And here comes the ninth commentary on C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. This time we are going for happiness, so if you enjoyed the sixth entry on suffering too much you might not enjoy this one as much. Let’s start with a synopsis of the chapter.
In the ninth letter, Screwtape is doing what he does best, admonishing Wormwood for his shortsightedness. Apparently, the patient is going through a dry spell and Wormwood is optimistic that the “trough of dullness” will in of itself serve his victim’s soul on a golden platter. Ever the realist, if one could refer to a devil as such, Screwtape insists that his nephew must still put in real work and proposes “sensual temptations, particularly those of sex” as ideal. The idea here is to lead the victim to perversion. He makes argument for his point of view as such:
You are 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. 44
There are a few worthy themes in this letter. But what pulls me the most is the notion of happiness as a preventive measure for vice. So let’s get to the meat on the cutting board. (I am making my own idioms and not very good at it as you can see, too bloody.) But we can’t talk about this happiness that C. S. Lewis is sprinkling in the air without talking about Aristotle and Bobby McFerrin––actually, we can. But I don’t want to! In truth, McFerrin’s song, “Don’t Worry, be Happy!” sounds like a chant for fools. The lyrics seem to be written for the sort of person we would call a LOSER, easily, in our contemporary time. Thus the sort of happiness McFerrin is referring to probably digresses from the ancient philosopher’s theory on the happy man. But McFerrin’s target is the exact sort that Screwtape has in mind, no? And yet, Screwtape’s side note on why happiness could be viewed as a protection shield for the soul brings to mind Aristotle’s concept of happiness. Before we differentiate, let’s hear our man, Screwtape:
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 enable 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’s least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. 44
In this way, Lewis argues that pleasure, which I will generalize here as happiness, is a divine gift. If you asked me, Wormwood’s victim would probably be better off singing, “In every life we have some trouble / But when you worry, you make it double,” than reading the Nicomachean Ethics. Why? Well obviously the former is catchy, to the point, therapeutic, optimistic and I dare say empathetic. The latter, on the other hand, argues that a person cannot be claimed happy until after death. After death, if one can be said to have self-actualized and lived a consistently virtuous life, they can then be labeled as having been a happy human being. The fact that Aristotle’s person could not easily be targeted by the likes of Wormwood or even Screwtape is a salient point: happiness that comes to one through the virtues is happiness that is not easily made perverse, I would argue. Because this sort of happiness is gained through years of self-work and can’t be found at the bottom of a bottle nor can it be found through carnal indulgences. But I believe it generates a spirit that can sing themselves silly even when they are going through hardships.
Here’s a theory: Aristotle’s happy person might be the exact sort of person who would readily hum McFerrin’s hit song. Why? Because he possesses humility and patience and understands presence to include, “give us this day our daily bread.” He also has courage but believes he has backup in, “ask and it shall be given to you.” Of course, Aristotle argues that the ethical man deserves and gains success and recognition. Besides, his physiological needs are well taken care of because of his virtuousness, so he might not struggle with the rent. But success and recognition might come to you after death, and as long as you’re alive, trouble will find you. Besides, we have come to learn that success means different things to different people, no? Perhaps the most important point then is a seemingly silly question: Does virtue make one happier or more miserable, and is one virtuous when one is happy or vicious?
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J. A. Odartey
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+ Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil. London: William Collins, 2016. Print.
+ Shields, Christopher, “Aristotle”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2023/entries/aristotle/>.
