Watch Out for the Log!

So I am LOVING The Screwtape Letters so far. I must confess, it's been a busy week, so I was lucky enough find a great audio recording of letters 1-15 to listen to at work. It's definitely a different experience than reading the text from a book, but I think this narrative bore the performance well. Anyway, for this week's post I'd like to focus in on Screwtape's concept of jargon and how that plays out in the letters as well as in our world..

“Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don't waste time trying to make him think that materialism is true! Make him think it is strong, or stark, or courageous—that it is the philosophy of the future. That's the sort of thing he cares about.”

Screwtape's vision of jargon, effectively used, acts a means of sounding highly reasonable while actually saying nothing of consequence at all. In this, as in so many things, Lewis diagnoses a common ill of modern man. In this information inundated and yet highly uninformed era the key appears to be to sound intelligent rather than be intelligent. Concerns are focused on reputation rather than rightness. Within the mind of the “patient” this means an inundation with those ideas which must be readily received, “intellectual” and most importantly: unquestioned.

For Screwtape's school of temptation this unquestioning is practically the motto. Do not let "the patient" question his composite god, his assumptions of his mother, his irritations with his neighbor, and least of all his own intentions. Time and again, in nearly all of his directives, Screwtape pushes at this point. The sort of actual thinking involved in real questioning might result in some sort of real answer, and that is in direct opposition to the purpose of jargon. The individual must firmly believe that his or her basic assumption is irrefutable true and further that listening to any argument with any real intent to question or engage would be merely a waste of time and energy. Lewis exemplifies this type of arguement on the most basic, domestic level in Screwtape's discussion of the minor irritations and petty arguments between the patient's mother and himself.

Jargon, considered in the context of a conversation with another, rather than the endless circles within a single human mind, is one of the major frustrations of modern intellectual debates. Individuals reside behind only their own jargon, and speak based upon the assumption that nothing their opposition could say would ever be sufficient. Due to this factor, most arguments I find myself witness to (or part of) today are really just two individuals running circles around each other, with neither side attempting to really enter into a conversation, define their terms, or truly listen. In this situation of dialogue it becomes distinctly clear that Screwtape's "jargon" is in direct opposition to any sort of meaningful argument. And that is precisely his point.

Perhaps it calls to mind another of "The Enemy's" stories. Stated briefly, when you're going for the splinter in someone else's eye, watch out for the log! If nothing else, an intellectual adversary, truly engaged,is tremendously skilled at identifying splinters and logs of all sizes. Through active grappling, they offer a key opportunity to question oneself on all levels, which at very least may improve your arguments in the future, and at best might change your mind or even, Wormwood forbid, your life!