The paranormal incident

Screwtape letter #7

Wormwood has asked if it is essential to keep his existence hidden from the patient. Screwtape replies that it is policy to conceal this fact from humans. Otherwise, they cannot be turned into materialists and skeptics who do not believe in anything they cannot sense. There is always hope that, in time, their science can be manipulated to support belief in devils while remaining closed to belief in the Enemy. The ideal is to produce a "Materialist Magician" who believes in life forces in the world but denies the existence of spirits. In the meantime it is best to keep humans in the dark about devils. Screwtape advises that, as Wormwood's human begins to suspect his existence, he should raise ridiculous images in the patient's mind of "something in red tights" that he cannot believe in. Screwtape then returns to the subject of how best to use the war to manipulate the patient. The goal is to inflame his passions toward embracing extreme patriotism or extreme pacifism. Generally speaking, extremes of all sorts are useful to the devil, except extreme devotion to the Enemy. Extremists will form and belong to small, exclusionary groups, or coteries, centered around a "Cause." These are factions, secret societies, or cliques that foster pride and hatred of the outer world in the name of their "Cause." Screwtape notes that even a group formed around a good cause, such as the Church, may acquire some of the negative qualities of a coterie. However, he admits that devils have failed to sufficiently corrupt it. Screwtape suggests that the patient might be induced to become a conscientious objector to the war. But this will not work if the man had pacifistic convictions before the war, is a man of courage (not a coward), and believes he is serving the Enemy through his pacifism. If this is the case, then a different approach is called for. Wormwood should introduce an emotional crisis that thrusts the patient toward extreme patriotism. Either way, the patient should be encouraged to treat his new extreme as part of his religion. Gradually, religion will become merely support for the "Cause," offering strong arguments for or against the war. The "Cause" will cease to serve a higher purpose. It will become a worldly goal the patient pursues, and faith will become only the means of achieving it. The worldly cause matters more than "prayers and sacraments and charity." This is the devil's objective.

Screwtape letter # 6

Wormwood has informed Screwtape that his patient could be called up for military service. This is good news, especially as there is an element of uncertainty. This will fill the patient with hope and fear as he imagines what could happen to him. The suspense and anxiety will create major barricades between the patient and the Enemy. The patient will believe that God wishes him to patiently accept whatever suffering is dealt out to him. He has been taught to say, "Thy will be done" and to expect the resources—the daily bread—necessary to meet his needs will be provided. Screwtape points out that the patient will mistake the array of things he fears for the real tribulation he must bear, which is his present anxious state. It is impossible for a human to patiently resign himself "a dozen different and hypothetical fates," and God cannot help him do so. Therefore, keep him helplessly focused on all these fears. Screwtape explains that there is a spiritual law at work here. When the patient's fixed attention is turned outward to the detriment of his soul, the devil must encourage that. As an example, Screwtape cites a patient's reaction to an insult or sight of a woman's body. If the patient can look inward to evaluate his feelings—anger or lust—he can deal with them. Therefore, it is best (from the devil's point of view) to keep his attention fixed helplessly outward on the insult or woman's body. On the other hand, if the patient's attention is focused outward to the benefit of his soul, the devil must work to reverse that. For example, if the patient is focusing on the Enemy or his own neighbors instead of himself, the devil must work to turn the patient's thoughts inward. Screwtape warns Wormwood not to depend on the hatred stemming from war to help him corrupt his patient. This hatred is aimed at an imagined enemy drawn from descriptions in newspapers; not real people. When faced with a living person, the English cannot be depended on to act upon this "fanciful hatred." Too often, the opposite occurs. The devil advises his nephew that his patient has both benevolence and malice in his soul. Wormwood must guide his patient to direct malice toward people around him and benevolence to a remote, largely imagined circle of people. This will render malice "wholly real" and benevolence a fantasy. To clarify how this works, Screwtape describes the inner life of the patient as concentric circles. From the inside out, these circles are the patient's will, his intellect, and his fantasy. Each contains traces of the Enemy in the form of virtues. These virtues must be eradicated. Once they reach the patient's true Will—"what the Enemy calls the Heart"—they can be acted on. That is fatal to the devil.

Screwtape letter #5

Screwtape has received a deliriously joyful letter from Wormwood. The European humans have started another war. The patient has been sleepless with anxiety. Screwtape acknowledges the headiness of war, with all its potential "anguish and bewilderment of a human soul." He cautions Wormwood not to lose sight of this chance to secure his patient's soul. Terror for the future and the horror that is coming are tools for "undermining faith and preventing the formation of virtues." However, the patient's reaction to the war must be carefully assessed before action is taken. Wormwood can then determine if is best to move the patient toward becoming "an extreme patriot or an ardent pacifist." While war, from Screwtape's standpoint, is entertaining, he warns Wormwood not to expect too much from it. There may be suffering, but it is short and may be endured by humans who are already in the Enemy's camp. This does not satisfy the devil's hunger for souls. What they must consider is how to use war to their advantage. Despite war's hoped-for "cruelty and unchastity," there is the danger that its tribulations will turn humans to the Enemy by the thousands. Even more may turn their attention to moral values and virtuous causes. Worse, some may go willingly to death knowing they are "of the Enemy's party." It is better, Screwtape notes, that humans die of old age, in nursing homes, surrounded by doctors and nurses who will lie to them about their failing condition. Out of misdirected compassion, they will be denied access to a priest in order to shield them from that truth. Screwtape concludes that the constant reminders of death that accompany war render useless the devil's best weapon: contented worldliness and the denial of mortality.

Screwtape letter #4

This letter is on the topic of prayer. Screwtape writes that it is best to keep the Patient from praying at all. But, if the Patient does pray, Wormwood should see to it that he invents his own prayers. His prayers should be more like a general mood than an act of concentrated meditation. Wormwood should make the Patient focus on his own feeling instead of God. He should make the Patient want to feel better. Rather than praying for forgiveness or courage, then, the Patient will try to feel forgiven or feel brave. Humans do not know the Enemy’s full power, Screwtape writes, and so they can be tricked into thinking about and worshipping only images. They pray to the crucifix on their wall, not to the Enemy. Furthermore, people think that they want to feel fully exposed to the Enemy’s divine presence, but they are, in reality, afraid to feel it.

Screwtape letter #3

Wormwood has informed Screwtape of family difficulties between the patient and his mother. Screwtape advises him to waste no time in taking advantage of the situation. The Enemy will be busy working on the patient's behavior, bringing it in line with Christian standards. Screwtape tells his nephew to work with Glubose, the devil assigned to the mother, to keep the hostility between patient and mother alive.