A. Thesis
The following question was asked by Jerry Bradshaw “What role can or does the Perennial Philosophy play in a world devoid of compassion, love, peace and unity?”
This question shouldn’t be taken to heart. Let’s remove God from our thought experiment and observe (since God cannot be removed except in our imagination, and since only without God there can be no compassion, love, peace or unity). Aldous Huxley warns students of the Perennial Philosophy to render themselves”loving, pure in heart and poor in spirit” the reason for this? “We do not know” He says. Our experiment is guaranteed not to be enrichment itself, possibly but only the means through which enrichment is gained.
Hardcore Christians have been publicly against the new Lord of the Rings trilogy, a movie series directed by New Zealander Peter Jackson, since the very beginning. Even the Harry Potter children’s books by JK Rowler recently received a fare dose of Christian criticism in the media. These Tolkein books were our favorites as children! Magic is the word that’s got the public so upset.
Eckhart wrote “He who seeks God under a settled form lays hold of the form, while missing the God underneath it.” Children don’t know God except by form, furthermore countless centuries have passed without our knowledge of God except by forms and phenomenon. As Philosophers seeking the supernatural are like children, knowledge when trying to apply law to the world without God to them not so impossible. In this way keeping “pure in heart, but poor in spirit”
The stories of Tolkein are about good and it’s triumph over evil. Magic is the theological thorn which has montheistic religions on edge. It’s properties are indescriminate, unlike the fervor of the lord which only manifests itself to those who are worthy. Let us assure the reader immediately that magic is not real, except in this experiment it will act as the “settled form” of God that hints us towards a divine presence.
After watching the movies in the “poor spiritedness” required by nature of the assignment, we discussed the aspects of the divine limiting ourselves to the evidence presented by Tolkein’s stories and movies. Five major themes emmerged which were applicable with our current perception of the Divine Reality: Idolatry, Good and Evil, Destiny, Transcendence and Charity. Each theme is based on the evidence given by Tolkein, primarily from the movies (although the Silmarrillion, the bible of Middle Earth, proved a valuable cross reference tool) toward a cohesive model of reality from a Middle Earth perspective.
I. Idolatry – image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object.
The idolator is not always so old fashioned as toworship non tactile objects. Idolatry typically extends Politcally, Technologically and Morally. To imagine a knowledgable and modern person who worships a candy bar seriously or cries and mourns daily for a picture that they drew a long time ago, is absurd. One particular way of idolization is apparent in the regard by Rohan soldiers towards their horses, their armor, shields and weapons all persistantly bear the head of a horse. Rohirib are also quite covetous of their homeland and glory, as is evident in king Theodin’s battle cries.
When Frodo was left the ring of power by his uncle Bilbo he then offered it to the wizard Gandalf, being too frightened to keep it himself. Gandalf refused, saying “I would use this Ring from the desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.” The ring rewarded it’s wearers like the King Isildur with power, the intoxicating kind. Betraying later Golem, Boramir, and even Frodo one by one to their peril.
The story of Ainulindale tells of Aule, the Holy One of the earth who was neither hated or adored by the other holy ones of air, water and fire. “The delight and pride of Aule is in the deed of making, and in the thing made, and neither in posession nor in his own mastery; wherefore he gives and hoards not, and is free from care, passing ever on to some new work.” He is impartial toward the object itself, only tredges onward in work for the sake of continually working. This is not much different from object worship, instead of being fooled into believing the object is something false, the worshipper is fooled into believing in an object which only exists in psychic form.
The dwarves of middle earth, in the words of Elrond “hide in their mountains seeking riches. They care nothing for the troubles of others.” The concept of worshipping wealth is not unheard of. This is a more common form of idolatry seen also in forms of nobility and/or glory in humans and in Elves is seen as idolization of ritual and ceremony itself not as a means to an end but an end only, which is also true typically in the case of shire-folk and their celebration of birthdays.
Christy draws attention to the acts committed by ring bearers like Golem, who actually murdered his own brother to take away the ring of power and asks: In the case of hobbit idolators who worship with pitchers of ale, versus Golem, who killed his brother for an idol, are both merely worshipping? The ring has the potential to cause evil irresistable acts, therefore the covetousness invoked by the ring transmits to acts which are simultaneously the Will of Evil and the Will of Good.
