I got your text about reading letter #11. I had a bit of a hard time with this letter. It provoked a lot of introspection and even a bit of shame, I must admit. Humor is a tricky weapon of Satan. It doesn't take much for things to digress and get out of hand when you are trading jokes or witticisms. It can get out of hand both in subject matter and also within the emotional response the humor elicits. A person can get away with saying so much when its couched as "humor."
In letter #11 it turns out that the couple the patient befriended in letter #10 enjoys laughter and Wormwood is curious as to how to utilize this to ensnare the patient. Screwtape explains to Wormwood that there are different causes of human laughter, and only some of them are really beneficial to their cause.
‘I divide the causes of human laugher into Joy, Fun, the Joke Proper, and Flippancy. You will see the first among friends and lover reunited on the eve of a holiday. Among adults some pretext in the way of jokes is usually provided, but hr facility with which the smallest witticisms produce laughter at such a time shows that they are not the real cause…the phenomenon is of itself disgusting and a direct insult to the realism, dignity, and austerity of Hell.”
Before discussing Flippancy, Lewis chooses to digress to talk about a dangerous aspect of humor. That is, its ability to justify the unjustifiable. Screwtape explains:
“(Humor) is an invaluable as a means of destroying shame. If a man simply lets others pay for him, he is ‘mean’; if he boasts of it in a jocular manner and twits his fellows with having been scored off, he is no longer ‘mean’ but a comical fellow…Cruelty is shameful-unless the cruel man can represent it as a practical joke. A thousand bawdy, or even blasphemous, jokes do not help towards a man’s damnation so much as his discovery that almost anything he wants to do can be done, not only without the disapproval but with the admiration of his fellows, if only it can get itself treated as a joke.”It is important for us to recognize that harm done in jest is still harm and as such should be avoided. This part however has the extra danger of convincing ourselves that we are in fact doing no wrong. Being sinful and being unaware of its consequences is a two-edged sword with which we ought not to play.
Finally, Screwtape discusses Flippancy - this is the one I struggle with the most. Flippancy is my most wielded form of humor. The danger in Flippancy is quite simply an inability to take seriously what we need to take seriously. Flippancy promotes an idea that there is nothing grave and this is problematic when trying to deal with weighty matters of the soul. In these cases we need to be serious and to accept the horrifyingly real consequences of the decisions we make. If everything is a joke, if the demons are funny little men with pitchforks and the angels little women with shiny circles floating above our head, then how are we supposed to quiet ourselves to listen to good and to make firm difficult decisions, particularly about sacred matters. As Screwtape says, “If prolonged, the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour-plating against the Enemy that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in other sources of laughter.”
So laugh. Laughter is good. But be careful about what you’re laughing about so that when the time to laugh passes you can cease laughing and start listening.
I have to admit that I've been a bit irritated with our family lately and some of the texting digressions. It seems like we ALWAYS joke. But as soon as someone tries to be a bit sentimental or spiritual, then the texting gets a bit nasty. I don't think we should berate each other for daring to talk about things that are and should be important to all of us. I think it creates unnecessary division and even some hurt feelings and it breeds irreverance. Sometimes it feels like our family likens sentimentality and spirituality to weakness and we know that McGivens are never weak.
One of my favorite quotes from President McKay kind of sums this up.
"Reverence is the noblest state in which a man can live in the world. Reverence is one of the signs of strength; irreverence, one of the surest indications of weakness. No man will rise high who jeers at sacred things. The fine loyalties of life must be reverenced or they will be foresworn in the day of trial."
To avoid using humor as a dangerous weapon, we must be compassionately considerate of all that is frail, and humbly mindful of all that is sublime. Would it not be better to “lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5) than to humiliate and disgrace someone we profess to love. When humor is such a powerful tool in building subtle bonds of brotherhood, in cheering those who suffer, and in teaching profound and memorable lessons, why should it be used to belittle and discourage? Those who profess belief in Christ should shape their humor in the light of Christ’s teachings. Being rejected from His kingdom because of a warped sense of humor would not be funny.
I'm probably overreacting, but its something that has been on my mind lately and I have felt very distant from everyone at a time when I could use some encouragement or support. I don't dare bring it up for fear of the responses I would get. Plus somehow it would turn into Julie not living in the house she wants to live in like all of the other textversations (I just made that word up) of late. There I go being flippant again!
I love you Mom! I hope you are doing well. You are in my thoughts and prayers constantly.
Holley
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