Friday, December 27, 2013
On the World's Religions
Here are a couple of books everyone should read and keep handy as a reference. Religious Literacy, by Stephen Prothero, explains how Americans have become so woefully ignorant about faith, and aims to correct the problem by detailing the most essential things we ought to know about the bible and the world's major religions. God Is Not One, by the same author, gives a more in depth view of each of the world's major faiths, discussing what each sees as the cosmic problem faced by humanity and the divine answer thereto.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
EVERYTHING I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM READING THE LORD OF THE RINGS
I first discovered Tolkien when, in 5th grade, I was cast as Fili the Dwarf in a local children's theater production of The Hobbit that ran at the Reed Whipple Center. Reading the novel was a requirement for being in the Play. I loved the book, and was annoyed that it was described on the cover as "The enchanting prelude to the Lord of the Rings" rather than being able to be its own thing. But when I was a bit older, and I read the Lord of the Rings, I understood. I've re-read LOTR many times since. It was the book that turned me into a reader, and much of the reading I've done since, even today, has been motivated by an attempt to try to find something like what I experienced in its pages. Of course that's impossible. Mainly because I am, unfortunately, no longer 12. Nevertheless, the book has profoundly influenced my worldview on too many subjects to count, including these:
On materialism and the danger of being possessed by our possessions:
“It has got far too much hold on you. Let it go! And then you can go yourself, and be free.” (Book 1 Chapter 1, A Long Expected Party)
On faith:
“Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.” (Book 1 Chapter 2 The Shadow of the Past)
"'Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?' 'A man may do both,' said Aragorn. 'For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day.'" (Book 3, Chapter 2, The Riders of Rohan)
"And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise." (Book 6, Chapter 9, The Grey Havens)
On free will:
“The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again, Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one remaining instant in which to do so. He took the Ring off his finger.” (Book 2 Chapter 10, the Breaking of the Fellowship).
On the Nature and Limitations of Evil:
“The shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don’t think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them . . . .” (Book 6, Chapter 1, The Tower of Cirith Ungol)
On the Persistence of Evil and the Need for Preparedness:
“‘It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, master Warden,’ answered Eowyn, ‘And those who have not swords can still die upon them.’” (Book 6 Chapter 5, The Steward and the King)
On the objective nature of good and evil:
“‘How shall a man judge what to do in such times?’ “‘As he ever has judged,’ said Aragorn. ‘Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.” (Book 4, Chapter 2, The Riders of Rohan)
On the power of duty, as an antidote to despair:
“‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’” (Book 1, Chapter 2, The Shadow of the Past)
“‘[M]ay I not now spend my life as I will?’ ‘Few may do that with honor,’ [Aragorn] answered.”
“A time may come soon,’ said [Aragorn], ‘when . . . there will be need of valor without renown, for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defense of your homes. Yet the deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.” (Book 5, Chapter 2, The Passing of the Grey Company)
“He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them. His will was set, and only death would break it.” (Book 6, Chapter 3 Mount Doom)
On the Nature of Stewardship:
“‘[T]he rule of Gondor, my lord, is mine and no other man’s, unless the king should come again.’ ‘Unless the king should come again?’ said Gandalf. ‘Well, my Lord Steward, it is your task to keep some kingdom still against that event, which few now look to see. In that task you shall have all the aid that you are pleased to ask for. But I will say this: the rule of no realm is mine, . . . . But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task . . . if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I also am a steward. Did you not know?’” (Book Five, Chapter 1, Minas Tirith)
On the corrupting dangers of power, and the basis for conservative politics:
“Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength.” (Book 1 Chapter 2 The Shadow of the Past)
“‘Well, no, the year’s been good enough,’ said Hob. ‘We grows a lot of food, but we don’t rightly know what becomes of it. It’s all these “gatherers” and “sharers”, I reckon, going round counting and measuring and taking off to storage. They do more gathering than sharing, and we never see most of the stuff again.’” (Book 6, Chapter 8, The Scouring of the Shire.)
On the Restoration of the Gospel and the Second Coming
"For it is said in old lore: the hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known." (Book 5, Chapter 8, The Houses of Healing).
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
On materialism and the danger of being possessed by our possessions:
“It has got far too much hold on you. Let it go! And then you can go yourself, and be free.” (Book 1 Chapter 1, A Long Expected Party)
On faith:
“Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.” (Book 1 Chapter 2 The Shadow of the Past)
"'Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?' 'A man may do both,' said Aragorn. 'For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day.'" (Book 3, Chapter 2, The Riders of Rohan)
"And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise." (Book 6, Chapter 9, The Grey Havens)
On free will:
“The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again, Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one remaining instant in which to do so. He took the Ring off his finger.” (Book 2 Chapter 10, the Breaking of the Fellowship).
On the Nature and Limitations of Evil:
“The shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don’t think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them . . . .” (Book 6, Chapter 1, The Tower of Cirith Ungol)
On the Persistence of Evil and the Need for Preparedness:
“‘It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, master Warden,’ answered Eowyn, ‘And those who have not swords can still die upon them.’” (Book 6 Chapter 5, The Steward and the King)
On the objective nature of good and evil:
“‘How shall a man judge what to do in such times?’ “‘As he ever has judged,’ said Aragorn. ‘Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.” (Book 4, Chapter 2, The Riders of Rohan)
On the power of duty, as an antidote to despair:
“‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’” (Book 1, Chapter 2, The Shadow of the Past)
“‘[M]ay I not now spend my life as I will?’ ‘Few may do that with honor,’ [Aragorn] answered.”
“A time may come soon,’ said [Aragorn], ‘when . . . there will be need of valor without renown, for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defense of your homes. Yet the deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.” (Book 5, Chapter 2, The Passing of the Grey Company)
“He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them. His will was set, and only death would break it.” (Book 6, Chapter 3 Mount Doom)
On the Nature of Stewardship:
“‘[T]he rule of Gondor, my lord, is mine and no other man’s, unless the king should come again.’ ‘Unless the king should come again?’ said Gandalf. ‘Well, my Lord Steward, it is your task to keep some kingdom still against that event, which few now look to see. In that task you shall have all the aid that you are pleased to ask for. But I will say this: the rule of no realm is mine, . . . . But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task . . . if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I also am a steward. Did you not know?’” (Book Five, Chapter 1, Minas Tirith)
On the corrupting dangers of power, and the basis for conservative politics:
“Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength.” (Book 1 Chapter 2 The Shadow of the Past)
“‘Well, no, the year’s been good enough,’ said Hob. ‘We grows a lot of food, but we don’t rightly know what becomes of it. It’s all these “gatherers” and “sharers”, I reckon, going round counting and measuring and taking off to storage. They do more gathering than sharing, and we never see most of the stuff again.’” (Book 6, Chapter 8, The Scouring of the Shire.)
On the Restoration of the Gospel and the Second Coming
"For it is said in old lore: the hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known." (Book 5, Chapter 8, The Houses of Healing).
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)