Satan's Nightmare: The Presence of Truth and the Truth of Presence

A couple posts back we touched on the ontological structure of the now, and how it extends in all directions, i.e., forward, back, in, out, up, and down.

And just as I wrote that sentence, it occurred to me that we may combine these terms in various ways to signify different dimensions; for example, "past-out" refers to what I was doing in the past, whereas "past-in" involves who I was. Looking back, even though I can remember doing any number of things, it's much harder to remember who I was, i.e., who was the person who thought and did those stupid things. What an ass!

Anyway, Screwtape devotes a whole letter to this subject, -- the present -- giving some tips to young Wormwood on how to exploit it for diabolical ends. For example, he says that "Tortured fear and stupid confidence are both desirable states of mind," as the former takes one out of the moment, while the latter strips the moment of all depth. And height. Stupid confidence, for example, is what makes an Obama or Krugman or Maddow (picking a few names at random) so small.

Apparently the depth of the moment varies, depending upon our capacity to take things in. Indeed, we have written about this subject in the past, i.e., the idea that the present is analogous to the aperture of a camera, which allows the light to stream in. Concentration must be analogous to a smaller f-stop, in that it is conducive to greater depth of field. Paradoxically, we can see much more this way; put conversely, it is possible to be blinded by the light.

"The humans live in time," writes Screwtape, but the adversary -- God -- "destines them to eternity."

He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point in time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity.

Note how the moment is characterized by vertical extension. A human moment is very different from an animal moment, which is either no moment at all, or totally momentary. In other words, for the animal, there is no conscious presence, or no presence of presence. For the presence of presence is, if I am not mistaken, God. In other words, we can only be present because God is: we are because I AM.

Probably not clear. I remember Schuon writing something to the effect that God manifests as Truth and/or Presence. Some things just make sense the moment you hear them. This is one of those things:

The saving manifestation of the Absolute is either Truth or Presence, but it is not one or the other in an exclusive fashion, for as Truth It comprises Presence, and as Presence It comprises Truth. Such is the twofold nature of all theophanies; thus Christ is essentially a manifestation of Divine Presence, but he is thereby also Truth: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” No one enters into the saving proximity of the Absolute except through a manifestation of the Absolute, be it a priori Presence or Truth (Schuon).

Getting back to Screwtape, I suppose he knows this as well as anyone. Since the last thing he wants is for people to be saved, it follows that the first thing he wants is for people to not understand the paragraph above: the presence of truth and the truth of presence. Why? Because

Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present -- ether meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure (Lewis).

Or sometimes just blogging, during which I am totally present to presence, for what it's worth.

Satan wants to scatter us from the present, or perhaps just scatter the present like a covey of doves. Anxiety.

Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present. With this in view, we sometimes tempt a human... to live in the Past.

However, "It is far better to make them live in the Future," which "inflames hope and fear." And unlike the past, which is at least knowable, dwelling in the future makes a man "think of unrealities":

In word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time -- for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.

I like to think that even God doesn't know the future, since the future is totally devoid of reality. He does, however, know every possible future (as well as the ultimate end). This is how I reconcile our freedom with God's omniscience. I know there are other ways, but I prefer mine.

At any rate, Screwtape mentions a number of ideologies that are very effective at ousting humans from the presence of eternity, such as communism, secular humanism, scientism. These and others such as feminism, progressivism, and radical environmentalism are all excellent escapes from reality. That's what Satan wants, "a man hag-ridden by the Future -- haunted by visions of an immanent heaven or hell upon earth."

We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present.

Millions of our fellow citizens are in total denial of the present and are filled with irrational anxiety and an even more irrational hope to eliminate the anxiety by giving more power to the state. So, Satan may not exist, but he sure is effective.