WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:11.439 Hello, and welcome to Mythic Mind, where we pursue wisdom 2 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:15.279 on the past between primary secondary worlds. I'm doctor Andrew Snyder, 3 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:22.160 and I'm glad that you're here. Hey there, Welcome back 4 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:25.640 as we continue with our philosophy and fiction of C. S. 5 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:29.160 Lewis series, and today we'll be starting on the Screwtape Letters. Now, 6 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:31.640 I know that we just finished Perilandra, and so you 7 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:34.359 might naturally think that we'll be doing that hideous strength. 8 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:38.399 But there's some reasons why I'm inserting the Screwtape Letters here, 9 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:41.960 and that'll become evident as we really get into that presentation. 10 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:44.679 You know, in fact, let's just go ahead and do it. 11 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.000 So here's my somewhat extended introduction to the Screwtape Letters. 12 00:00:49.039 --> 00:01:06.840 I hope you enjoy. 13 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:12.640 Helly, Welcome back as we get ready for the screw 14 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.840 Tape Letters, which, as you probably already know, is really 15 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:19.840 a source of immense wisdom, of immense insights, as we 16 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:24.480 get a better understanding of what the diabolical looks like, 17 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:27.879 of what temptation really is, and how to see that 18 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:31.400 in our everyday mundane lives. Now, this is a book 19 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:34.040 that I first read back in I don't know if 20 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:35.920 it was high school or maybe early college. And I 21 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:37.959 already told you that at that point I really wasn't 22 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:40.879 a very avid reader. But this is a book that 23 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:43.000 I read. This is a book that really stuck with me, 24 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:46.480 and as I've revisited it in recent years, I've only 25 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:50.480 come to appreciate it even more and recognize the just 26 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:54.599 the reality the wisdom that it holds for us. And 27 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:57.000 I don't bring this up very often except for when 28 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.680 it actually has some used to do so. But I 29 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:04.519 have a PhD in theology. I've done a lot of reading, 30 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:09.159 and I really believe that I could scrap eighty percent 31 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.120 of the reading that I did for my schooling and 32 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:13.159 replaced out the few Lewis books, and I'd probably be 33 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:16.520 better off for it. I think that most people would. Now. Obviously, 34 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.360 I'm not talking about the you know, the the substantial 35 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:23.000 classic text. I'm not talking about your your Augustine or 36 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.759 your Aquinas or things like that. But as far as 37 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:28.840 the reading I've done from authors to the last one 38 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:31.479 two hundred years or so, most of that has just 39 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:34.639 come and gone, and I don't think that I'm really 40 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:38.000 worse off for leaving it behind. Is one thing that 41 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:45.560 separates Lewis out from the academic vortex, from institutional academia 42 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:48.599 is that even though he was a brilliant scholar in 43 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:53.159 his own right, he really was a lover of ideas. 44 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.479 He was a lover of wisdom, he was a lover 45 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:58.960 of stories, he was a lover of learning. And that's 46 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.759 different than somebody who is simply out to make a 47 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:05.800 name for themselves, somebody who's simply out to create a platform. 48 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:10.360 And Lewis often points us out that institutional academia has 49 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.439 a tendency to fall in love with its own reason, 50 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.479 to fall in love with abstraction in a way that 51 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:19.840 separates it out from real human experience and causes it 52 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:23.080 to really fall into the same sin of Satan, which 53 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:24.759 is the fact that he fell in love with his 54 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:28.599 own reason, his own ability to reach forward, as Weston 55 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:32.520 Or the Unman told us in Perilandra, as with Tolkien's Morgoth, 56 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:34.759 he's out in the void looking for the imperishable fire 57 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.560 that dwells with Eru Luvatar alone. And this is the 58 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.759 direction that academia tends to make. In fact, it's really 59 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:43.879 where it pushes young academics to go right. You have 60 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.479 to find some niche subject that nobody's ever written about. 