Snakelips #8: Mistakes

My dear Snakelips,
You have been doing an ineffective job of late and while I think of the appropriate disciplinary measures I will try to show you your mistake.
You have been too focused on the big things. It is our constant refrain in the diabolical method that it is the small things that crush a person's will and spirit over time.
Mistakes are an excellent point of attack. You may not understand the insidiousness of this area because for us mistakes are unforgiveable, and punished just the same as intentional crimes. It is necessary to see how Humanity views them in order to find ways of changing their perspective to the Diabolical one. Humans have many adages like, "no one is perfect" and "everyone makes mistakes"(we did not create these expressions but they become helpful to us if we distract from the truth they denote by muddying them with feel-good connotations). They believe this as a general rule but not as a personal one. They hate being faced with the truth of their fallibility. People like to think of themselves as good, and we encourage as much discrepancy as possible between this belief and their behaviour. But that is on an intentional action level, and it is the focus of the Hypocrisy Department to constantly widen that gulf. Mistakes are by definition unintentional and as soon as they are discovered they are regretted. This is where we must again and again draw the patient's attention. It is inglorious because there are so many ways to approach it. It is an excellent way to draw their attention to their helplessness. Remind them of their temporal limits, but only the negative side of them. Let them stare back at what has happened and encourage the desire to change it, encourage the re-imagining of the mistake over and over. Then move on to the future (remember that the present is the least desirable state for them to live in, as it is where the enemy wants them.) with predictions of how the mistake could recur and all the unhelpful prevention scenarios you can possibly suggest. This is where we get into Identity and Relational territory. It is always desirable to set up strongholds here and constantly build on them with every occurrence of mistakes, betrayals, rejections, etc. The goal of this framework is undermining their trust in themselves and others. You see how it connects to Pride in the desire to control their own lives and be their own gods? As you work at this make sure they don't see that connection. Any examination of the bigger picture is a defeat for us and a chance for the enemy to introduce Humour and Humility. The Enemy also wants them to trust less in themselves and others and more in Him. Our goal is to destroy the "faith in humanity" and give them nothing to replace it but Despair. (Don't miss the despicable work we have done in the Linguistic Department with that phrase. As if they believe that humanity deserves faith! It is a way of diverting the Enemy's Conscience in them and misdirecting it to believe that the world can and should be a good place.)
I hope you are beginning to see how things that are not sinful can become sinful and lead to endless pointless digressions and disappointment. This impotent despair can be much more useful to us than the Great Sins. Remember the quiet road with no sign posts? That's the ticket!

As to your punishment, I've thought of Something, and it will be arriving imminently.

Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape

Some Words on Words

I just watched this incredible movie called "Suffragette". I am full of thoughts on it.
First of all, how amazing is that term? The Suffragettes. It is a beautiful, mellifluous, clever innovation. We need to invent more words like that. There is too much co-opting of existing words, reducing them to one connotation - instead of finding better ways to express something new, we lose something old. When trying to explain that one is opposed to human trafficking it is necessary to string a bunch of words together. Why the heck? Aren't 99% of us opposed to this? Why isn't there a way to express that in the positive? "I am a Suffragette." beautiful, simple, clear. "Feminist" doesn't even have the same clarity of meaning.
Human Rights Activist: not concise enough, also vague.
We need to create new specific terms so that we can gather in opposition to the horrors in the world. We need to be able to talk about these topics and be understood. The first step to change is identification and understanding of the problem. The problem has a name, why doesn't the solution?

Other Lewis Extrapolators

http://sarahsparksmusic.com/track/750382/eustace-scrubb?feature_id=163983


Eustace has my favourite character arc in Narnia. This song really does do it justice.

