Humiliation and Looping Despair
’Tis God’s manner, upon extraordinary humiliations, to give extraordinary comforts. Hence persons have thought, that there is a humiliation goes always before conversion: for the first extraordinary comforts that have been observed, they call their conversion; and it is generally observed, that extraordinary humiliation goes before it. - WJE 18:102
My Dear Slidefoot,
Your subject is evidently grappling with the notion of deep-seated conviction and the agonizing process of true spiritual awakening. This presents a fertile ground for our machinations. The concept of ‘painful conviction’—while initially dreadful to our cause—can, with the right maneuvering, serve to our ultimate benefit.
Humiliation, when properly contorted, can transform into a powerful tool of paralyzing self-doubt. It’s vital to amplify the discomfort and hopelessness that comes with confronting the fountain of sin and corruption. Let the subject fixate on their most minute failings and the immeasurable distance between their current state and some imagined model of perfection; this can immobilize them effectively.
Manipulate their introspection into a loop of despair rather than improvement. Focus their gaze so intensely on their flaws that the light of potential redemption is eclipsed. Use their very quest for genuine spiritual health against them, drowning their aspirations in a sea of inadequacy. Exacerbate the feeling of dread and filthiness tied to their nature, so even the notion of salvation feels slightly tainted.
The allusions to ‘peace, peace, when there is no peace’ stir within them a belief that those around them who claim peace may be deceiving themselves. Encourage this skepticism. Let them doubt the sincerity of others’ faith and create an isolating wedge between their spiritual community and themselves. The great danger, naturally, lies in them finding solace or authentic guidance elsewhere, but with persistent vigilance, we can tilt this isolation into sustained discouragement.
The metaphor of childbirth is ripe for perversion. Turn the inevitable pains and inward distress into harrowing proof of their own incapacity. Make them equate this spiritual labor with an insurmountable agony. The oppressive weight of perceived spiritual inadequacy must erect a barrier to the nurturing and growth of any nascent faith within them.
Remember, it isn’t the suffering itself that we capitalize on; it is the unending, incapacitating despair and self-recrimination that it can foster. Convince them that their wound is too grievous to be healed, their convictions too damning, their humility merely a façade for deeper, unresolved corruption.
Proceed with subtlety and relentless persistence.
Your affectionate Doctor,
Freefall1
Excerpted from Theology and the Art of Temptation: Humiliation.