2b
Some artists are blessed with patrons who fall quickly to these various circular attacks which spiral them down into themselves and their sin. However, many patrons eventually realize the futility of the fight. Soon, they will take a sort of "breather" and try a different approach. They will learn all they can of the sin itself. "Know Thy Enemy" will become their credo as they begin reading anything on lust and how to combat it. It is here where their quiet desperation becomes of great value in reducing the efficacy of the Enemy's propaganda. They are like obese people who are told to eat less, exercise more, and eat good foods. Do they follow what is perhaps difficult, but plain and sensible? No, they want ease at any cost, no matter if the means is complex, ridiculous, or even harmful. They spend a fortune on powders, diets, surgery, psychiatry...anything that will supposedly do the work, take the responsibility, and cure them quickly, completely, and permanently. They change tactics at a frenetic pace because of the renewed hope each offers. That is the reaction of most humans to almost any real problem.
The analogy is clear. Your patrons have been told plainly what to do. They must flee sin, but if they fail, they must repent, ask forgiveness, and renew their vigorous resistance as best they can, depending on the Enemy to sustain them. Anything that espouses an ideal different from that will most likely be of good use to us. Steer him to the more intelligent, liberal, psychological authors who counsel that there is no real right and wrong, but only Reasons Why Things Happen. Your patrons may buy into this philosophy of non-responsibility because there is an element of truth in it. People really are likely to minimize, amplify, idealize, and otherwise distort past experiences to the point of clouding their present perceptions and their future actions. That is the sort of atmosphere that we want and need, but it is in the patron's sin nature, from where all his hardships and pain spring, that we make headway, and not merely from incidents that happen to him which are beyond his control. They may also buy into this philosophy because they have become battle-weary. The Enemy's promises and exhortations may seem stale and ineffectual at this time, so he may convince himself that less stringent demands on his spiritual discipline are a gift from the Enemy, though he wouldn't admit it. He's tired. He wants to rest, to let down his guard. He's Only Human. Doesn't he have a right to rest?
There are several elements to Reasons Why Things Happen, much too many to address even in a year of classes. However, there are some elements more profitable to the sin of lust. One very promising attack emerging among our newer artists is that of Self Esteem. When used by one person to excuse the sinful actions of another, it becomes our parody of the Enemy's moral virtue of Compassion, and it is fast becoming the most popular means of corrupting humanity that ever existed. There are two smokescreens thrown up to confuse patrons as to what exactly Self Esteem is. The first is the idea that it is some almost liquid, quantifiable part of a person and that the quantity goes up and down in relation to a person's actions. Thus, a person committing terrible crimes suffers from "low self esteem", and a person making great contributions to society has "high self esteem". The second is the idea that self esteem is a fixed almost physical part of a person, like a pancreas, and that the health of this "organ" determines to a large extent the actions of a person. In this sense, low self esteem becomes more of a mental illness or even a physical disease. Yes, they think that.
Thus, a patron may use "low self esteem" or the effort to eliminate it as a means to justify their lust. They may say, "I watch dirty movies because of my low self esteem. If only I could build up my self esteem!" Or they may say, "I am having an affair with my neighbor's wife because she makes me feel good about myself. She bolsters my self esteem." These smokescreens are effective because humans are unable really unwilling to see as we do that self esteem is never a matter of "highness" or "lowness", but of spiritual position; do their thoughts and actions tend more towards us or the Enemy? What they term "high self esteem" can be guided by ruthless selfishness just as easily as what they term "low self esteem". Any perceived difference is due strictly to image advertising.
