C. S. Lewis torqued his brain by thinking demonically to write letters as an older demon, Screwtape, instructing a younger demon, Wormwood. Screwtape wants to teach Wormwood how to ruin the life of his human patient. This intriguing idea, combined with Lewis’ brilliance, still commands a wide readership since its first publication in the 1940s. With an informed imagination, Lewis pulls back the curtain of the physical world to engage the psychology of spiritual evil that we all may gain wisdom for living a meaningful life. The Screwtape Letters is filled with helpful lessons for everyone—whether you’re a Christian, Buddhist, or agnostic
I’ve read the book a few times wanted to share six takeaways with you which I’ve found useful for my journey.
1. Think About What You Think About
In chapter one, Screwtape encourages Wormwood to cause his patient to focus upon only what his sensory experience brings to mind. Screwtape thinks one of the worst things that can happen to people is that they begin to focus upon cosmic realities—upon big ideas concerning what is good, true, beautiful, and meaningful.
Whether your hectic life contains a full schedule, gobs of email, and a dirty counter or you were brought up to think only about the now, this lesson encourages us all to take time to think about more than what our eyes see and ears hear. Lewis, from the very beginning of this crafty book, bids you and me to elevate our thoughts above the corporeal into the cosmic.
And while we can’t dwell there but must live in the now, I think we can gain clarity for our priorities and do what matters more often if we only take a moment to think. So how can we do this? Think about what we think about in order to be more intentional about what we think about. Then we can do what matters more often.
2. Tune In To Your Tone
Chapter three contains one of my favorite takeaways—tune in to your tone…especially at home. Wormwood’s patient, a young man, lives with his mother. Screwtape encourages Wormwood to bring his patient’s attention to his mother’s particular tones of voice and countenance that express irritation.
The longer people live together, the more easily each one notices those expressions of disgust in the other. Then each learn to use these expressions to annoy the other which creates a toxic home. No thank you.
You can counteract this toxicity by tuning in to your expressions to notice how you respond to your roommate, and then you can ensure your expressions are encouraging and affirming rather than repulsive and condemning. Something as small as your tone of voice produces massive consequences in the long haul of your relationships.
3. Be You Wherever You Are
This important idea comes from chapter ten when Screwtape encourages Wormwood to tempt his patient into being his pretend-self. Most of us enjoy being the normal one in the group and we don’t enjoy being the oddball—the elephant among ostriches. So we pretend to be who we aren’t to be like who we are with.
Screwtape mentions that all people tend to become who they’re pretending to be. If this is true, then we should, at the very least, pretend to be someone we would like to become and not pretend to be someone merely for the sake of being the normal one in the group—if there is such a thing.
However, it’s probably better to simply be ourselves—our best selves, I might add.
4. Do What You Enjoy Because You Enjoy It
This point is the twin brother to the prior point—but they’re not the same (check out chapter thirteen). Screwtape chastises Wormwood for allowing his patient to read a book which the patient actually enjoyed and to take a walk which the patient actually liked. Screwtape wants Wormwood’s patient to engage activities with only a sense of duty and no sense of pleasure.
This is like working out because it is good for us instead of actually enjoying the workout. Or reading a book because it is in vogue rather than having a sincere interest in the story or content. To engage life with a strict sense of duty rather than duty mingled with joy will sap the life in your days. Seriously.
This does not mean we all should only do what we enjoy, but seek for joy even in the duties of life—because the duties of life like our relationships, vocation, niceties, the DMV, etc. are the stuff of life. Since we will be miserable if we avoid them, we might as well embrace them with gratitude, intentionality, and joy. Life is easier this way even though life isn’t easy.
5. Live As If You Don’t Own Yourself
The notion of ownership, while necessary, creates a false reality. In chapter twenty-one, Screwtape wants Wormwood to induce his patient into thinking he owns more and more areas of his life—more than he really does.
Even though each of us own belongings and each purchase private property, our ownership of it does not capture the fact that it could cease to be ours at any moment by some force stronger than we. Then we carry the notion of mine to our bodies and our time which cause us to see misfortunes to our time and bodies, especially those caused by others, as a violation of our right to ownership. And to live with this deep sense of rights concerning ourselves elevates our self importance…and then makes us irritable from those perpetual misfortunes. We gain enemies and high blood pressure while relief and ease eludes us.
Demons know what they’re doing…at least Lewis’ constructed demon does. Many inconveniences begin with our perception. So how should we move forward?
We find the sweet spot through exercising responsibility and taking ownership of our lives—and by maintaining the belief that the hands gripping and controlling our lives are not our own because we don’t truly own ourselves. Just as Screwtape hints: all time which comes to us is not from us—it is a gift. We are stewards of this gift of time, not owners.
6. Allow Space For Differences In Your Relationships
Though we all would agree with this as common sense, we feel its difficulty the moment we try to move from cerebral adherence into tangible practice. It’s just hard. In chapter twenty-four, Screwtape wants Wormwood to tempt his patient into self-righteousness—particularly by finding a small circle of friends who agree on the exact same issue and then, using this assumption, to categorize who can and cannot be friends. The circle becomes insiders and everyone else outsiders.
It’s easier to hang out with people who agree with our view of the world—whether it be chocolate over vanilla, republican over democrat, Dallas over Fort Worth, or whatever…. For some, this is easier for some than for others, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Times of bickering over our opinions chance us all, but we have the option to stay out of the dog fight.
Expect and embrace the differences by affirming you don’t have all the knowledge to make intelligible decisions in every circumstance, you aren’t the owners of others, and others are human just like you. Let them make their opinion.
If we don’t allow space for differences in our relationships, then a subtle form of pride creeps into our lives. The more the pride creeps, the more alienated we will become. The more this pride creeps, the more fragile all our relationships will be. And that’s no fun.
In this short article, I merely skim the surface of Lewis’ deep series of letters from Screwtape. The compact letters are worth a slow reading to internalize the core of Lewis’ argument and wisdom in each. I highly recommend it and hope this brief article whets your appetite. If you’ve read Screwtape Letters, I’d love to here your thoughts on it.