61 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:49.680 That way you can get your name attached to this 62 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:53.479 small little corner of learning that odds are nobody else 63 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:55.080 is ever going to look at again. But at least 64 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:56.919 you've got your name on something. And so then you 65 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.479 have to continue to do this again and again and again, right, 66 00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:02.520 publisher perish, as they say, And so you're constantly forced 67 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:05.680 to innovate, to reach into the void in order to 68 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:08.759 create a platform for yourself. Whereas you go to someone 69 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.240 like Lewis, I think we really see somebody who loves ideas, 70 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:14.879 someone who loves stories, somebody who loves learning. And I 71 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:17.160 mean that is what a true philosopher is, right the 72 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:20.879 Phileo Sophia, This is the love of wisdom. A true 73 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:24.720 philosopher is a lover of wisdom, not just somebody trying 74 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:28.000 to make their voice heard, to speak their truth or 75 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.800 whatever nonsense we want to use there. In fact, we're 76 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:35.000 going to see that it is that authentic love, that 77 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:42.360 pursuit of genuine humanity that makes Screwtape so insightful, so convincing, 78 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:46.360 so helpful. In fact, he says in the nineteen sixty 79 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.800 one prologue that some people assume that he was able 80 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:53.120 to write Screwtape because he's had such advanced learning and 81 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:59.839 has engaged in such complicated thought concerning theology and morality, 82 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:02.600 that sort of thing. But his response is no, The 83 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:05.040 reason why he's able to write so well about temptation 84 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:07.600 is he knows what it's like to be tempted. He 85 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.120 knows the wickedness of his own heart, and that's what 86 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:14.120 allows him to project this into the demon screw Tape. 87 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:16.519 And so what we see in Lewis is this unique 88 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:22.240 blend of complicated, difficult, dense learning that is really brought 89 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:27.240 into an authentic spirit who understands himself and is seeking 90 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:30.240 to better understand the world around him and ultimately is 91 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:34.680 trying to move up the chain of being to God himself. Now, 92 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:36.720 that doesn't mean he was perfect, doesn't mean he doesn't 93 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:38.800 have any areas where we can criticize him. In fact, 94 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:41.959 I think that we most certainly should, and so I'm 95 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:45.040 not arguing for his canonization by any means. But I 96 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:46.879 do think that we see a unique individual here, and 97 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:50.839 I think that this really does come out in Screwtape letters. Now, 98 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.959 before we jump into the prologue and some related information. 99 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:56.519 I do want to go ahead and talk about some 100 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.439 of the supplemental reading that I'm recommending to you. I 101 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.360 really like this innitated edition of The Screwtape Letters. It 102 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:08.480 has very esthetically pleasing print and formatting. It has a 103 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:12.800 lot of notes that go into some historical and cultural 104 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:15.800 background information for things that might have been lost to 105 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:18.040 us since the time that this is written. He goes 106 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:21.240 into a lot of cross references with other of Lewis's works, 107 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:24.920 provides a lot of literary backgrounds for different references that 108 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:27.639 are made in the Letters, and so it's very helpful. 109 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:31.160 It looks really nice. I strongly recommend it next time 110 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:35.399 recommending Breton Dickison's article a cosmic find in the Screwtape Letters. 111 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:37.000 Don't talk more about that and just a little bit, 112 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:41.000 but that link is provided in the supplemental reading page. Also, 113 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:45.920 I'd like to recommend Lewis's a preface to Paradise Loss. Now, 114 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.399 even if you've never read Paradise Lost. Even if you 115 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:51.199 never read Paradise Lost, which you should at some point, 116 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:53.600 but even if you don't, this is a book that 117 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:55.759 can stand on its own, and you would be better 118 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:58.560 for picking up and reading it through. It provides a 119 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:02.680 great introduction to Louis's literary criticism, gives a lot of 120 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:07.199 really helpful insights regarding literary form, form of poetry, form 121 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:10.879 of stories, that sort of thing different forms of epic poetry. 122 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:15.480 Until we get some comparisons in contrast between Milton with 123 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:19.639 Virgil and Beowulf and Homer. And in fact, I'm also 124 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.720 going to recommend this for the upcoming Beowulf and Boethiast study, 125 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:24.399 and so if you're going to take that course as well, 126 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:26.920 then this is definitely something that you should pick up. 127 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:29.759 But also he's going to obviously set us up for 128 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:31.519 Paradise Loss, and so he's going to give us some 129 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:37.079 good thematic analyses, including the nature and activity of Satan. Now, 130 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:39.680 even in the nineteen sixty one prologue to Screwtape Letters, 131 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:42.560 Lewis does have some criticisms of Milton and the way 132 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:46.160 that Satan is portrayed, but nonetheless he obviously sees great 133 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:49.399 value in Paradise Loss and he does pull some inspiration 134 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:53.920 from it. And so as we think about Lewis's take 135 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.079 on the devil, his take on the demonic, take on 136 00:07:57.160 --> 00:07:59.639 this battle between good and evil. I think that this 137 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:02.040 would be and I fit you greatly, even if you 138 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.399 never get to the actual Paradise loss by Milton, and 139 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:07.639 so do yourself a favor and pick this up. 140 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:10.040 Strongly recommend it now. 141 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:12.680 Next moving forward, I am going to start to pull 142 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.079 from some of Lewis's letters, and so I would recommend 143 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:17.720 that you pick up a copy of the Letters of C. S. Lewis. 