How to get the most out of Counselling

Therapy is great. It is not like going to a doctor and getting a prescription. In counselling the therapist is an excellent, helpful, diagnostic tool, but the cure needs to be self-administered. The strength for this is 100% from God. Here are some tips that I've found helpful.
1) Have goals. Spend time before even starting counselling to think about what you want to get out of it. Think about behaviours, thought patterns and coping mechanisms that you want to change. It's not much fun, but really focus on your weaknesses. It is better to think closely about them for a little while than to live with them forever.
2) Be honest. This especially applies to the stuff you don't want to share. Again, not fun, but necessary.
3) Journal. You only have an hour at a time to talk so make sure you know what you want to discuss and spend time mulling and analysing before hand. When you are feeling a strong emotion write it down and ask yourself: What caused this? What are other situations that I've felt this? Where does this feeling manifest physically? (That last one makes no sense to me, but counsellors always ask it, so maybe it's helpful to some of you) What is my response to this feeling? etc. This is also a really useful habit for after counselling ends.
4) Ask for homework. Most counsellors will give you reading or strategies to practice, or things to journal about. If they don't make sure to ask for some. If they do; ask specific questions and follow up with it. This is where some of the best progress is made.
5) Change. Don't give up in the end and go back to your comfort zone. Be concious of the things you wanted to change at the beginning and actually live them out.

Snakelips #7 Snakelips Gets Dating Tips

My dear Snakelips,
I'm glad to hear that your female has not made a definitive decision regarding her journey to the Enemy's camp. What distractions have you been using? Given her age you should be touting the party lies on "Dating". Are you telling her it will complete her? Fulfil her desires for love and joy? That is the starting point. Draw her attention to the least suitable mates, either by making her believe them to be other than they are, or lauding the unsuitable suitors for the very qualities that un-suit her. "Compatability" is an excellent word. It can be used as an excuse for getting both into and out of relationships according to whether they are useful to us or not.
What are her emotional proclivities? Can you do more damage in her singleness or coupledom? The goal is not necessarily most damage to your individual but overall most affected, most negative vows made, most people led away from the Enemy.
While destructive relationships can provide delicious suffering, sometimes singleness can create even more refined sin. Celibacy can foster all sorts of pride if correctly manipulated. Try to encourage comparisons; one friend's relationship to another's with the patient as unstatedly superior. Bitterness can be fed in relationships and out of them, encourage false expectations and demanding behaviour. Passive-aggression successfully consumes many lives and families - keep it fueled! Bitterness doesn't need to be subtle though, try violent and emotional displays when you get a chance. Remember that you are a Tempter and only by constant repetition and reinforcement is your work successful. Many humans are able to function singly and in groups if left to themselves (or worse: the Enemy). Never forget your labour or you will lose her.
Affectionately,
Screwtape

The Upside-Down Pyramid Scheme

If our hearts were like rivers what good would it do to dredge up all the muck that had settled to the bottom?

This is the picture that occurred to me as I thought about how evocative the word "dredge" is. The word "dredge", in turn, occurred to me because I was asking myself if getting healing was worth unearthing the buried pain. Asking if, maybe, it was better to live in denial than experience the inevitable pain that leads to healing.
Thus I came to the river. There is no doubt that every person has something in the riverbed. And it is a myth to think that sunken things don't affect the river. The current, the acidity, the smell of the water are all being influenced. When Saruman told the White Council that the One Ring had probably drifted down the river to the sea and was lost forever, he knew that he was lying. Buried things don't stay buried.
My original question is moot if a) the Ring has power even underwater, and doubly so if b) its discovery is inevitable.

New question: Why should one seek healing rather than just accepting the state of one's river as-is?

First, because it will free you from your past. Being aware of motives, feelings and sources of pain allows us to act based on the truth and not because of lies and vows instilled in childhood. If there is no secret malady there need be no self-medicating, self-deprecating behaviour. "But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light." Ephesians 5:13-14

Second, because the message of the gospel is one of suffering and comfort, and its power can't be realized without partaking in the comfort after the suffering. You can't share the gospel without personally attesting to the truth that God raises the dead. (I shouldn't say "can't" here, more likely "won't" is accurate.) "For as we share in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." 2 Corinthians 1:5

Third, we tend to ignore things we haven't acknowledged, in ourselves and in our relationships. But when our own pain no longer consumes and plagues us we are free to enter into another's pain. Better still we are less likely to cause other's pain through neglect or ignorance.We are less likely to subvert it, ignore it, deny it, rebuke it, shame it and belittle it. The more people there are who are seeking healing the more future healers there will be, AND there will be less people needing healing! It's an upside-down pyramid scheme, get on board. "Brethren, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Galatians 6:1-2

In conclusion, let's all get the Ring out of our river and into Mount Doom (ideally before poor Deagol gets murdered).

