... according to sok ...: Screwtape Letters 25-28

the horror for us of enduring the same old thing
We love change; we love permanence. These things are contrary, and are balanced through rhythm.
Novelty, on the other hand, is the continued desire for the 'new', without the balance for the old. The continual desire for the new puts us at odds with the familiar, and distances us from the reality of our lives.
The demand for novelty "diminishes pleasure while increasing desire", passing from innocent sources of pleasure to those forbidden
Be careful of what we are chasing (the 'new' for the sake of the 'new'), as well as what we are cautioning ourselves against (the old, familiar, permanent, because it is old, familiar, permanent)
When trying to determine whether or not to do something, keep it simple: is it kind? is it pure? is it loving? Steer clear from is it couth? is it relevant? is it fashionable?
"We have trained them to think of the future as a promised land which favoured heros attain - not as something everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is"

Letter 26: The selfishness of being unselfish

Opening paragraph: a bit confused. Maybe Lewis is saying that by ignoring today's issues under the codeword of charity, you are just delaying the inevitable (that said issue must be addressed), and that you are giving opportunity across time for unhealthy seeds to grow between you and the other. Or maybe he isn't???
Unselfishness -vs- Charity, which look similar. The latter is actually for another person's benefit; the former may be solely for your own.
The battle of who can be more unselfish, beyond reason... leading to frustrated discourtesy, as each party refused to be out-unselfished, an "elaborate and self-conscious unselfishness"

From AeB: I'm inclined to think that this issue is much more 'British' in cultural context than 'American', although I may just be fooling myself.

Letter 27: The Forbidden Question: Is it True?

When we acknowledge (to God) our distraction away from God, we are in a good position to return before Him. Our movements towards and away from God are of ultimate importance to Him. If a sin in us awakens us to our state, and motivates us to repentance unto life, then in its own way, said sin has been turned on its head for the purpose of good.
In the battle of daily prayer, keep it simple. Do not over-spiritualize.
The challenge of the value of praying to an all-knowing God... why bother?
God "does not foresee the humans making their free contributions in a future, but sees them doing so in His unbounded Now. And obviously, to watch a man doing something is not to make him do it."
In reading from those who have come before us, we ought to focus on the eternal question "Is it true?", rather than the intellectually stimulating questions "Is it contextually appropriate, culturally sensitive, applicable to our frame of reference...."
Screwtape's advice: Cut generations off from each other. Prevent the passing of wisdom, and the learning from mistakes.

Letter 28: Ultimate Importance

Our misperception: death is the ultimate evil; survival the greatest good.
If Wormwood cannot overcome the active faith and reliance upon the Enemy of his patient in his youth, then be patient, and allow "the long dull monotonous years of middle-age prosperity or middle-aged adversity [to be] excellent campaigning weather", to dreary the patient's soul away from the Enemy.
"Prosperity knits a man to the world". Are you finding your place in this world, or is this world finding its place in you?
Youth has the godly advantage of a lust for life and a acknowledgement that nothing is permanent in this life. Age can forgo both of those opportunities, trading living for security, and clinging to each day, masked as 'maturity'.

... according to sok ...