144 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:21.160 A lot of people already have Tolkien's letters, but there's 145 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:23.240 a lot of value in Lewis's letters as well, even 146 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:25.600 though I don't hear them discuss nearly as often. It 147 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:29.600 has a great detailed index for looking up where letters 148 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:33.919 talk about certain subjects, certain people, certain of Lewis's own books, 149 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.240 which is I think particularly helpful for a study like this. 150 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.320 And so pick up a copy of the Letters of C. S. 151 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:39.720 Lewis. 152 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:43.399 And then lastly, I would recommend that you pick up 153 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:46.840 a copy of Letters to Malcolm, chiefly on Prayer, which 154 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:48.960 is the one book I'm recommending that I actually don't 155 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:50.559 have in print, and so I'm going to throw a 156 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:52.360 picture of it on the screen here for a moment. 157 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:55.799 But this really is a beautiful book. I think it's 158 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:58.679 one of Lewis's most overlooked books, especially when it comes 159 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:02.440 to his popular level writing. This is another epistolatory novel, 160 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:04.960 just like the Screwtape Letters, and so it's all told 161 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:08.639 through the letters of C. S. Lewis writing to his 162 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:13.240 friend Malcolm. But unlike Screwtape this really is an upbuilding work. 163 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.720 And so it's all about the Christian life, focusing on prayer, 164 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:18.120 but he deals on a number of different topics. I 165 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:20.639 think that this is just full of so many gems 166 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:24.559 of wisdom of Christian insight. I would strongly recommend that 167 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:26.759 after you read Screwtape Letters, and you know, maybe it 168 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.120 on time while this study is going on, maybe you do, 169 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:33.159 but get a copy of Letters to Malcolm. It provides 170 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:37.799 a great upbuilding parallel to what we get in Screwtape. 171 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:42.080 It's the closest thing we have to a sequel, I suppose, 172 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:43.840 but we'll talk about that in a little bit. Okay, 173 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:45.759 so that's the supplemental reading. Let's go ahead and take 174 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:49.759 a look at the opening of Screwtape Letters. All right, 175 00:09:49.799 --> 00:09:53.600 So the Screwtape Letters introduction. First thing I think worth 176 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:57.799 talking about briefly is the fact that it's dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien, 177 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.480 but we're not really told why, and Tolkien doesn't even 178 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:05.480 seem to really know why. In the annotated Screwtape letters, 179 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:08.360 we are told that this was during the peak of 180 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:11.679 their friendship, and so, you know, maybe Lewis just wanted 181 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:14.600 to dedicate this work to his friend just out of 182 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:18.159 appreciation for Tolkien. I don't know if there's some kind 183 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:21.559 of comedic element here, and if maybe Lewis knew that 184 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.919 Tolkien wouldn't really appreciate this book, which by the way, 185 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:29.480 he did not. I've heard it theorize that maybe there's 186 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.519 a philological interest here that you know, a few times 187 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:37.200 Screwtape talks about the value of language and of corrupting 188 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:41.399 language over times, or making things more confusing, emptying out 189 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:43.440 words of their meaning, and maybe that would have some 190 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:47.759 particular interest to Tolkien. Or maybe there's something really authentic 191 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:51.120 and really genuine going on here. Lewis is very clear 192 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:54.639 that Tolkien was instrumental in his conversion to Christianity, and 193 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:57.720 so maybe as Lewis talks about the nature of temptation 194 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:03.159 then and by contrasts the nature of the Christian life, 195 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:07.279 is giving some price Tolkien some appreciation to Tolkien for 196 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:10.559 the role that he had in Lewis's own conversion to Christianity, 197 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:12.879 his beginning of the Christian life, and to move. There's 198 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:15.159 something like that there, but we don't really know for 199 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:17.799 sure now. In a letter that Tolkien wrote to Michael 200 00:11:17.799 --> 00:11:23.159 Tolkien just shortly after Lewis's death, Tolkien writes, also, I 201 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:26.000 was rightly amused to be told that Lewis himself was 202 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:29.399 never very fond of The Screwtape Letters, his bestseller. He 203 00:11:29.480 --> 00:11:32.960 dedicated it to me. I wondered why, now I know, 204 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:37.000 says they. And so Tolkien seems to say that, okay, 205 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:40.320 maybe Lewis dedicated to him because Lewis himself didn't like 206 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:42.279 it very much, and maybe there's some kind of joke there. 