Snakelips #6

Dearest Snakelips,
I need not express to you the great disappointment I had on hearing that your happily nominal 'Christian' patient is now evaluating her faith. You know yourself what awaits you if this is allowed to continue.
Now, how to correct this? Your first tactic must be to distract her from the faith and especially from the Thing the faith is in. This can be done in many ways, and their changeable natures almost does our job for us, though the Enemy will often compensate for their short attention spans when they get on this track. When this happens we are in great danger, but we still have our first and last line of defence. Draw their attention inward. Bring up how clever they are for thinking about the supernatural. Have her ask herself if this will make her a "better person", and then get her caught up in what a "better person" does. The Enemy seems to want all their attention on Himself and none on themselves. Trusting Him in everything even when that means distrusting themselves. This is our greatest opportunity for attack because since the Garden Victory we have been training humankind to trust themselves supremely and indiscriminately. In spite of all the evidence of their wills and instincts being wrong, they continue to make this mistake. O the euphoria of it! The continual disappointment, verging on insanity. Ask her things like, what does she want? Will this make her happy? Will it make her more likeable? Will it change her life too much?
Encourage her to try all by herself to be nicer, call it a "trial run". As she fails over and over in this (it's impossible without the Enemy, and indeed, beside the point) offer the experiment as proof of the Enemy's falsity, or double nature, or betrayal. Slander Him as best you can. The Enemy wants to help her every step of the way, wants to make her a new creature who desires others' good above her own, and doesn't resent it. You must make her think she is alone and struggling uphill. As long as she thinks that, she will be. Point out every failure and mock it. In the end she will be happy to go back to the natural life she was living, and you can use her foray into 'Christianity' to needle her whenever she needs reminding.

Screwtape

snakelips #5

Dear Snakelips,
I would like to again draw your attention to some Philological triumphs. Right now that Department is focusing on acronyms. For example: YOLO (You Only Live Once), might seem to mean take caution and care with their frail mortal shells, but what it actually connotes is "Live fast and die young", which was embraced in the last generation. It is always beneficial to put new names to old things, it brings a sense of novelty that humans always stumble into. On the heels of this we've introduced FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) which is treated simultaneously as something to be guilty and proud of. It is wonderful that they are able to see the folly of their behaviour, put a name to it, and then wear it like a badge of honour.
The underlying Goal is that every reckless and dangerous inclination of their silly hearts would be embraced and pursued. We have put a lot of work in the last centuries into condemning repression. That work is now bearing fruit in this generation so that they condemn any sort of restraint at all. Every desire is pursued, every experience tested, and we reap a harvest ripe with bitterness and betrayal and chaos. This is of course a direct attack on the Enemy's Joy of patience. The concept of putting something off until the right time cannot even be raised by his servants without mass rejection based on the "dangers of repression". In a few hundred years we may reverse it and encourage abstention from everything good and bad, but for now this is serving well.
What we want is for them to consume themselves with experiencing everything and then die unexpectedly because of it.
They only die once,
Screwtape

Snakelips #4

Why are you despairing in your patient's condition of nominal Christian? This indeed can be harmful but it also allows for uniquely diabolical manipulation. Being raised in the church, (especially those being run to Our Father's satisfaction) means that she has a cursory and vague overview of the bible. With that seed already sown your job is to make her embarrassed of her knowledge and shameful of what that book says. This is difficult if they know it well, but those who know only parts can be goaded into shame. And as you know Shame is one of our most powerful weapons. It makes the humans cowardly which makes them more shameful and so on. They can almost be eaten alive!
Another great thing about those who left the church with this base knowledge is that they think themselves wise while knowing very little. Then you can get them to speak with great rhetoric on why they rejected something quite other than true Enemy-worship. And as long as their hearers are slightly more ignorant than they, we will have great success.
Remember Snakelips, it's all about getting them to have a bad first taste so that they dread ever taking another bite.
Affectionately,
Screwtape

