- I think that by "prosperity knit a man to the world," Screwtape is talking about the fact that as people get older and if they become successful with age, they feel more connected to the world. Prosperity in the world causes people to enjoy being involved with things in the world. Screwtape says that people feel that they are finding their place in the world, when in reality the world is finding it's place in them. As someone becomes successful in life over the years and they gain more influence, money, and a higher position, they begin to feel at home in the world. Like the world is the place they are most comfortable in. If someone is successful in life, they probably don't want to give up anything that has come with their success.
2. What do you think of the following? "...death as the prime evil and survival as the greatest good..."
- I think that to the demons, they believe that death is the worst thing that could happen to their patient, while survival is the best thing. Death would be detrimental to a demon's efforts if their human had recently converted to Christianity. A demon would want their human to live so that they can tempt them as they grow old. If a demon's human died and they had converted to Christianity, that demon would have "lost" his human to the Enemy. Survival is considered the greatest good to a demon because as long as a demon's human is alive, there is always hope to bring him away from the "Enemy" and to the "Father." When a human is alive and not afraid of death (i.e., not sick, there is no war going on, etc.) the human often becomes complacent toward the idea of dying. This type of thinking causes people to think that they can do whatever they want because there will always be tomorrow, however tomorrow is not promised for everyone.
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