million men involved in reserved professions when the war began, but then volunteered in the local service out-of-hours. Part-time wardens were supposed to be on duty about three nights a week, but this increased greatly when the bombing of London was heaviest.
(3:06)”You remember how I explained...”. See Screwtape Letter 4:
Screwtape: “Whenever they [the humans] are attending to the Enemy Himself [God] we [demons] are defeated, but there are ways of preventing them from doing so. The simplest is to turn their gaze away from Him towards themselves. Keep them watching their own minds and trying to produce FEELINGS there by the action of their own wills. When they meant to ask Him [God] for charity, let them, instead, start trying to manufacture charitable feelings for themselves and not notice that this is what they are doing. When they meant to pray for courage, let them really be trying to feel brave. When they say they are praying for forgiveness, let them be trying to feel forgiven. Teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling; and never let them suspect how much success or failure of that kind depends on whether they are well or ill, fresh or tired, at the moment."
(3:00) The 'important spiritual law" text is as follows:
(Right side) DEMONIC LAW No. 6613a(ii).
REGARDING PRAYER & WORSHIP:
ENCOURAGE YOUR HUMAN PATIENT TO
BE SELFCONSCIOUS
- TO FOCUS ON HIMSELF
RATHER THAN GOD.
(Left side) DEMONIC LAW No. 6613a(i).
REGARDING FEAR, LUST & ANGER:
ENCOURAGE YOUR HUMAN PATIENT TO
BE UN-SELFCONSCIOUS
- TO FOCUS ON THE OBJECT (THE
DANGER, WOMAN’S BODY, OR INSULT).
(4:47) Joy Lewis talks about this aspect in her testimony: "With my few scraps of knowledge, I was accepted almost at once as a jornalist and critic on the American Communist Party's semi-official magazine 'New Masses'. And I began to learn. I learned the "love of the people" made it all right for us to lie to the rank and file of the Party; still worse, that in practice our vague "love of the people" turned into quite specific hatred of the people's enemies, and that the enemies of the people were all those of every class and opinion who happened to disagree with the Party. Hatred, to us, was a virtue..." (Joy Lewis, 'The Longest Way Round').
You can find the original book here: www.amazon.com/The-Screwtape-L...
And the audio dramatisation here: www.amazon.com/The-Screwtape-...
1 май 2021
