Humility and the Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

Last Sunday we had the privilege to go Max McClean perform the Screwtape Letters at the Lansburgh theater in DC. We had front seats where we could see everything up close and personal, including the increasing perspiration on McClean's brow and the explosive spit as Wormwood's failure became clearer and clearer.

As you may have guessed from my last entry, I was fighting the pride of humility BIG TIME.

Uncle Screwtape covered the subject quite well [section XIV].

I see only one thing to do at the moment. Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove! I'm being humble", and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt—and so on, through as many stages as you please. But don't try this too long, for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed.

I so needed to hear that letter. I urge you to go to
http://members.fortunecity.com/phantom1/books2/c._s._lewis_-_the_screwtape_letters.htm
and read the entire section XIV.
I should probably memorize it.