Re-reading The Place of the Lion, by Charles Williams - the domination of abstraction over the personal

I have read Charles' Williams's The Place of the Lion many times over a span of several decades; and almost accidentally found myself doing so again last week (actually, re-listening to the audiobook version). 

I thoroughly recommend trying PlotL; if you are at all interested in grappling with Charles Williams; or if you want to understand the mature and best fictions of JRR Tolkien or CS Lewis - it really is time well spent. 

 

The book strikes me differently almost every time I read it. It has some great aspects that have proved lastingly memorable, and also dull and/or irritating parts - but these are not necessarily the same on each time of reading!

This time; I found the first half of the book (the set-up, the basic idea) much the best - indeed even better than I remembered. And the later parts less interesting and satisfying. 

What I continually found myself pushing against was an aspect of Charles Williams's basic metaphysical assumptions, and indeed those of a very large majority of intellectual Christians throughout history! - which is that he regards the abstract as the ultimate reality; and the personal as secondary - merely and expression of such abstractions as principles, ideas, archetypes, energies, pattern, hierarchy and functional subdivision. 

In short: Williams's conceptualisation of ultimate reality is in terms of physics, mathematics, geometry. 

I have come to regard this as a besetting sin of theologians and philosophers; and in the context of this book it leads to a fundamental incoherence in the plot, that makes the main action seem arbitrary and indeed wilful. 

The set-up is that the Platonic ideas or ultimate archetypes are invading and absorbing the modern mundane world; and reducing individual animals, persons, objects to their dominating principle. Among those who realize what is happening, some welcome this as a restoration of primal reality. 

Some of these welcomers try to use the archetypes to gratify their immediate personal desires; but others surrender to their archetype and die in an apparent state of bliss - as their personalities are reabsorbed into the relevant part of the primal pattern of reality - which pattern is (apparently) later to be reabsorbed into a state of undifferentiated and perfect oneness. 

The plot concerns Anthony, who opposes this reabsorption - but on what seem the feeblest, most short termist and superficial grounds! 

Such as; that a takeover of earth by the Platonic Archetypes will interfere with the completion and award of his girlfriend's doctoral thesis! This is stated; along with other similarly unconvincing and almost silly reasons for preserving individuality of human and other beings. 

Anthony prevails, by a process of connecting-with and "channeling" the archetype of Adam; and thereby Naming, hence re-differentiating, the key specific principles of this world, in the forms of their animal images.

What I perceive here is that Charles Williams's metaphysical assumptions contradict his intuitions. I sense that CW's intuitions are clear and strong that it is good that the world has many people of many kinds, and distinct animals, plants and artefacts; and that these many deserve to exist. 

He believes that the many deserve to be - and ought not to have their individuality dissolved away into categories (or into unity). 

Such is Williams's intuition, and that is why the climax of the book is the defeat of the Archetypes and restoration of multiplicity. But Williams cannot properly explain this intuition, and reduced to rather silly explanations: explanations that appear simply to reflect whatever happens to please Anthony (such as his love of, or initially his one-sided obsession-with, his girlfriend*). 

This seems like a very poor reason for one man taking it upon himself to reshape the universe!

*Much would, I feel, be explained here; if we assume that girlfriend Damaris is very good looking!

Review of The Major and the Missionary by Diana Pavlac Glyer (2023)

Diana Pavlac Glyer (edited). The Major and the Missionary: The letters of Warren Hamilton Lewis and Blanch Biggs. Rabbit Room Press: Nashville, TN, USA. 2023. pp: xxxiii, 309. 

Anyone who becomes interested by The Inklings, that legendary Oxford group of CS Lewis's friends - which functioned as a writers club to hear and critique work-in-progress, rapidly comes across the genial and hospitable persona that was CS Lewis's beloved older brother Warren: the regular Army officer Major WH Lewis (1895-1973). 

Those who are intrigued by Warren, or "Warnie" as he was called by intimates, then typically (and I recommend this) move-on to read the selection from his diaries edited by CS Kilby and M Lamp Mead - Brothers and Friends (1982). 

If, like me, you are then charmed and beguiled by Warnie's good nature and warmth of personality, and his distinctive personal perspective on books and things; then The Major and the Missionary would be rewarding next-step.

