Thursday in the First Week of Lent: Letter 6 Notes
Letter 6 The Propers for Today can be found HERE. The patient is now facing the possibility of military service in World War II. England entered WWII in September 1939 and all young men between the ages of 18 and 40 were required to register for military duty. In December of 1942, the age range was extended to all men up to age 60 and all single women and childless widows between the ages of 20 and 30 years old. The suspense and anxiety over whether or not the Patient would actually be called up for active duty and sent overseas was a sure-fire weapon for “barricading a human’s mind against the Enemy.” Screwtape tells Wormwood that this as AN OPPORTUNITY for “maximum uncertainty, so that his mind will be filled with contradictory pictures of the future.” Once again, Wormwood should maximize emotions like fear and false hope to build feelings of suspense and anxiety. With all his thoughts focused only on what could happen to him...