Snakelips #3

Dear Snakelips,

Yes, in fact conversation can be greatly rendered to our advantage. There are several techniques that allow for hours of conversation and very little being said. The first is the universal agreement technique. Train your patient to think people will only like her if she constantly repeats and rephrases her fellows thoughts. This is marketed as a communication technique, and indeed it can be, but when we twist it and enhance it the conversation descends into a series of agreements. It is best when this is used on frivolous themes, even mindless over-agreement can be damaging if it is on something the Enemy loves. On those topics I would recommend the "intellectual approach". This should look like a bunch of people trying to understand each others opinions solely in order to disagree. The smaller the nuance of disagreement the better (it is easier to misunderstand small details).
Ahh, Snakelips I love this art. I wrote previously to Wormwood about types of humour, the most effective being flippancy. This is another good tactic to employ once you have the disagreements broiling. When everyone is on edge have your patient mock or brush off someone's comment by repeating it derisively. Many a valuable servant of the Enemy has been ruined by this very technique (whether being used by or against them!). We are at war my dear Snakelips. And although the Enemy's propaganda says that He has already won it, that is fal... I cannot seem to finish that word. Suffice it to say that Our Father Below is still confident in his chances.
There are so many tactics that are simply useful to alienate and irritate. Such as promoting condescension in your patient, or mundane nervous tics and peculiarities. We can't always stop them from saying dangerous things but we can hopefully make it harder for people to listen. Never underestimate the power of cultivating personal dislike. These humans love to take offence.

Yours in the superlative Hatred,
Screwtape

Snakelips #2

Dear Snakelips,
 So she is arrogant about not having any of these online personalities? So much the better. Make sure she is reminded to smirk and feel condescending to her friends who do have them. If she can be made to utter a snide remark here and there you will find that quite a treat.
What are her relations with males? Does she have any idolized? The humans should always have a few idols to worship. If they don't they begin to wonder what that capacity of worship was created for. Dungtongue has some patients in her area that would make great idols. He is a connoisseur of hypocrisy, and there is no better idol than a deceptive one.
If she already has an idol encourage her to always be "improving" him. Make her take great pride in "educating" and bettering him. Guard her from realizing that this only makes him resent her. It is great fun to balance this tightrope of criticism in love that builds up mountains of hate and enmity between them. Experienced tempters who don't get over-eager and tip their hand can keep this going for years, even a lifetime! Always appreciate the nicety of subtle sins. We are devoting an ever greater number of sins to the Tolerance category, no one condemns others that they be not condemned themselves. Don't let them ever remember that human condemnation is a real thing, albeit one they have no say in.
             Affectionately, Screwtape

The Death of Communication

When I read 1984 my favourite part was the appendix, "Principles of Newspeak". I believe I've described elsewhere the concepts of reducing vocabulary significantly, eliminating shades of meaning and creating words that are easy to say without paying attention to what you are saying and meaning. The purpose of all the modifications was to make any unorthodox thoughts (from the perspective of Big Brother) unutterable. Or if uttered to be nonsense words and sentences to an orthodox hearer. Orwell believed the government would cripple language to subdue the proletariat. Interestingly the exact reversal is happening. The masses are using glutted language to cripple the government.
I read an article on a lawyer who is working on creating legislation so that people can have short-term marriage contracts. I understand the perspective, some 70,000 divorces are sought each year in Canada. What I don't understand is why what she is describing has need of legislation or filing under "marriage". Doesn't it already exist as "common-law" or "dating"? So now gay people who have managed to get the legal right to marry can say, "I just got married." To which someone will reply, "cool, how long of a contract though?"
The over saturation of definitions in a single word create words without meaning. If a word can mean multiple things in the same context you might as well use a different word. Unless the purpose is simply to obfuscate or to outright confuse the hearers.
The same issue is present in pronoun use and gender identification. If gender is something that can be objectively defined then it should remain a classification and be seen on licenses and birth certificates. If it is not objective but is subjective and ineffable then it should not be used to classify and should be done away with. If my thinking that I am a girl is just my opinion and not based in my chromosomes and sex organs then how do I know that is what I am? What I perceive as "feeling like a girl" might actually be what a rabbit "feels like". But a rabbit can't tell me what it "feels like" and neither can another girl. Either gender is objective and should remain a physical distinction or it is subjective and should be removed altogether.
(I'm trying to form my thesis on the basis of language alone and not on moral or political grounds. If I have failed to remain impartial perhaps it is that it tends to be moral and political vocabulary that are most affected by what I describe.)
Do we want words to mean less as in Orwell's satire, or more as in contemporary English? Either extreme is equally devoid of meaning, and either extreme, when it reaches completion, is irreversible.