The editor is Diana Pavlac Glyer, a scholar who has done more than anyone to establish that the Inklings was primarily, and at its core, a writers group - and not "just" a group of Christian friends meeting for conversation. (See The Company They Keep, 2007) 

The Major and the Missionary comprises eighty-seven letters and an editorial apparatus (including a foreword, introduction, afterword and index). It describes and depicts Warnie Lewis's pen-friendship with Blanche Biggs (1909-2008), an Australian-born medical missionary in Papua, New Guinea; which was conducted entirely by letters over the last five years of Warnie's life. 

Blanche was born some fourteen years after Warnie, and outlived him by thirty-five years - nearly reaching her century. 

Blanche got in touch in 1968, having read his edition of letters by CS Lewis; and asking  Warnie for advice on how to deal with her own collection of memorabilia. The early letters are business-like, focused on matters of organization and suggestions about agents, publishers and the like. 

The main common interest for Warnie and Blanche was Christianity. Both were Anglicans, but with different emphases and priorities, and many letters were concerned with debating these differences. Indeed, there are many "bones of contention" between the two of them and many matters! 

Blanche comes across as both an unusual and a strong character; whose missionary commitment led her to endure (voluntarily, and for minimal reward) extreme hardship and periods of prolonged isolation. She had her own views derived from her experiences, and expounded them without apology - yet she was also a careful "listener", and thoughtfully responded to Warnie's statements and comments.  

Yet it was clearly affection and interest that predominated, and grew; and maintained the epistolary interchange. 

Gradually the correspondence becomes more personal, and then affectionate - as life details were shared, serious matters (often to do with church and theology) were discussed, and personal advice sought and given. 

This is reflected in the mode of address which evolved from the formal "Major Lewis", "Doctor Biggs" to first names and mild endearments. 

By the end it is clear there was a genuine affection between the two; including a wisful desire to meeet - if not in this world, then the next. 

The friendship was abruptly brought to an end by Warnie's terminal illness; during which his side of the correspondence was taken over by Len Miller. Len, with his wife Mollie, were employed to look-after Warnie in his later years: providing meals, household maintenance, daily companionship, and accompanying Warnie on holidays. 

Having read about the Millers in various biographies and memoirs of the Lewis brothers, I was pleased at last to hear Len "speak for himself". 

Despite that this is a scholarly and specialized book, I found it easy and enjoyable to read; much as if I was reading a novel. 

Both correspondents were good writers with clearly expressed opinions, there was an arc to the "story" provided by their deepening friendship; and I found their discussions of contemporary news items to be enlightening - jogging various childhood memories, and providing the special insight of a contemporary perspective (recorded without the distortions of hindsight). 

The paperback edition is nicely produced, well designed, and pleasant to handle and read. (I usually find that US publishers are superior to those in the UK in such respects - and this was no exception.) 

I would personally have appreciated biographies of the two correspondents at the very start of the volume, including photographs of Warnie and Blanche from the approximate time of their letter writing; to set the context for my reading. As it is, photos are few, and biographical information rather scattered through the editorial elements.  

In sum, I was delighted by The Major and the Missionary; which comes on top of a biography by Don W King published the previous year. A decade ago, I had hardly dared to expect any such riches of new information on Warnie! 

There are, it seems, quite a few of us Warnie Lewis fans around the place - a burgeoning cult perhaps (for this least-cultic of imaginable people)? 

And I have not given up hope of a new and larger edition of the WH Lewis diaries - which have been out for print for over forty years. 

Charles Williams Did influence JRR Tolkien's writing - The Place of the Lion and The Notion Club Papers

For the past fifty years it has been normal to assume that JRR Tolkien disliked (probably because he was jealous of) Charles Williams; and that Williams did not influence Tolkien's writing.

Despite that Tolkien personally claimed such things in writing; none of these are strictly correct. 

Tolkien was good friends with Williams, during Williams's life - it was only some years after Williams died, when Tolkien became aware of some aspects of CW's biography, that Tolkien turned against Williams and began to make misleading statements to play-down their friendship. 

The denial of Williams's influence on Tolkien is more complex. As a generalization, it is true to say that the two men had different minds, aims, and literary styles - and there is no striking influence of Williams noticeable in the works Tolkien published during his lifetime - especially not The Lord of the Rings. 

But more can be said. 

One major influence of Williams is not in The Lord of the Rings, but in the fact that it was attempted at all, and soon became a more ambitious book than The Hobbit, and directed at adults. 

