I cleaned up what I posted at 129 early this morning before I rushed out the door.

And What If That Soul Is Really Lost?

Among the things I added was a snippet from CS Lewis that ought to rattle all of us. What if Mr Crook intended to mislead us to raise our hopes because he displayed that shred of common human decency? It could well be a ploy of our Conditioners, and as our wizened host’s initial instincts saw, it really is a mocking — as in feigning all our good inclinations — to drive another cynical nail into our sensibilities. IOW, he may well be lost to his Conditioning. In which case, we must let him just go.

CS Lewis spoke in 1943 of Conditioners. “The process which, if not checked, will abolish Man goes on apace among Communists and Democrats no less than among Fascists.” Destroying our sense of decency is an utmost in that goal.