The Devil's greatest love - honesty
The Devil rests easy on hearing an honest word, for now he is both seen and accepted. The small honesty of man is the Devil's fodder. Nowhere is this small honesty found in greater abundance than in the comic. "Let's be honest" he says, "Let's be frank about the wretchedness of our lives: let's all laugh!"
Do you feel uneasy in the company of such wits? Have you ever wondered why people with such obviously talented and articulate minds should devote their lives to the entertaining of the mindless herd with such trivia? Are you suspicious? Have you noticed how everything must be a joke with them, and how their voice changes as they shift from one role to another, always one step ahead of reality.
What are they running from with so much fear? Why the need for such an armoury of humour, insight and imagination? It is enough to arouse fear in any man, when even the strongest animals are seen running for cover.
The enemy is of course - the truth. The wit has a mind which forces many truths upon him, but his vision is all too human for such alien things. He preserves his life with humour, by desperately dousing his stinging eyes with the eyedrops of wit.
Humour is a will to power. It seeks power over all that limits it by exposing those very limitations. Some have even gone so far as to call this "self-knowledge"! But I tell you, the humour of this world is a small honesty indeed. With it does man find a temporary freedom from his self-made shackles. With it, we become more secure inside our prison by accepting our imprisonment. It is as though, through the help of humour and honesty we have managed to get ourselves a more comfortable prison cell.
Small honesty's greatest fear, and death to the Devil, is the man of Great Honesty. Such a man is like a sinking ship. The more honest he becomes, the faster he sinks. And just as people abandon a sinking ship, women and children first, so do people abandon the honest man. He rapidly becomes a liability rather than an asset.