This was - I believe - a consequence of the powerful effect - on CS Lewis as well as JRR Tolkien - of encountering Williams's novel The Place of the Lion in 1936. This led Lewis and Tolkien making a "deal" to embark on attempting to write "adult" fantasy or science fiction novels of a kind they especially liked reading. 

Lewis produced the Space Trilogy, and Tolkien produced two unpublished (in his lifetime) attempts at a time travel story: The Lost Road (attempted immediately), and The Notion Club Papers (attempted about a decade after Tolkien and Lewis's deal). 

And it is in an un-published  (and un-finished) work by Tolkien, The Notion Club Papers, that the influence of Charles Williams can be seen. 

Therefore, Williams did influence Tolkien's writing - and in a direct fashion - but the piece of writing Williams influenced was neither completed nor published by Tolkien.

Indeed, edited drafts of the Notion Club Papers did not appear in print until 1992, embedded in the Middle of the Sauron Defeated volume of Christopher Tolkien's The History of Middle Earth - nearly fifty years after Williams's death, and nearly twenty years since JRR Tolkien's death.   

In the event; Williams's influence was invisibly absorbed-into The Lord of the Rings, but only via the secondary effects of the NCPs, which were mainly on Numenor and its use as a "backstory" for the Dunedain; and the Numenorean language of Adunaic (which evolved into the Common Speech of Middle Earth). 

It seems to me very likely that Tolkien's writing of The Notion Club Papers was a direct consequence of the death of Charles Williams. 

The Williams derivation is seen firstly in the origins of the NCPs as a playful "alter-ego" discussion group, explicitly referencing The Inklings, read to The Inklings as work-in-progress in instalments, and with characters loosely-based on the post-Williams membership. 

In this respect I regard it as significant that there is no Notion Club member who is described as based-on the just-deceased Charles. It is as if the NCPs was a tribute to Charles's memory, and as such to include CW among the somewhat facetious caricatures the NCP membership would have been disrespectful and altogether inappropriate. 

Yet, if I am right, The Notion Club Papers were developed as a creative celebration of Tolkien's friend and fellow Inkling Charles Williams, conceived in remembrance of the catalytic and transformative effects of The Place of the Lion, back in 1936. 

According to Christopher Tolkien's dating; The Notion Club Papers was written during a period from late 1944, a few months before the death of Charles Williams up to the summer of 1946 after which work on The Lord of the Rings was re-commenced, and the NCPs were set aside finally and irrevocably. 

These dates set a bound to work on the Notion Club Papers - they were written between late 1944 and mid 1946; but there is (I think) no reference to the NCPs until August 1945 (in Warren Lewis's diary), and my prediction would be that the Notion Club Papers was begun in mid 1945, some time after Charles Williams's death on 15th May.   

During this period when work of LotR was suspended; it is likely that the Notion Club Papers was Tolkien's major writing project - alongside preparing his essay On Fairy Stories for publication in a memorial Festschrift volume for Charles Williams. It seems that Tolkien's thoughts, and those of the Inklings as a group, were almost certain to be much occupied with Williams.  

Among Charles William's novels, The Place of the Lion is the only one that we know for sure was highly-rated and valued by Tolkien. 

And, among CW's novels, The Place of the Lion is distinctive in its structure. A group of modern people have formed a kind of spiritual research society, and these inadvertently open-up a "channel" to the ancient and primal world of Platonic Ideas or Archetypes. This channel to another world operates through the minds of group members.

The various Platonic Archetypes then flood-through the minds of particular people; enter into the modern world, and begin to wreak havoc. 

In broad terms; this is an exact analogy to the basic plot of the Notion Club Papers. A group of writers become deeply interested in viewing other times and places, making various attempts to attune their minds with the past and remote parts of the universe; and thereby the NC inadvertently establish a channel of contact with the persons and era of the downfall and drowning of Numenor.  

Once this channel has been opened among NC members, then the winds and tidal waves that had destroyed Numenor flood-through into the modern world, and wreak havoc. 

Therefore, in a general sense, The Place of the Lion offered Tolkien a model for building a relationship between the modern everyday world, and some other world with more profound and transcendent aspects; a model that involved the deliberate attunement of minds happening among members of a particular group. 

Or, to put it differently (and as explicitly stated within the NCP), The Place of the Lion provided for Tolkien a way of linking mundane history to mythic reality, on the assumption that the remote past was actually mythic in its reality. 