II. Good and Evil – “as we certainly are unable to do any evil, or occasion any pain to God, it is evident by the light of reason—for faith is altogether a different principle—that in relation to the Supreme Being and as affecting Him, moral evil can have no existence.” – Voltaire
In an excerpt from the elvish story of creation:
Iluvatar, creator of the universe tells the holy ones he’s created “since I have kindled in you a great Flame Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices.” Then the holy ones are began playing him beautiful music, using their own skills. Soon Melkor,the rebellious and most skilled of the holy ones “sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself.” Iluvatar reminds him after several outbursts “Melkor shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not it’s uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite.” From this we can begin to discern the contents of good and evil according to the Perennial Philosophy in concordance with the Third Age.
The essence of evil is equal and oppositely proportional to that of good. They are yin and yang. Jessica sees a trend appearing in the famous wizard’s duel between Gandalf and his former friend Saruman which results in a stalemate on the roof of Saruman’s stronghold. Saruman’s research of the ring eventually drove him to idolatry of it. According to the tale of The Rings of Power and the Third Age “Too long he had studied the ways of Sauron in hope to defeat him, and now he envied him as a rival rather than hated his works.” Again, the ring seemed to have even indirect ability to cause evil acts by those it was attracted to.
The evil transmitted by the ring is instrumental to Sauron the deciever, who is himself an instrument of Melkor, the rebellious Holy One. Melkor is an instrument of Iluvatar, the unmoved mover and creator of the world. Iluvatar created Melkor endowing him with more skills than any of the other Holy Ones, instrumentally inserting evil into his creation then encouraging it to go fourth. This functionality seen in the order of things as set fourth by the creator is adequately described by Arwen the elf as a “Path” which is mysteriously laden before us.
III. Destiny – an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future.
If good and evil are the product of a God-like
designer, then the design itself is an instrument to the will of the creator. Gandolf tells Frodo while hiking through the mines of Moria “There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.” He acknowledges countervailing forces, at least two of them: good and evil, the manner in which these forces are applied is the Will of the Divine, or Destiny.
Although the analogy entails a “path” or “way”, some kind of thin line cutting through a larger space, it’s just an analogy. The invisible deterministic force is apparent whenever cooincidental goings-on are going on.
Destiny relates to the determined outcome of anything from a previous moment in time. We know this because of both the vision Frodo sees in the magic mirror in the forest of Lothlorien, as well as the vision seen by Elrond in which he sees death in the king Aragorn’s future. The visions of the future they both saw turned out to be false. As Galadriel says “Things that were, things that are and some things that have not yet come to pass…It is what will come to pass if you should fail.” indicating that the future is still uncertain for Frodo.
In the elvish tales of creation, the creator Iluvatar dwelt in a place called the “Timeless Halls” and when his creations the Holy Ones became restless he created the World in a dwelling called the “Deep of Time”. Some chose to abide in the Timeless halls with Iluvatar, while the rest were banished willingly to the Deep of Time forever.
IV. Transcendence – the state of excelling or surpassing or going beyond usual limits
Two nearly identical but distinguished realities occupy the same space. One is the Shadow World, which is not the everyday person’s waking reality, rather a veiled version of the world only accessible by magic. When asked by Samwise if his companion was going to die from the stabwound given to him by a wringwraith, Aragorn replied “He’s passing into the shadow world. He will soon become a wraith like them.” Wringwraiths are immortal, their bodies die in the Regular World, yet they continue to exist within the shadow world. They once were men just like Frodo, but were changed into wraiths by their greed.
Gandolf mentions a possible third place of being which is an otherwordly paradise. “No, the journey doesn’t end here” he says “Death is just another path… One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass…And then you see it. White shores and beyond. The far green country under a swift sunrise.” He speaks in recollection of his own visit to the afterlife, the result of a fight with a Demon, which he returned from unharmed, unlike the Demon.
Rituals and ceremonies taken place in the Regular World have the potential to transmit energy into the afterlife. The insatiable pend for glory displayed by the Rohan warriors is thought to carry over with them onto the next existence. King Theodin’s last words were “I go to my fathers in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed.” This demonstrates another connectivity between worlds in which the acts committed during a lifetime can carry over to the afterlife. Glory, in regards to the Rohirib, is spirtual money in the bank.