207 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:44.720 I don't know. It's interesting to think about. I don't 208 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:46.840 think we have any clear answers here right now looking 209 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:49.600 at the origins for Lewis's idea of the letter. And 210 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.840 this comes from a letter written to his brother Warren. 211 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:55.720 He writes, Humphrey came up to see me last night, 212 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.399 not in his medical capacity, and we listened to Hitler's 213 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:01.159 speech together. I don't know I found weaker than other people, 214 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:04.240 but is a positive revelation to me. How while the 215 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:07.519 speech lasts, it is impossible not to waver just a little. 216 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:10.639 I should be useless as a schoolmaster or a policeman. 217 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:14.240 Statements which I know to be untrue all but convinced 218 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:16.879 me at any rate for the moment, if only the 219 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:20.279 man says them unflinchingly. The same weakness is why I'm 220 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:23.240 a slow examiner. If a candidate with a bold, mature 221 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:26.840 handwriting attributed Paradise Loss to Wordsworth, I should feel a 222 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:28.840 tendency to go and look it up, for fear that 223 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:31.240 he might be right. After all, I've been a church 224 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:33.679 for the first time for many weeks owing to the illness, 225 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.679 and considered myself invalid enough to make a midday communion 226 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:39.320 before the service was over. One could wish these things 227 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.879 came more reasonably. I struck with an idea for a 228 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:45.120 book which I think might be both useful and entertaining. 229 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:47.519 It would be called as One Devil to Another, and 230 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:49.919 with consists of letters from an elderly retired douvil to 231 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:51.799 a young devil who had just started work on his 232 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:54.480 first patient. The idea would be to give all the 233 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:57.799 psychology of temptation from the other point of view. So 234 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:02.039 I think it's worth considering that Lewis received this inspiration 235 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:05.240 for the Screwtape letters a day after listening to and 236 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:08.279 reflecting on his experience of listening to this speech by 237 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:11.360 Adolf Hitler. He notes that when he's listening to the speech, 238 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:15.360 he found it rather compelling, not because it's true, and 239 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.240 you don't misunderstand Lewis is saying anything that he's not 240 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:21.279 saying here. Obviously he speaks extensively about the evils of 241 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:23.919 the Nazis, about the evils of Hitler, and so there's 242 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:28.919 no sympathy for Nazism here, just the opposite. He's recognizing 243 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:33.519 the demonic power that's at work here, that we're dealing 244 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:37.000 with strong rhetoric. We're dealing with convincing rhetoric that is 245 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:40.279 not attached to reason, that's not attached to truth, that's 246 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:44.639 not attached to goodness. This is sophistry. It is a 247 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:48.519 counterfeit reason, and that is not actually reason at all. 248 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:54.440 It's sentiment. It's bodily sensation, giving the rise of a 249 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.759 sense of causation, a sense of reason. Ultimately, it is 250 00:13:57.799 --> 00:14:01.960 a counterfeit and that's because evil is by definition irrational 251 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:06.000 because reason is tied into the reality of existence itself. 252 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:09.759 All things were made through the Word, All things were 253 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.440 made through the logoss of the Father, which is Christ. 254 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:17.320 There's an orderliness, there is a reason that undergirds all 255 00:14:17.399 --> 00:14:21.919 of created reality. And as we approach reason, we are 256 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:26.879 approaching that by which we reason, which ultimately is God himself. 257 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:30.879 And so when rhetoric is not moving us in the 258 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:34.240 direction of the beatific vision, but when rhetoric is moving 259 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:38.399 us toward the miserific vision, moving us downward in the 260 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:42.399 direction of hell, we're actually approaching non being. We're engaging 261 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:45.399 in something that is irrational. This is why we're going 262 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:47.960 to see this continual theme throughout the Screwtape letters, as 263 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:51.840 screwtape advice, as Wormwood not to engage in any kind 264 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:56.320 of debate or any kind of teaching exercise with his patient, 265 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:00.679 but he's going to lead him into not thinking, into fusion, 266 00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:05.360 into a anti reason position. And we see this play 267 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:10.279 out in Perilandra. Sometimes the unman is telling these stories 268 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.200 that don't have a clear meaning behind it. They sort 269 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:17.720 of evoke these sentiments of freedom and liberation and heroism, 270 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:20.960 when in reality, you know Ransom notes that if you're 271 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.960 actually looking at the reason that ties all these together, 272 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.600 we're actually getting stories of he says, perverts and witches. 