On such a basis; at one point, Tolkien considered using The Notion Club Papers as the framing for the Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings/ Silmarillion; as a way of explaining how knowledge of Numenor/ Middle Earth/ Arda, came to be transmitted to modern times.

In the end, Tolkien framed his stories with the fiction that ancient manuscripts (such as The Red Book of Westmarch) had survived through the millennia, and somehow come into his hands as their "editor"; but while writing the NCPs, he was exploring the idea that there was a direct, mind-to-mind, transmission of such knowledge via the Notion Club.   

In sum; a specific focus on The Place of the Lion among all of Charles William's work, and a consideration of the chronology and form of Tolkien's writing, and the inclusion of Tolkien's unpublished and unfinished works; leads to a recognition of a strong, and indeed decisive, influence of Charles Williams on JRR Tolkien.  

**

Note: As can be seen in the links above, I (as well as others) have fairly often commented that The Notion Club Papers was Tolkien's "Charles Williams novel" - in a general sense, and in an "atmospheric" way. 

I am now saying more than this, and in a much more specific sense: that the NCPs was not just "a" Charles Williams novel, but related to one particular novel: The Place of the Lion. 

And furthermore that this was purposively so: that Tolkien wrote The Notion Club Papers with Charles Williams and The Place of the Lion in-mind.  

Why Tolkien "cordially disliked allegory"?

Tolkien declared in his introduction to The Lord of the Rings: I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. 

This seems straightforward, and we would expect Tolkien to eschew allegory altogether. 

But there is a sense in which this statement is misleading if taken generally, because Tolkien himself wrote and published allegory; especially the short story Leaf by Niggle - which does not make much sense unless understood as a Christian allegory. 

Nonetheless, Tolkien was sincere in his dislike of allegory when this was falsely attributed. 

And this can be understood if The World as depicted by an allegory, is contrasted with The World as depicted in the kind of mythopoeic fantasy that Tolkien most desired to write. 

The core difference is that an allegorical world points to the modern mundane (and therefore materialistic) life as its reference. 

In other words; an allegory deliberately and by intention maps-onto everyday life - whether that world be politics, recent news, social phenomena and trends, or something else. 

The idea with allegory is that the reader should enjoy the story, which might be a fairy-tale-like beast fable such as Animal Farm; but also be aware that the story has another kind of ordinary reference; mapping outside-itself and more superficially - nearer to our everyday world and this life as we know it. 

By contrast; the kind of mythopoeic writing favoured by Tolkien aims to build a fantasy world that points-at a spiritually-deeper world. A world of enchantment, of greater phenomena and enhanced experiences. 

Mythopoeia could be characterized as aiming to have a world underpinned by perspectives that induce mystical, religious, spiritual, magical associations in the reader.

If the invented world is regarded as a subcreated world; then an allegorical subcreation intends to make us think more superficially and materialistically; whereas a mythopoeic subcreation wants us to be aware of depths below. 

An allegory aspires to be "relevant"; whereas mythopoeia aspires to be profound. 

 

Tolkien's vehemence against allegorical interpretations of The Lord of the Rings Therefore, mythopoeic fantasy needs actively to avoids pointing the reader at modern, mundane life; because an allegorical reading of LotR would subvert its intention - by making the story "relevant" it makes it superficial; it ceases to be profound, enchanting, mystical.

It is evident, therefore, that if the reader starts suspecting allegory of a fantasy, and begins interpreting a story in terms of mundane modern references - this will sabotage the possibility of the kind of mythopoeia Tolkien desired to write with Lord of the Rings.  

For readers to be encouraged to "interpret" LotR as an allegory, would prevent the book from being experienced as the kind of story that Tolkien most wanted it to be. No wonder he so much hated and resisted this false attribution! 

Considering matters more generally, it can also be seen the price that is always and inevitably paid whenever story-makers (whether in novels, movies or on television) strive to make fantasy narratives relevant to "real life". 

This is one reason why recent mass media have degraded mainstream fantasy worlds such as Doctor Who, Star Trek and Star Wars - by striving to make them "relevant" to the mainstream modern materialistic world we inhabit. 

When storylines are made allegorical of "current issues" - and even more strongly when directly didactic elements are inserted - all hints of profundity and enchantment are excluded. 