Be sure not to neglect the tried and true avenues of Reasons Why Things Happen. Recently, there has been an artistic revival centered on physical/spiritual hypochondria, and while the results have been mediocre on the whole, there have been some outstanding works. Eroticon's work leaps to mind. The idea is to convince the patron of either or both of two beliefs concerning his lust: A) There is something physically wrong with him, or B) he is being spiritually attacked much more than other men. To choose the correct belief, you must apply an important spiritual principle: attack the area in which the patron feels most knowledgeable. That is the area where he will most likely depend on his own instincts and pride. In the past, the second belief was much more useful because of the lack of anatomical knowledge and the emphasis on spiritual things, but presently, with the increase in scientific knowledge and the corresponding arrogance, the first belief is rapidly gaining ground. Already they have begun to build a biological basis for homosexuality. Soon they will build one to accommodate nymphs and satyrs, and lust will have become merely a physical condition. It is not that far yet, but the atmosphere is there, and you should see to it that your patron inhales as much of it as possible, so at the time of condensation, he will be ready to drink. It is unlikely to find a patron who is silly enough to believe that his lust is due to excessive hormones, a brain aberration, or too much blood to the penis (that's for the future!), but it is very easy to get them to believe that their sexuality as a whole is merely physical and psychological in nature, and that therefore, any problems with lust are merely physical and psychological. Getting a patron to believe that about any sin in their life (when it is not true) is of inestimable value. It can diminish his effectiveness to less than nothing, and he may waste his life away in therapy and treatment.
The second belief is an excellent means for making martyrs and mental wrecks. There's several variations to this belief. Sometimes, a patron might be seduced with the idea that the Enemy has permitted us to "gang up" on him, and each failure on his part will produce some luscious anger and hatred toward the Enemy for allowing him to be tortured in this way. Sermons and devotions become spotted, then damp, then soaked with anger and hatred, and the patron begins viewing the Enemy's righteous wrath with sort of a cynical sarcasm, and he becomes bitter because the Enemy "won't help him with his sin". At other times, a patron may be susceptible to the belief that hell has a special vendetta against him. No less than twelve legions of demons conspire to yank his soul to hell. No doubt, there are men whom we hate especially, but certainly not those who stand a good chance of filling our stomachs. We wouldn't dream of a real all-out attack on them; no, they must be quietly and gently guided. That's really all that's needed as long as they don't put up a fuss. But having them believe otherwise is valuable. First, it puffs up the patron and usually yields an excellent crop of spiritual pride. They will listen to one of their flock telling of struggles with lust, and the patron's mind will be filled with pride and condescension: "Huh! You don't even know what suffering is! Why I...ah, but that's to be expected from these babes. I'll just comfort the little man. I've carried the vast weight of hell long enough, I expect I can carry his piddly little burden as well." Second, it gives the patron a kind of "out", for how can one man expect to consistently stand against the whole of hell? As a corollary, the patron will begin to feel he is special to the Enemy, one of His more important generals because he attracts so much of hell, and therefore he is entitled to a little more leeway in how he conducts his life. You'd be surprised at some of the ideas patrons latch on to! I remember one patron who took to visualizing the demons who hounded him and...but that is talk for social hours. Perhaps one of you might goad the story out of me in the cafeteria.
As he searches to "know his enemy" better, your patron will no doubt come across various accounts of the lust of other past patrons. Encourage him to compare his lust with theirs. Let him think that his lust is not nearly so "bad" as their lust. He is not a sadist, or a masochist, or anything of that ilk. He is simply a "natural, normal" man trying to control "natural, normal" impulses. And of course, he is doing many things the Enemy really wants him to do, so that must in some way "counterbalance" his lust. Now is a good time to reinforce in his mind the idea that he is incapable of what he terms "perversion" and to widen the dark chasm of denial between what he defines as perversion and the reality of perversion in his life. When he lusts, he is being perverse, but it should seem as anything but that in his own thinking. Use whatever rationale you like: he is only thinking lustfully, not acting lustfully; his puny, insignificant lust is nothing compared to his brother's; as long as he doesn't commit an actual physical act of lust with another person, no one will be harmed. As long as he thinks he is doing nothing "really wrong" and performs no spiritual act to combat his lust, he can fill his head with as much knowledge about us and his sin as he wants; the more the better.