Snakelips #1

Dear Snakelips,

Since it has been so long since Wormwood's Consumption I deem it time to again take an apprentice. Though it has been very few human years since the time of Wormwood's tempting, it seems long to them, and indeed much has changed. Our Philological Arm continues to make advancements, in English alone we add thousands of words each year, effectively diminishing their ability to understand and relate to each other. Yes! Even though it was the Enemy that gave them this ability to communicate in spoken language it has ever been conducive to our aims. Let me explain to you some of the current strategies, firstly, the use of generalizations. We have the humans always focus on things that are too great for their temporally-challenged perspective. Because it is impossible for them to understand how even one other human thinks the use of generalities completely frustrates (which is good) and confuses (which is better). You see, confusion is an extremely uncomfortable state for their befuddled minds to be in (especially if we have been effective with Inflation of the Pride) and the human always seeks to get out as quickly as possible from it, without admitting a limit to their faculties. So the moment they get close to actual insights, we confuse them and they step back to view the general picture again. Perhaps you understand how this is useful to us already? We get them thinking about things they can't possibly solve and then their natural limitations drag them into endless digressions of how to define the generalities, and if we are efficient we spin them around with words like "Dehumanizing, Objectifying, Offensive, etc." Thereby we have them attacking the cinemas and Culture for issues like the over-sexualization of females (it is a great victory that they have yet to notice the over-sexualization of the males, or the fact that it, too, is a problem), instead of changing their everyday interactions with each other.
  Another helpful and amusing development is the creation of what they call "social media". With the invention of the internet our Father Below has seen a great opportunity to encourage the natural narcissism and get each human competing with total strangers for fame and attention. The number of meaningless words being bandied about is a great credit to His ingenuity and resourcefulness. And with diabolic irony they call these spouts of drivel by a word that previously referred to the musical sounds the Enemy created for one of his creatures.
  In application, try to get your patient entangled in a cause. Not a real and effective cause (our Father forbid that they pay attention to those), but a vague and transient one. We want them ever attacking the symptoms and never looking for the diagnosis. Have her sign up for one of these on-line personal sharing sites - or, better yet, all of them. Make sure she spends little time in thinking of useful things to say and more worrying about how many humans are reading it. Tell me, is she the type who might write dangerous things, or the type who simply wants to be heard? If the first we should keep people from reading it, but inflame in her a sense of injury based on her neglected intellect. If the latter we will ensure her popularity but rub raw the insecurity by having her mocked by those who read it.

                                                                                  Affectionately, Screwtape

Rain... (but not the depressing Somerset Maugham version)

I searched relentlessly until verily I was footsore, but before despair swallowed me, behold: I found an end to my quest, though not the end I sought. Thus laden with my bounty beyond price, I turned my eyes and feet homeward. I considered as I grew close to the outer darkness that perhaps my dearly bought treasure might serve better out of the bag than in it, but loathe was I to remove the tags and garb myself in that den of thieves.
Alas, bane was I unto myself, for under the dimming sky I stood and Lo! a drop of rain, and soon I was cowering and flying as if the very Balrog of Moria pursued. And so I reached home safely, though damper than had I listened to wisdom and put on my new raincoat.