Inner Driving

  Letter 25 Notes Today in Letter 25 we revisit several themes from previous Letters like TIME, PLEASURE, CONFUSION and how to use them to the benefit of effective tempting.   We shall also hear of some new tactics, particularly corrupting CHANGE and PERMANENCE with NOVELTY and the horror of the SAME OLD THING. First, there are a number of words and phrases that need to be defined. 1.       First is the word “MERE” and the way it is used in the 1 st paragraph in conjunction with Christianity.   You will remember that one of my favorite C. S. Lewis books is Mere Christianity.   When Screwtape uses the words “MERELY” or “MERE” he is referring to the basics or essentials of Christianity.   More on that in a moment. 2.       Hedonist – you will remember from Letter 22 refers to someone devoted to the pursuit of please as an ultimate end.   A Hedonist is obsessed with personal pleasure. 3.  ...

  Letter 21 Notes Today we begin with Letter 21 and I will tell you that this is definitely one of my favorites.   In it, C. S. Lewis through Screwtape and Wormwood explores the philosophical and theological questions of what I am going to call “TIME and MINE.”     It seems that Wormwood needs a new approach with his temptations.  Since the Patient has experienced a profound second conversion experience, many of the previously tried tactics are no longer working.  So Screwtape suggests to his nephew demon an attack on the Patient’s PEEVISHNESS.   Now if you had to look that one up, so did I!  Peevishness is another word for those times when we are CRANKY, IRRITABLE, and just plain GRUMPY.  And this is best used as a subordinate attack.  In other words, use something that makes the Patient feel GRUMPY and Screwtape suggests TIME. Do we ever have enough time to get everything done?   Screwtape instructs Wormwood on that common...

Week 4 Notes Letters 13 and 14 are about the patient’s new conversion experience.  Letter 13 – Real, Positive Pleasures ·        A second conversion o    Probably deeper than the first o    Grace – the asphyxiating cloud… present to the patient under certain modes not yet fully classified. ·        2 pleasures o    Read a book for the pure enjoyment o    Take a walk to the Old Mill ·        Experience real positive pleasures o    A touchstone of reality §   Elbow to the ribs bringing him back to his senses o    The opposite is Romanticized views of the World submerged in self-pity §   Childe Harld or Wether – see notes o    To disconnect a man from God, the first aim is to detach him from himself.   ·        God wants us to lose ourselves “to abandon the clamour of self-well.“ o ...