273 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:30.440 That's only when you're applying reason and you're trying to 274 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:32.919 see things clearly. When you're just listening to all these stories, 275 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:35.480 they give you these sentiments of liberation, these sentiments of 276 00:15:35.799 --> 00:15:39.320 noble sacrifice and of heroism. And so we get that 277 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.159 kind of rhetoric that moves against reason, But we also 278 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:46.279 just get that remember that annoying rhetoric where the unman's 279 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:52.000 just repeating Ransom, Ransom, Ransom. Henry says, what is it? 280 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:58.879 And then the unman says nothing, Ransom, Ransom, Ransom. And 281 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:02.840 I think that both tactics are really doing the same 282 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.240 thing through these stories as well as through just this annoying, 283 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:12.200 repetitive naming of Ransom. He's causing the lady, he's causing Ransom, 284 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:15.159 to close themselves in. And so in the case of 285 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:18.919 the stories, it's this closing in of self referential so 286 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.919 called heroism, where you're acting not for the good but 287 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:24.960 ultimately for your good. You're separating yourself from the good. 288 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:28.159 You're closing yourself in. So too, in the annoying rhetoric. 289 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:33.080 He's causing Ransom to fixate on his emotional response to 290 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.200 his environment rather than focusing on the mission that he 291 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.159 has before him. In both cases, the un man is 292 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:42.360 trying to get his adversaries to close themselves in. And 293 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:44.240 this is going to be a pretty common theme in Lewis, 294 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:47.960 especially in his talk of the diabolical, his talk of evil, 295 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.080 especially if you already have the great divorce in your head. 296 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:53.720 This idea that the more that you move toward evil, 297 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.879 the more that you get shut in, the smaller you become. 298 00:16:57.159 --> 00:16:59.200 Whereas the more that you move toward what is good, 299 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:01.279 the more that you move toward God, more that you 300 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:05.440 move toward the fulfillment of all things, the more expansive 301 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:09.119 you become as you give yourself over in love. And 302 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:12.240 so the beatific vision causes you to become bigger than 303 00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:15.839 you are. The miserific vision causes you to become smaller 304 00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:18.759 than you are. It's not so good. Move into the prologue, 305 00:17:18.759 --> 00:17:21.359 starting with the original. He says that there are two 306 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:23.880 equal and opposite errors into which our rays can fall 307 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:27.039 about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. 308 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:30.000 The other is to believe and to feel an excessive 309 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:33.759 and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased 310 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.759 by both errors inhil a materialist or a magician with 311 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:39.720 the same delight. And so if the devils want us 312 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:43.359 to either actually they don't exist and play the materialist, 313 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:46.839 or they want for us to become hyperfixated on them, 314 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:49.599 to glorify them and to play the magician. And something 315 00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:51.759 that Lewis shows us in this book and throughout the 316 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.759 Ransom series is that the materialists and the magician are 317 00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:57.200 more or less the same thing, that they are both 318 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:01.079 fueled by the demonic, that both are looking to close 319 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:05.960 themselves in from reality and to control the environment around them. 320 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:08.960 In fact, he says in The Abolition of Man, for 321 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.359 the wise men of old, the cardinal problem had been 322 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:14.319 how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution 323 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:18.359 had been knowledge, self discipline, and virtue. For magic and 324 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:22.319 applied science alike, the problem is how to subdue reality 325 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:24.920 to the wishes of men. And so, in other words, 326 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:29.079 the materialist, scientists and the magician are both doing the 327 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:33.079 same thing. They're trying to subdue reality to the will 328 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:35.839 of man. And Lewis does an incredible job in the 329 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:39.240 Ransom series of demonstrating this reality, we see how west 330 00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:44.599 End the physicists really turns into the demonic spiritualist from 331 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.319 between out of the Silent Planet and Perlandra. We're going 332 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:50.400 to see this theme, this natural relationship between the materialists 333 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:53.319 and magician take even more explicit form when we get 334 00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:55.599 to that hideous strength. And so this is an idea 335 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:58.160 that we're going to very much see at play in 336 00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:00.920 the Ransom series. The materialists and the magician are both 337 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:06.519 doing fundamentally the same thing. They aren't becoming more expansive 338 00:19:06.599 --> 00:19:09.279 in their love for that which is good. They're simply 339 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:12.759 trying to close themselves off. They're trying to consume reality 340 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:18.680 for their own individualistic ends. Okay, moving forward, he says 341 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.240 that the history of the European War, accept in so 342 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.480 far as it happens now and then, to impinge upon 343 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:26.559 the spiritual condition of one human being was obviously of 344 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:30.279 no interest to Screwtape. So I think this is worth thinking. 