And so it begins. The first of the Screwtape Letters. Screwtape tells Wormwood to “Teach him to call it ‘real life’ and don’t let him ask what he means by ‘real’.”
But notice that it’s not at the beginning. Screwtape is responding to a letter that Wormwood wrote – but we don’t get to read.
In fact – we never get to read what Wormwood writes – much as we never really get to “hear” what Satan “says” to us.
Our world has really changed since I wrote the first version of this guide. And yet, as much as it’s changed, C. S. Lewis does have those things included in the letters from Screwtape to Wormwood. It goes to show, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Including us, as people.
As such, the question for the guide are likely to change more than I expected. It’ll be interesting to see how this ends up.
Screwtape Letter #1. Discussion Guide. "What is Real Life" is article #4 in the series: Screwtape Letters. Click this button to view the titles for the entire seriesWe are going to jump right in – so pay close attention to the characters!
Screwtape, Wormwood, and the patient
My dear Wormwood,
I note what you say about guiding your patient’s reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend. But are you not being a trifle naïve? It sounds as if you supposed that argument was the way to keep him out of the Enemy’s clutches.
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Don’t waste time trying to make him think that materialism is true! Make him think it is strong, or stark, or courageous—that it is the philosophy of the future. That’s the sort of thing he cares about.
1.1) What is the relationship between Screwtape and Wormwood?
1.2) Why does Screwtape call the man “the patient”?
1.3) Screwtape wrote: He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily ‘true’ or ‘false’, but as ‘academic’ or ‘practical’, ‘outworn’ or ‘contemporary’, ‘conventional’ or ‘ruthless. Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church.
How does our current culture, where everyone can have their own truth, and seemingly even that “truth” can change from moment to moment, affect our relationship with God? If you were Wormwood’s patient, would that help or hinder his attempts to get you away from God?
Real life
The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle on to the Enemy’s own ground….
By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result?
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Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it ‘real life’ and don’t let him ask what he means by ‘real’.
1.4) Who is “The Enemy” and who is “Our Father Below”?
1.5) What does Screwtape mean by “real life”?
1.6) Even as he tells Wormwood to keep the patient focused on “real life” – he is worried that “argument” – thinking & reasoning – will move the struggle to The Enemy’s ground. By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; Why would Screwtape be worried about this?
that inarticulate sense for actuality
Remember, he is not, like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (Oh that abominable advantage of the Enemy’s!) you don’t realise how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary. I once had a patient, a sound atheist,
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He knew he’d had a narrow escape and in later years was fond of talking about ‘that inarticulate sense for actuality which is our ultimate safeguard against the aberrations of mere logic’. He is now safe in Our Father’s house.
1.7) There is a statement that Screwtape makes which is very telling – it gives an insight into something he is worried about:
Remember, he is not, like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (Oh that abominable advantage of the Enemy’s!)
What is he talking about and why is this an advantage for God?
1.8) Screwtape told of a victory he had:
I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter-suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line for when I said ‘Quite. In fact much too important to tackle at the end of a morning,’ the patient brightened up considerably; and by the time I had added ‘Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind,’ he was already half way to the door. Once he was in the street the battle was won.
I actually experienced this. I mentioned it in the intro’s to the series. I was talking with my Father, a confirmed “I don’t need God because I have me” kind of person. I was finally beginning to get somewhere with him. But all of a sudden he declared, “I’m hungry, let’s go get lunch!” And it was over. I never got him back on the discussion again. Ever. Sadly, he died with that same mindset.
[/su_spoiler] [/su_accordion]Have you ever had any experiences like that?
Try to keep this question in mind as you continue through the series. Sharing actual experiences like the ones in the Screwtape/Wormwood letters literally brings the book to life.
do not attempt to use science as a defence against Christianity
You begin to see the point?
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Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defence against Christianity. They will positively encourage him to think about realities he can’t touch and see.
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Do remember you are there to fuddle him. From the way some of you young fiends talk, anyone would suppose it was our job to teach!
Your affectionate uncle
SCREWTAPE
1.9) Having already considered “reasoning” in 1.6, notice the statement Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defence against Christianity. This sounds so backwards from what many people believe to be the case. How is it that science – which is so often used to try to disprove that God even exists – can be something that these devils are so afraid of?