In general the serious problem with allegory for modern alienated mankind; is that it pushes us back into exactly that shallow, boring, mundane life that we were hoping to transcend by our experience of "other worlds" 

 

Four approaches to understanding JRR Tolkien: historical, philological, Roman Catholic, unique genius

At the time of his death in 1973, not much was published concerning the nature of JRR Tolkien as a man - and a fair bit of what I knew and was publicly available was riddled with inaccuracies (e.g. William Ready's "Understanding Tolkien..." of 1969). 

I think that the present understanding of Tolkien emerged in a broadly chronological fashion, through four broad phases:

1. Historical

2. Philological

3. Roman Catholic

4. Tolkien as an unique genius 

The first major source of information was of an historical and biographical nature; especially the authorized biography by Humphrey Carpenter (1977) and the edited selection of Letters in 1981; and much has been added since, especially by Hammond and Scull's "Companion". This approach provides what might be termed Tolkien in his historical context. We learned such matters as the facts of Tolkien's life, marriage and family, his career, friends and colleagues, publication history of his works, the rise of his reputation. 

Although it had always been noted that there were influences in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings that derived from his academic specialty; in 1981 came the seminal Road to Middle Earth, from TA Shippey. This (and further work since, from other scholars in the field) revealed Tolkien as philologist; and explained how the philological approach motivated and underpinned the fictional works. At this point we began to get a feel for Tolkien's inner life - because this way of working was distinctive to the particular tradition of scholarship of which he was so gifted an exemplar. 

From the 1990s, and especially through the work of Joseph Pearce; I began to become aware of a growth in scholarship that recognized JRR Tolkien as a devout Roman Catholic. This has since grown considerably, and it can be seen that there are many characteristically Catholic themes and perspectives throughout Tolkien's work. 

These three approaches all regard Tolkien mainly as an example of some broader category: man of his time and class, man of his academic speciality, man of his church. But perhaps it was not yet clear what made Tolkien his own unique self. 

It was after reading Verlyn Flieger's A Question of Time, and being stimulated to read Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle Earth that I began to develop some idea of his father's distinctive innermost nature. This is an extraordinary resource, and different people will respond to different aspects. Here I speak for myself. 

I began to feel an inner perspective when studying the very close-up and empathic exposition of the writing of Lord of the Rings. I was also affected by some of the factual material on particular characters and races - Galadriel, Morgoth, Sauron, the Elves, and others. 

But mainly, it was due to the semi-autobiographical qualities of the Notion Club Papers that I began to realize that Tolkien was an unusually inner-motivated person; exceptional in the strength and dominance of his imaginative life. 

Here were serious and engaged discussions of mystical, paranormal, supernatural and magical phenomena of many kinds - from personal experience, seemingly - and sometimes confirmed by Christopher Tolkien's notes.  

This domination by an inner perspective was, I think, the basis of Tolkien's genius; indeed, I then began to realize that this was a defining aspect of genius. 

For me at least; my understanding of Tolkien has traversed a great span. Starting from the rather dull, typically Oxfordish, reactionary, and narrowly-opinionated character of Humphrey Carpenter's evaluation...

And going all the way across the spectrum to my current picture of a man who experienced extremely strong inner drives, vivid imaginative pictures, powerful emotions, and extreme mood swings. 

The Three Rings magic and High Elven agriculture

I find myself inclined to speculate on the workings of agriculture among the High Elves of Middle Earth leading up to the time of the War of the Rings* - and from information within The Lord of the Rings.

We are told enough about the agriculture and gardening among Men and Hobbits to understand how they sustain themselves, but very little indeed about the Elves. We hear nothing of fields and farms, or agricultural labour, of the kind that would be needed to sustain Men and Hobbits. 

Elves are said to enjoy hunting, arts and crafts, singing and scholarship; but the idea of a Elf engaging in ploughing, herding cattle, shearing sheep and other agricultural tasks seems almost absurd. 

Indeed, it seems as if the Elves of Rivendell and Lothlorien must support themselves "by magic" - and what slender evidence there is, suggests that this might be so - in a way.  

In The Lord of the Rings, there are only three colonies of High Elves in Middle Earth: Rivendell ruled by Elrond, and Lothlorien ruled by Celeborn and Galadriel Of these we are told a fair amount. Of the third enclave, the Grey Havens ruled by Cirdan, we know almost nothing. 

