Letter IX
Title:
Undulation, Moderation and Phases
Fundamental Principles for Exercising Discernment
Pleasures are God’s creation, not the devil’s. Screwtape mentions: ‘We distort pleasures
“An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula”. In this
chapter, we see more closely the effects of Undulation on these pleasures and faith
dependent on the character of the “patient”.
Peaks:
Power of resistance higher (generous and imaginative)
Sensual temptations lead mostly to “milk and water phenomenon” of being in love
Energy higher for use in work, play and innocuous merriment
Troughs
Low power of resistance
Sensual temptations easily drawn to perversions
Inner world drab, cold empty
“Obedience is the road to freedom, humility the road to pleasure, unity the road to personality.” C.S. Lewis
Return to Outline
Vocabulary
Key Words
Letter IX
Pleasure
Undulation
Knowledge of Right and Wrong
Progress
Modern Biographies
Phases
Religion
Historical Point of View
Letter IX
I hope my last letter has convinced you that the trough of dulness or "dryness" through
which your patient is going at present will not, of itself, give you his soul, but needs to be
properly exploited. What forms the exploitation should take I will now consider.
In the first place I have always found that the Trough periods of the human undulation
provide excellent opportunity for all sensual temptations, particularly those of sex. This may
surprise you, because, of course, there is more physical energy, and therefore more
potential appetite, at the Peak periods; but you must remember that the powers of
resistance are then also at their highest. The health and spirits which you want to use in
producing lust can also, alas, be very easily used for work or play or thought or innocuous
merriment. The attack has a much better chance of success when the man's whole inner
world is drab and cold and empty. And it is also to be noted that the Trough sexuality is
subtly different in quality from that of the Peak—much less likely to lead to the milk and
water phenomenon which the humans call "being in love", much more easily drawn into
perversions, much less contaminated by those generous and imaginative and even
spiritual concomitants which often render human sexuality so disappointing. It is the same
with other desires of the flesh. You are much more likely to make your man a sound
drunkard by pressing drink on him as an anodyne when he is dull and weary than by
encouraging him to use it as a means of merriment among his friends when he is happy
and expansive. Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and
normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy's ground. I know we have
won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the
pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to
encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or
in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from
the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its
Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure
is the formula. It is more certain; and it's better style. To get the man's soul and give him
nothing in return—that is what really gladdens our Father's heart. And the troughs are the
time for beginning the process.
But there is an even better way of exploiting the Trough; I mean through the patient's own
thoughts about it. As always, the first step is to keep knowledge out of his mind. Do not let
him suspect the law of undulation. Let him assume that the first ardours of his conversion
might have been expected to last, and ought to have lasted, forever, and that his present
dryness is an equally permanent condition. Having once got this misconception well fixed
in his head, you may then proceed in various ways. It all depends on whether your man is
of the desponding type who can be tempted to despair, or of the wishful-thinking type who
can be assured that all is well. The former type is getting rare among the humans. If your
patient should happen to belong to it, everything is easy. You have only got to keep him out
of the way of experienced Christians (an easy task now-a-days), to direct his attention to
the appropriate passages in scripture, and then to set him to work on the desperate design
of recovering his old feelings by sheer will-power, and the game is ours. If he is of the more
hopeful type, your job is to make him acquiesce in the present low temperature of his spirit
and gradually become content with it, persuading himself that it is not so low after all. In a
week or two you will be making him doubt whether the first days of his Christianity
were not, perhaps, a little excessive. Talk to him about "moderation in all things". If you can
once get him to the point of thinking that "religion is all very well up to a point", you can feel
quite happy about his soul. A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and
more amusing.
Another possibility is that of direct attack on his faith. When you have caused him to
assume that the trough is permanent, can you not persuade him that "his religious phase"
is just going to die away like all his previous phases? Of course there is no conceivable
way of getting by reason from the proposition "I am losing interest in this" to the proposition
"This is false". But, as I said before, it is jargon, not reason, you must rely on. The mere
word phase will very likely do the trick. I assume that the creature has been through
several of them before—they all have—and that he always feels superior and patronising
to the ones he has emerged from, not because he has really criticised them but simply
because they are in the past. (You keep him well fed on hazy ideas of Progress and
Development and the Historical Point of View, I trust, and give him lots of modern
Biographies to read? The people in them are always emerging from Phases, aren't they?)
