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My dear Wormwood,
I had noticed, of course, that the humans were having a lull in their European war__what they naively call " The War" !-— and am not surprised that there is a corresponding lull in the patient' = S anxieties_ Do we want to encourage this, or to keep him worried? Tortured fear ad stupid confidence are both desirable states of mind. Our choice between them raises important questions. The humans live in time but our Enemy destines them to eternity.
He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself; ad to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity: Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them: He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, 76 or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present CrOSs, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure:
Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present. With this in view_ we sometimes tempt a human (say a widow or a scholar) to live in the Past. But this is of limited value, for they have some real know- ledge of the past and it has a determinate nature and, to that extent, resembles eternity. It is far better to make them live in the Future Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear.
Also, it is unknown to them, so that in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities_ In word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity; It is the most com- pletely temporal part of time -for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays. Hence the en- couragement we have given to all those schemes of thought such as Creative Evolution, Scien — tific Humanism, or Communism;, which fix men a affections on the Future, on the very core of temporality Hence nearly all vices are rooted: in the future. Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead. Do not think lust an 77 exception; When the present pleasure arrives, the sin (which alone interests us) is already over _ The pleasure is just the part of the process which We regret and would exclude if we could do SO without losing the sin; it is the part contributed by the Enemy, and therefore ex- a Present.
The sin, which is our perienced in contribution, looked forward: To be sure, the Enemy wants men to think of the Future too-just $ much as is necessary for now planning the acts of justice o charity which will probably be their duty tomorrow The duty of planning the morrows work is today' duty; though its material is borrowed from the future; the duty, like all duties, is in This is not straw splitting: He the Present. does not want men to give the 'Future their their treasure in it: We do. hearts, to place His ideal is a man who, having worked all day for the good of posterity (if that is his vocation), washes his mind of the whole subject, commits the issue to Heaven, ad returns at once to the patience or gratitude demanded by the moment that is passing Over him.
But we want a man hag-ridden by the Future_haunted by visions of an imminent heaven Or hell upon earth ready to break the Enemy's commands in the present if by s doing we make him think' he can attain the one or avert the other depen- 78 dent for his faith on the success or failure of schemes whose end he will not live to see_ We 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: It follows then, in' general, and other things being equal, that it is better for your patient to be filled with anxiety or hope (it doesn' t much matter which) about this war than for him to be living in the present_ But the phrase "living in the present" is ambiguous It may describe a process which is really just as much concerned with the Future as anxiety itself. Your man may be untroubled about the Future, not because he is concerned with the Present, but because he has persuaded himself that the Future is going to be agreeable. As long as that is the real course of his tranquillity, his tranquillity will do uS good, because it is only piling up more disappointment, and therefore more impatience, for him when his false hopes are dashed:
If, on the other hand; he 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 79 dwell, his state is very undesirable and should be attacked at once. Here again, our Philological Arm has done good work; try the word com- placency" on him_ But, of course; it is most likely that he is (living in the Present" for none of these reasons but simply because his health is good and he is enjoying his work_ The phenomenon would then be merely natural. All the same, I should break it up if I were you. No natural phenomenon is really in our favour And anyway, why should the creature be happy= ?
Your affectionate uncle SCREWTAPE 8q
Your affectionate uncle,
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