Theme Of Humility In The Screwtape Letters

Many Christians in modern-day international culture are very preoccupied by the pursuit humility. They believe that one must always be assessing and attempting to better oneself in this respect in order to grow in Christianity, for they are rightly told that pride is the root of all sins. On the surface, this self-reformation seems to be quite beneficial, but C.S. Lewis in the masterpiece The Screwtape Letters argues quite the opposite. People who are focused on themselves do not have room to be sufficiently focused on God. If self-improvement is needed, the acknowledgement of the fault in question with direct petitioning and glorification of God is all that would be needed to start the growth process. If people try to consciously fix their

own pride by sheer will-power, they are easily led into either an increase of pride, false humility, which is another form of pride, or degradation of God. If, however, these people who struggle with pride would keep their eyes on their creator, pride would be greatly diminished by the shift of focus.
First off, the definitions of pride and humility should be discussed to avoid any possible misunderstandings.

Many have the misconception that humility is the “acceptable synonym” to self-degradation. This is far from the truth, and instead of benefiting those who retain this theory, it only hurts them. The devaluing of talents or God-given not only introduces self-deception, but also diminishes the awesomeness of God. Instead, Lewis implies in The Screwtape Letters that God’s view of humility is quite different when Screwtape tells his nephew, “You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of humility. Let him think of it not as self-forgetfulness, but as a certain kind of opinion, namely a low opinion) of his own talents and character.” (63) One quote from Rick Warren that is commonly attributed to C.S. Lewis sums true humility up quite well, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others.” (Day 19) Pride, on the other hand, is more universally understood as being an inflated view of oneself or one’s talents. Pride is considered to be the first of the “deadly sins,” and is commonly considered to be the root of all sin. Pride is idolizing oneself, which violates the first and foremost commandment of having no idols. Every other sin is a result of the prideful assumption that the person knows better than God does. While it is relatively easy to define these terms and to understand them, it is much

more difficult to manage these concepts practically.
It is a common occurrence that when a human being notices that he is practicing humility, or really any other virtue, he becomes proud. This is illustrated in The Screwtape Letters when Screwtape relates to his demonic nephew how to ensnare man with this situation. He writes, “Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, ‘By Jove! I’m being humble,” (Lewis 63) and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear.” Screwtape further goes on to state that if the patient tries to end this newfound pride and succeeds in vanquishing it, he will be proud of his victory, and so on in this vicious cycle. The irrefutable truth of human nature is that without divine intervention, man will attribute to his own merit any success he can. The key in this scenario is to not let the thought, “I am being humble” to get into one’s head in the first place.
One way in which pride subtly weaves itself into a Christian’s walk is when that Christian tries to “act like a good Christian should act.” In The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape explains to his nephew how the “patient” is being humble.

He says, “The most alarming thing in your last account of the patient is that he is making none of those confident resolutions which marked his original conversion. No more lavish promises of perpetual virtue, I gather; not even the expectation of an endowment of ‘grace’ for his life, but only a hope for the daily and hourly pittance to meet the daily and hourly temptation! This is very bad.” (Lewis 62) In the patient’s “first conversion,” he was the one who made the resolutions, and expected things of God. Many would fail to find the pride in this at a cursory look, but a deeper analysis shows that these actions are rife this vice of pride. He is trying by his own ability to be a “good Christian.” Many Christians fall into the same trap. They do not rely on God and his mercy for their transformation, but in pride, they try to transform themselves by sheer willpower. It goes back to the definition of humility—that Christians’ main focus in life should not be in improving themselves, but rather placing importance on others and on God, and if this is done, then sanctification will

occur.
It is not God’s goal for his children to be completely unaware of any talent or gift that they may possess, but rather that, as Lewis puts it through Screwtape, “each man, in the long run, to be able to recognize all creatures (even himself) as a glorious and excellent things. He wants to kill their animal self love as soon as possible; not in His long-term policy, I fear, to restore to them a new kind of self-love—a charity and gratitude for all selves, including their own; when they have really learned to love their neighbors as themselves, they will be allowed to love themselves as their neighbors.” (65) God loves humans, and he wants humans to be able to love themselves with the type of love that reflects him. This is idealistic, however, in this temporal and fallen world.
Humility is a virtue which not many possess or even fully understand, but it is key for Christianity. It can only be achieved through focusing on God, and giving glory to him. Will-power and determination will only lead to further pride and depression, but if God is asked to help, he will not turn down his child. While pride will not be completely conquered in this life, there can definitely be progress all for God’s glory.