The interraction between worlds is mysterious, yet through Frodo’s first hand experience some assurance of the Shadow World is gained. Through Gandolf’s descriptions of death and rebirth after his encounter with the Demon, we come across knowledge of a third distinguishable realm. A discrete, orderly system that connects different realities is sometimes manipulated, and therefore it exists.
When describing to Gimli the dwarf the ghosts who dwelt in the Dwimorberg, Legolas said to him “Long ago the Men of the Mountain swore an oath to the last king of Gondor. To come to his aid, to fight. But when the time came, when Gondor’s need was dire, they fled…Vanishing into the darkness of the mountain. And so Isildur cursed them: never to rest, until they had fulfilled their pledge.” Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli met these ghosts and Aragorn summoned them to fight for him to regain their honor.Afterwards the ghosts vanished at the utterance of Aragorn who said “I hold your oathe fulfilled.” In similar examples short phrases in Elvish carry magical value that can be used and converted to some kind of motion or heat. Though the words chanted by Aragorn meant very little, when uttered at the corresponding moment in time they created a reaction that made the ghosts dissapear into thin air.
V. Charity, Mortification, Suffering
Iluvatar’s gift of the world that the Holy Ones helped create was the very first act of charity. Samwise the hobbit acted with charity in his pagentry of Frodo. Hobbits are creatures with a natural tendency for charity, as seen displayed by Pippen the hobbit upon meeting the King of Gondor. He dropped immediately to his knees and said to the king ” I offer you my service, such as it is…” to repay him for the death of his oldest son.
The most popular form of charity is seen in ritualistic giving of alms to the poor. The higher form of charity involves sacrificing ones selfness and personality as an offering to a higher authority, as Pippen did by prostrating himself before the king.
The highest and most divine form of charity is suffering. Frodo the hobbit tells his friend Sam after being rescued from Orcs, just after Sam has returned the ring to him ” You must understand… the Ring is my burden. It will destroy you, Sam.” Frodo accepted his destiny as the ring bearer and in so doing suffered for the sake of all the people in the world. Since he was the only one able to resist the evil effects of the ring, Frodo was the perfect instrument in it’s destruction, he eventually lost all identification with his former self and accepted his destiny which included suffering.
Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, placed himself and his dying son on an altar as his city was being seiged by armies of Mordor. “House of his spirit crumbles. He is burning. Already burning!” said the insane king as he attempted to sacrifice both he and his wounded son alive. Charity like this, in it’s most carnal form is repulsive to most civilized people, and seems dangerously similar to idolization of ritual. It is not the preffered means to affinity with the divine. Yet for all the psychic dangers of ritual sacrifices, Frodo’s personal sacrifice saved the entire world from an evil awakening.
The Uruk Kai Orc men created by Saruman fight on command and to the death are capable of executing strategy. The senior captain of Mordor named Gothmog during the seige of Minas Tirith rallied his troops saying ”The age of Men is over! The time of the Orc has come!” They believe that their obedience to Sauron will be rewarded, that the Orc people will see better times.
The Living Dead of the Dwimorborg sought a similar deliverance, one which only the heir of Isildur could bring them. Bilbo also seeks Deliverance in his old age.
The skeleton of Orc army battalions are tiers of leadership starting with Orcs commanding goblins and goblins commanding animal-like Trolls. These creatures are the very epidemy of mortification, like the Holy One of the Earth Aule, neither gives or hoards anything, but rather works for the sake of working.
Works Cited
“Lord of the Rings- Fellowship of the Ring” Peter Jackson. New Line Cinema, Dec 2001
“Lord of the rings- The two Towers” Peter Jackson. New Line Cinema, Dec 2002
“Lord Of the Rings- The Return of the King” Peter Jackson. New Line Cinema, dec 2003
J.r.r. Tolkien: The Silmarillion. George Allen & Unwen Publishing 1977
Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy. Harper & Row Publishers. New York 1944
Huston Smith: The World’s Religions. HarperSanFrancisco. New York 1958
Voltaire: Dictionaire Philosophique. Penguin Publishing Strang, London. 1949
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