My Dear Screwtape,
I’ve
received some complaints from Central Command on your inability to lock down
sufficient numbers among the poorest inhabitants of that dreaded planet. Attacking
the wealthy is easy what with the camel and the eye of the needle sort of
thing, but the poor have always presented at one time the most populous yet
most difficult demographic to secure.
Yes, yes, I
know the Argentine Pontiff has been making things difficult. It was much easier
when the higher echelon clerics professed a more aristocratic view of class.
Sure, the Church has always helped the needy but an offensive this strong
hasn’t been seen for some time.
What’s He
doing up there? What’s He up to?
Unfortunately, all we can do is wait and see. It’s impossible for us to know at
any one time what His plans are. But He is acting very aggressively and that’s
troublesome. Our traditional stratagems grow increasingly impotent against His
efforts.
No matter.
If one thing can be said about humanity, it’s that they’ll always want more for
less. That is, more pleasure for less effort. This is a prime moment to aim at
causing spiritual atrophy among the humans. It works like so: Humanity’s
spiritual inclinations motivate it toward compassion – you’ll recall my attempt
at a definition from a previous letter. There are two means whereby the spirit
aims to deliver compassion: 1) Out of a sentimental attachment to another
person be they stranger, friend, or family – they may refer to this as feeling
sorry for someone; 2) Out of a sense of duty. They’d rather be doing something
else or nothing at all; but through will power, they ultimately take such action because
morality dictates it.
The first
one is a dead end for us. If someone is inclined to help another, it is very
difficult to tempt them away from it. We can try logic and attempt to
rationalize; such as convincing them that poverty is the result of some
character flaw and helping that individual would be encouraging their flaws.
But if you work them too hard, they’re likely to become inclined to your
temptations yet perform the charity anyway. The Enemy can "tempt" too. That’s when they get a taste of
what it means to truly behave morally – when it is the result of will power succeeding over what they desire.
Then, the person experiences such joy from helping others that it's liable to become a
grotesque habit.
The second
one backs them into a nice little corner but it can also backfire disastrously.
Suppose someone helps another out of a sense of duty; since humans are flesh
and blood, there’s a certain weariness that comes along with acting from duty.
Learn to tell when that weariness comes on, and strike then.
This is
what your students should be encouraging among the masses. Nearly all humans
possess a computer where they can access all the lies and propaganda our Troll Divisions spread around on the various sites advocating selfishness and damning of the poor.
Those without a computer have a television no doubt, and you can convince them
that they earned their leisure time. And when that revolting sense of duty
comes upon them, you can use this inertia to your advantage telling them: “Why
should they have a free lunch? You work. You have a job. Why can’t they?”
Do you see?
By convincing them to judge the less fortunate as lazy you can actually bring
them to a state of sloth themselves. Not only would they be committing the sin
of sloth, but the sin of hypocrisy as well. Quite a return, my dear fellow!
Quite a return!
The danger again comes when they experience the feeling they get from being willfully selfless.
It is an intoxicant of a most vile vintage. It’s beyond fermented, it’s putrid!
It clings to your nostrils like the stench from a smiling baby! Like the awful
purity of a virtuous orgasm! It makes me wretch just writing about it.
It makes us
wretch and howl, because it is Him making His presence known to our target. It
is a brief taste of what Heaven feels like to the souls of His faithful once
they enter. What’s more, He allows them this feeling whether they believe in
Him or not. But the real danger, I mean the real pain we experience from a
person sharing with the less fortunate is not the loss of their charitable soul…but
that the poor with whom these gifts are shared feel less desperate. That's the harder defeat. Just as the
charitable one gets that brief euphoric taste of Heavenly experience, the
recipient of such charity takes on the doubly disgusting disposition of one who
once felt abandoned but is now embraced.
So, if your
targets are in a state where their spirits are sentimentally inclined to help
others. Just let them go. Let them have their righteous cake and eat it to.
Inevitably, a time will come when another needs help and their spirit isn’t so
willing. When that time comes, remind them of all the times they helped someone
in need and now it’s someone else’s turn.
When you’ve
used this inertia to your advantage enough, you’ll start to notice a habitual
selfishness come over your subjects. Soon you’ll have them using their memories
of the few times they helped the needy to justify all sorts of marvelous
offenses. I’ve helped people in need; therefore I earned a prostitute. Or, I
once helped a fellow change a tire on the side of the road – I don’t need to
pray. Or, I work all day and my wife doesn’t have supper ready for me; I think
I’ll give her a whack across the jaw.
That’s the
approach. Note where the focus resides; it’s entirely dedicated to fulfilling
the whims of the self. That’s half the battle. The other half is in their
feeling of entitlement to their vices. Get them to think they’ve earned it. That
they’re too good to people who don’t deserve it and can therefore demand
whatever they wish of the world. Then when they don’t get it, it’s because He
failed them. That, my friend, is proper spiritual atrophy.
Your Merciful
Master,
Slubgob
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