Episode 1
THE BATTLE FOR OUR MINDS
THE BATTLE FOR OUR MINDS
Episode 1 focuses on Chapter 1 of the book and introduces the main characters: Screwtape, the senior and experienced demon; Wormwood, his inexperienced nephew and junior tempter, and “The Patient” whom Wormwood is supposed to lead into hell.
In the chapter, Screwtape’s advice to Wormwood is to keep his “patient” spiritually complacent by encouraging distraction, intellectual pride, and mild sensuality so that he drifts away from seriously thinking about his soul and about God.
Philosophically, the chapter is about modern man's inability to think deeply about issues, because he is distracted by an overload of facts and the pressing material and sensual needs of the moment. These facts are presented in an emotive and fantastical way, often by the media, and distract him from the deeper issues that only come out through reflection, as we shall come to see.
I want us to begin with this famous quote by T.S. Elliott, from his poem “The Rock”
"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"
Elliot laments that modern specialized knowledge and overwhelming data have caused society to lose deeper understanding and spiritual wisdom.
And here's where we see Screwtape’s cleverness: the use of Jargon.
The word Jargon, comes from late Middle English and originally means ‘twittering, chattering’. No wonder Tweets and Chats seem to be prime material for keeping people from thinking deeply; leading them slowly but surely into the devil's domain.
After all, there's only so much you can say with 280 characters. It may not be too far from the truth that the aim here is to capture your attention by some sensational phrase, and leave you to fill in the rest with your imagination, not bothering to look for the meaning behind the facts and have a truly informed opinion.
The use of a caricature of thought, reflection and deep reasoning, by turning it into sensationalist fact-finding and opinionating, is really a way of drawing people from asking about the deeper issues in life, and how one's own self is involved.
Now, Screwtape, and the devil, know that God is "Logos," i.e. reason, as we are told in St. John's gospel: "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
So, the Devil uses something that seems to be the Word, but is merely Jargon. As Screwtape says, "Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church."
The Logos, has nothing to do with vague chatter. God, being Light, clarifies. That's actually the etymology of the word Argument, from "Arguere" which means "to clarify".
Thus, Screwtape discourages Wormwood from leading his patient into arguments. As he says, "By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result? Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favour, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences."
Once again we see Screwtape's efforts to keep men from thinking in a way that is not "Jargonic" twitter and chatter, but rather, deep and clear. Thinking becomes a habit that takes someone away from the immediacy of sensations and into the depths of reflection. And that's the last thing that Screwtape wants.
This is why he gives the example of his own success story. When he stumbles upon an atheist in a library, about to delve deep into a suggestive thought, he prevents him from going any further by awakening in him the sensation of hunger, and the false rationalization that such thoughts are better explored on a full stomach. Thus, Screwtape reminds Wormwood that unlike the pure spirits that devils are, with no experience of bodily feelings, humans are easily swayed by the immediacy of their physical and emotional sensations. He says, "You don't realize how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary... they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes."
The 'unfamiliar' refers to abstract thought, which is difficult, but more rewarding and fulfilling for the human condition. As Aristotle said, the highest activity that a human being can engage in is contemplation. This is why man was made for a God who is Logos and Love. Hence the beloved contemplates and doesn't merely "sensate" the beloved.
The focus on "the unfamiliar" is also familiar territory for true scientists, which is why Screwtape goes on ahead to remind Wormwood not to resort to the true Sciences as a an argument against Christianity. "They will positively encourage him to think about realities he can’t touch and see."
The theoretical sciences are indeed an exercise in metaphysics, engaging in things that go beyond our senses. Thus, it is dangerously close to realities like the Soul, Angels, Eternal Life and God himself.
Thus, Screwtape remarks, "There have been sad cases among the modem physicists." Sad for him, for he lost candidates for hell to heaven.
Such include Charles Townes, a Nobel Prize winner and inventor of the laser. Townes felt that the beauty of nature is "obviously God-made" and that God created the universe for humans to emerge and flourish. He prayed every day and ultimately felt that religion is more important than science because it addresses the most important long-range question: the meaning and purpose of our lives.
Another example is Francis Collins, the renowned geneticist who led the Human Genome Project. Collins began as an agnostic but through science and deep arguments with friends, he became a committed Christian and even wrote a book titled, "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief".
So what is our Lenten challenge from the first chapter of Screwtape Letters?
"Tolle! lege!" "Take up and read!" as St. Augustine heard at the moment of his conversion.
Dedicate some time to reading deep stuff, even if it's just 10 minutes a day. Take your interiority seriously, and nourish your mind with ideas that lead to deep and worthwhile conversations, the kind that make you change your mind.
The Greek word for 'changing one's mind' is Metanoia, whose Latin equivalent is Conversion! And conversion is what Lent is all about. When the priest traces the sign of the Cross with ashes on your forehead, he says the words, (at least in Latin) "Convertimini et credite Evangelio!": "Convert and believe in the Gospel!"
Lent is a time for conversion, and a good way to start, is with your mind.