His whole effort, therefore, will be to get the man’s mind off the subject of his own value altogether. He would rather the man thought himself a great architect or a great poet and then forgot about it, than that he should spend much time and pains trying to think himself a bad one. Your efforts to instil either vain glory or false modesty into the patient will therefore be met from the Enemy’s side with the obvious reminder that a man is not usually called upon to have an opinion of his own talents at all, since he can very well go on improving them to the best of his ability without deciding on his own precise niche in the temple of Fame..The Enemy will also try to render real in the patient’s mind..the doctrine that they did not create themselves, that their talents were given them, and that they might as well be proud of the colour of their hair.. Even of his sins the Enemy does not want him to think too much: once they are repented, the sooner the man turns his attention outward, the better the Enemy is pleased. C.s. Lewis
About This Quote

The Prince of Darkness knows the truth here. The Enemy would rather you think of yourself as a bad man than as a good man who believes he is a bad man. By convincing you that you are bad, the Enemy can make you more submissive to his ideas, more willing to believe that everything he says is correct. Even if you repent, the Enemy still has you in his grip. After all, if you think that you are bad, then why should you repent? The best way to defeat the Devil is to refuse to be persuaded by him.

Source: The Screwtape Letters

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