I'm excited to be leading a Great Books Symposium for Gutenberg College of Lewis's classic work "The Screwtape Letters."
I find Screwtape Letters to be one of Lewis's most psychologically insightful works. As a fictional dialogue in which a senior demon instructs a junior demon in the art of temptation, Lewis pinpoints a number of fascinating thought patterns that are well worth a discussion.
Here are a few tantalizing excerpts in which the senior demon recommends getting people to live in the future, rather than the present:
"It is far better to make them [people] live it the Future…in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities…the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. ...Our [man's] worst qualities are aimed at the Future. Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead…He [God] does not want men to give the Future their hearts, to place their treasure in it. We [demons] do. ...We [demons] want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow’s end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the Future every real gift which is offered them in the Present…If, on the other hand, he [man] is aware that horrors may be in store for him and is praying for the virtues wherewith to meet them, and meanwhile concerning himself with the Present because there, and there alone, all duty, all grace, all knowledge, and all pleasure dwell, his state is very undesirable and should be attacked at once."
Details:
When: Monday, March 3, 7-8:30pm
Cost: $10
Where: Zoom (when you register, we'll email a link!)
Who: If you are a classical educator who is leading a discussion on Screwtape Letters, or a Lewis enthusiast wanting to get more out of this provocative work!
Whether you are leading a discussion on this work, or a Lewis enthusiast, I invite you to join the discussion!