You see the idea? Keep his mind off the plain antithesis between True and False. Nice
shadowy expressions—"It was a phase"—"I've been through all that"—and don't forget the
blessed word "Adolescent",
Analysis Matrix – Letter IX
Undulation, Moderation and Phases
Area of Life
Devil’s Advice
God’s Way
Questions, Observations and Strategies
Pleasure
a. “Our research has not enabled us to
produce one”
b. Try to work AWAY from natural
condition, at times, ways or degrees which
he has forbidden
-least natural
-least redolent of its maker
-least pleasurable
“Ever increasing craving for ever
diminishing pleasure”
a. He made all pleasures
b. enjoy in natural
condition in ways and
degrees healthy for
work, play and
innocuous merriment
a. Gen 1:31 “it was very good” Ps16:11
“you will fill me with joy in your presence”
Ps.84:11 “no good thing…withholds”
b. Pr. 25:28 “who lacks self-control”
1 Thessalonians 5:8 “let us be selfcontrolled”; 2 Timothy 3:3 “without love,
unforgiving, slanderous, without selfcontrol, brutal, not lovers of the good”; Titus
2:2 “be temperate, worthy of respect”
Undulation
Pleasure
Work away from the natural a. a.
condition of any pleasure:
-Evoke Distortions
-Exploit them in troughs
-Troughs
Sexual Temptations (man), desire of thing
s(woman)
Empty Inner Life
Avoid Peaks (more energy, but powers of
resistance are at their highest)
b.Use pleasure at times and ways
forbidden by Him (extremes)
-Away from the natural condition
(empty mind)
-Increasing craving and
Diminishing pleasure is the formula.
- Take all – give nothing
Pleasure is God’s
Invention a. a. ever
increasing pleasure IN
OBEDIENCE till
daylight
Do not deprive one
anotherI Cor 7:4-5,Exodus
20:17(You shall not
covet)
b. Use them at the right
time Moderation and
Obedience
-Everything is
permissible, not all is
good
God wants to fill us
a. Jas 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is
from above”, “In His time he makes all
things beautiful” (Ecc 3:11) or: Pr 4:18 (Till
perfect day )
-Ro. 8:28 (Things work together)
Obs: It is difficult to pray and sin:
Obedience and prayer: Eph6:18 (Pray at all
times)
b. Wise heart will know the proper time
(Ecc8:5); Ecc. 7:18b “The man who fears
God will avoid all extremes”; I Cor 6:12
“Everything permissible…but I will not be
mastered by anything”
“My Father will honor he who serves me”
John 12:27
Eph 3:16
Analysis Matrix – Letter IX
Undulation, Moderation and Phases
Knowledge of
right and wrong
a. Explore the thought of troughs
- Keep knowledge out of his mind
a. Seek Wisdom
Learn from each other as
not be as infants “tossed
back and forth”
a. Proverbs 4:7-9
Eph 4:14 “by every wind of teaching”
Religion
“Consider Jargon, not reason”
Attack on faith:
a. If Despairing Type:
-Keep out of the way of Christians
-Direct attention to appropriate passages
-Desperate design to recover feelings
-Sheer will power:
2. If Hopeful type:
-acquiesce (content) to low
Temperatures (not so low after all)
-1st days excessive
-Moderation in all things (religion is
good upto a point),
-moderated religion is as good as none
-Trough is Permanent
Faith is a Phase(avoid the true / false
question)
Losing Interest - This is False
-Hazy Ideas (fashionable ideas)
Progress and development
Historical Point of View
Modern Biographies
(always emerging from Phases)
- Blessed word: Adolescent
Whatever you do, do it for
the glory of God. “Life is
religion” i.e. All of life.
a. Despair = lack of faith
- Do not be anxious …
- Peace that surpasses
understanding
b. do not be Lukewarm Rev. 3:16 (obs: Laodicea
was the wealthiest church in
Phrygia)
Make EVERY thought
captive to Christ (2Cor
10:5)
Decide what is right or
wrong, let your yes be yes
and your no be no. (there
are no gray areas).
Be strong in the faith!
Philippians 3:8 (consider everything a
loss), I Co. 10: 31 (do it all …glory of
God) ;
a. 1Pe.5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on
him”; Ph. 4:6-7 “the peace of God,
which transcends all understanding”
Romans 3:3 (What if some did not
have faith? Will their lack of faith
nullify God's faithfulness?)
Philippians 2:13 (for it is God who
works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose), Isaiah
61:3 (a garment of praise instead of a
spirit of despair)
Romans 6:15 (sonship, not fear), 1Cor
9-24-27(run a race)
See next page:
Pilgrim’s Regress: Mr. Sensible
Eph6:10-18 (Armor of God)
Questions for Discussion and
Further Reflections
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What is the difference between trough and peak sexuality?
Why is Hell so often given credit for which belongs to God (the
creator of pleasures) and vice-versa?
Has this any bearing on the current vogue of such terms as “sex”
and “having sex”?
Read and discuss Romans 14:14-23.
Why does Screwtape consider a “moderate religion” better than
no religion at all?
How do we get out of troughs?