345 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.240 Look at here that Screwtape is going to warn Wormwood 346 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:37.160 against getting too excited about the fact that there's war 347 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:40.079 going on, right, don't get excited about the carnage, don't 348 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:43.960 get excited about these external realities and external fears that 349 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:47.240 a company wore. Because it's not external realities that are 350 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:50.799 going to save or condemn a soul. It's the internal 351 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:54.079 realities at play here. It's the direction of the soul. 352 00:19:54.519 --> 00:19:59.200 It's the presence or absence of faith, which external circumstances 353 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.279 don't necessarily create in one direction or another. If anything, 354 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:06.680 wartime tends to make people more aware of their immortality, 355 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.839 which can actually cause them to move toward faith. And 356 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:14.079 of course we see this happen that during times when 357 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:16.960 mortality seems to be in the news a lot more 358 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.079 than others. A lot of times this is when we 359 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:24.440 see a rise in movements toward faith, at least superficial, 360 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:28.079 if not substantial. And this is absolutely in line with 361 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.839 Christian wisdom, the idea that freedom is not determined by 362 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:35.759 external realities, but freedom is determined by the right ordering 363 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:39.519 of the soul in harmony with the reality, which ultimately 364 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:43.759 means that it's in harmony with who God is and 365 00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:46.680 the order that He established within created reality. And so 366 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:51.839 freedom is an internal condition related ultimately to God rather 367 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:56.319 than a state of external circumstance. And so I've talked 368 00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:58.720 about Boetheists before, and I imagine i'll probably talk about 369 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:02.160 him again, that bo Atheists who is falsely accused of 370 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:07.079 sedition and then he find himself imprisoned, awaiting ultimately his execution. 371 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:12.960 He's able to discover freedom not because of the spinning 372 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:16.559 wheel of fortune that's landed him here, but because he's 373 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:19.400 learned to properly relate himself to fortune itself, and ultimately 374 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:23.720 he's learned to properly relate himself to providence. And that 375 00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:29.440 is where we discover freedom, not through external circumstance. External 376 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:34.279 circumstances can never provide or diminish your true freedom. And 377 00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:36.759 this makes you think of something Augustine said regarding the 378 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:40.920 real evils of war in Contrafaustom, where we get what's 379 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:45.200 been called his just a war doctrine. Augustine says, what 380 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.039 is the evil in war? Is it the death of 381 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:50.960 some who will soon die in any case that others 382 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.440 may live in peaceful subjection. This is mere cowardly dislike 383 00:21:54.759 --> 00:21:58.000 and not any religious feeling. The real evils in war 384 00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:03.079 are love of violence, revel vengeful cruelty, fierce and implacable enmity, 385 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:06.960 wild resistance, and the lust of power and such like, 386 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:09.720 And so for Augustine, the real evils of war it's 387 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:12.359 not the fact that some people die. People are eventually 388 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:15.359 going to die anyways, and so the fact that people die, 389 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:18.480 it's actually not connected to war itself. Now, it might 390 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:21.240 cause people to die sooner rather than later, but as 391 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:25.559 Screwtape knows, that is not necessarily in itself a bad thing. 392 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:30.400 The real evils of war deal with internal realities that 393 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:33.319 they might stem up within us, that which we already have, 394 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:37.799 a love for violence, a love for cruelty, for just 395 00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:41.839 being hostile toward other people, lust for power, These things 396 00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:46.079 which can be fanned up into bigger flames in wartime. 397 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:48.839 These things are the real evils of war, not the 398 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:51.640 war itself, and I think screw Tape would hardly agree 399 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:54.799 with that. Now, moving to the nineteen sixty one prologue, 400 00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:57.640 Lewis says that he's often asked the question, do you 401 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:00.920