Why does Screwtape consider a moderate religion better than no
religion at all?
What are the phases in vogue now?
How is Ephesians 6:10-18 (Armor of God) so important at the
trough of our lives?
In what ways Lewis suggests that our faith is attacked?
How can we help each other as to deal with our troughs?
See Moral Heresies and Extremism’s (see next page)
Moral Heresies and Extremisms
(*)
Subjectivism: the subjectivity of goodness and badness
Emotivism: The reduction of goodness and badness to emotions
Positivism: the idea that man posits values with his will, invents goodness and badness
Cultural relativism: the relativity of goodness and badness into place, or culture
Historicism: the relativity of goodness and badness to time
Utilitarianism: the reduction of goodness to utility, or efficiency
Instinctualism: the reduction of goodness to biological instinct
Hedonism: the reduction of goodness to pleasure
Egotism: the reduction of goodness to enlightened selfishness
Pragmatism: the weakness of goodness and the power of badness
Optimistic humanism: the denial of the existence of human badness
Cynicism: the denial of the existence of human goodness
Rationalism: the simplicity and plainness of goodness
Nominalism: the reduction of religion to tradition
Secularism: the reduction of goodness to the merely horizontal (human)
Pantheism: the identity of goodness and badness
Moralism: the idolization of moral goodness as ultimate
Nietzscheanism: the goodness of badness and the badness of goodness, the “transvaluation of all values”
(*) Compiled from Peter Kreeft
Letter IX
Resistance Strategy
Virtues and Stock Responses to Cultivate (PostModern Context)
Resistance Strategy
Virtues and Stock Responses to Cultivate (Post-Modern Context)
Mr. Sensible
When they had walked rather more than a mile John drew Vertue's attention to a light a little
back from the road: and I saw them follow it till they came to a gateway and after that to a
door, and there they knocked.
"Whose house is this?" said Vertue when the servant opened to them.
"This is Mr. Sensible's house," said the servant. "And if you are benighted
travellers he will receive you gladly."
Then he brought them into a room where a lamp was burning clearly, but not very
brightly, and an old gentleman was seated by a blazing wood fire with his dog at his feet and
his book on his knees and a jig-saw puzzle at one side of him spread out on a wooden
frame, and on the other a chessboard with the pieces set for a problem. He rose to greet
them very cordially but not hastily.
"You are very welcome, gentlemen," said Mr. Sensible. "Pray come and warm
yourselves. Drudge" (and here he called to the servant) "make some supper ready for three:
the usual supper, Drudge. I shall not be able to offer you luxury, gentlemen. The wine of my
own country, cowslip wine , shall be your drink. It will be rough to your palates, but to mine
the draught that I owe to my own garden and my own kitchen will always have a flavour
beyond Hippocrene . The radishes, also of my own growing, I think I may venture to praise.
But I see by your looks that I have already betrayed my foible. I confess that my garden is
my pride. But what then? We are all children, and I reckon him the wisest among us that
can make most sport out of the toys suitable to that condition, without seeking
to go beyond it. Regum aequabit opes animis . Contentment, my friends, contentment is the best
riches. Do not let the dog tease you, sir. He has mange. Down, Rover! Alas, Rover! thou little
knowest that sentence is passed upon thee."
"You are surely not going to destroy him, sir?" said John.
"He begins to ail," said Mr. Sensible. "And it would be foolish to keep him longer. What
would you? Omnes eodem cogimur . He has lain in the sun and hunted fleas enough, and now,
poor fellow, he must go quo dives Tullus et Ancus . We must take life on the terms it is given us."
"You will miss your old companion."
"Why, as to that you know, the great art of life is to moderate our passions. Objects of
affection are like other belongings. We must love them enough to enrich our lives while we have
them--not enough to impoverish our lives when they are gone. You see this puzzle here. While I
am engaged on it it seems to me of sovereign importance to fit the pieces together: when it is done
I think of it no more; and if I should fail to do it, why I would not break my heart. Confound that
Drudge. Hi! whoreson, are we to wait all night for our supper?"
"Coming, sir," said Drudge from the kitchen.
"I think the fellow goes to sleep over his pots and pans, "said Mr. Sensible, "but let us
occupy the time by continuing our conversation. Good conversation I reckon among the finer
sweets of life. But I would not include diatribe or lecturing or persistent discussion under that head.
Your doctrinaire is the bane of all talk. As I sit here listening to your opinions--nullius addictus --and
following the ball wherever it rolls, I defy system. I love to explore your minds en deshabille .
Nothing comes amiss--j'aime le jeu, l'amour,les livres, la musique, la ville et la champagne-- enfin
tou ! Chance is, after all, our best guide--need I call a better witness than the fortunate cast of the
dice which has brought you beneath my roof to-night?"