The problem is that it is made clear the Elves of Rivendell and Lothlorien have almost-nothing to do with the Men (or Hobbits) in their vicinity. 

There is near zero communication between these Elves and the agriculture-pracicing Men (and Hobbits) living nearby; which apparently rules out any significant amount of these Elves trading for food.

Yet, there are certainly feasts at the rather small and exclusive enclave of Rivendell (population a few hundreds, at most) - and there are plenty of other good like clothes, and the materials for craftsmanship in several areas.

Lothlorien supports an apparently larger population, of what seem like thousands (from the description of their tree city, and implied by their role in the War of the Ring); Lothlorien Elves also weave cloth, make ropes, have tools and weapons in plenty; and access to supplies of the cereal grain that goes-into Lembas.    

Lothlorien provides a clue to part of a possible answer in the form of Galadriel's gift to Sam: the little box containing a marvellous kind of earth; even a single grain of which is capable of causing massively accelerated and healthy thriving of plants - such that several/many years of growth happen in just one season. 

This must be magic, not biology; and that points at Galadriel's Elf ring - one of The Three - as a possible basis for this magic. 

I am therefore inclined to speculate that the Elves of Lothlorien were capable, by using the same kind of magic that enchanted Sam's gift, to grow what they needed very quickly, with little effort, and using only small areas of land. 

So, there is indeed "High Elven Agriculture" - but it is highly and rapidly productive on such a small and temporary scale as to be almost unnoticeable to the casual and short term visitor. 

If this can be allowed; then we have the same answer for Rivendell, where Elrond wields another of the Three Rings, and indeed the senior and most powerful of them.   

As for the High Elven enclave of the Grey Havens, we know that its ruler Cirdan originally had the other Elf ring, but yielded it to Gandalf (who puts it to altogether different uses). There must be sufficient elven mariners and shipbuilders in the Grey Havens to fulfil its primary role - a few hundred, perhaps? - and these will need feeding and provisions.  

But we also know that there is a frequent movement of High Elves between the Grey Havens and Rivendell. 

So, in terms of its agricultural "means of support" - how it feeds and clothes itself - the Grey Havens, may well be an outpost of Rivendell, and so a beneficiary of the magical agriculture sustained by Elrond's Elf Ring.

+++

*I leave aside the Wood Elves of Mirkwood - because they are only much known via the Hobbit; and before the habitations of Middle Earth had been defined by the later book. From what we are told in The Hobbit, the Wood Elves live by hunting and trading (for instance for wine and food) with the Men of Lake town; and - it is vaguely implied - with other more distant but undefined Men. 

What the Wood Elves are trading for their food and wine is unclear; although it may be that the large treasury of the Elvenking (gold, silver, jewels etc) is being gradually expended as a capital resource. If the Mirkwood Elves do depend on Lake Town, it provides a self-interested motivation for the Elvenking's crucial assistance in saving the residual population, and rebuilding Lake Town after Smaug's depredations.

I also tried to focus here, only on what is gathered or guessed from a reading of Lord of the Rings as such - therefore ignoring any things JRRT said about Middle Earth; and also ignoring the posthumously published material of a History of Middle Earth nature.    

Frodo is the only "intellectual" among Hobbits

As I was reading through Lord of the Rings this time; it struck me that Frodo's conversation with Faramir about the history of Men (in The Window on the West chapter of The Two Towers), is something that I cannot imagine occurring with any other Hobbit than Frodo. 

Of course, Bilbo and Merry are also unusually intelligent Hobbits, who were much more accomplished as scholarly authors than Frodo. 

But from what we see of them in the books, neither of these exhibited the patience and sustained concentration that Frodo does while Faramir is discoursing on the distinctive aspects of Gondor, Numenor, and comparisons with other types of Men such as the Rohirrim. 

It therefore seems that, aside from innate intelligence, which Tolkien often terns "wisdom"; Frodo is more of "an intellectual" in his tastes and behaviours than are other Hobbits that we encounter. 

Instead of a Dark Lord...

 

Instead of a Dark Lord, you would have A Cat! 

Beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Tempestuous as the sea, and stronger than the foundations of the earth! 

All shall love me... and despair!

H/T - My wife; for the idea. 

Frodo claims the power of The Ring on the slopes of Mount Doom, rather than beside the Cracks of Doom

It has been insightfully suggested by "Mikke" that the moment when Frodo claimed for himself the power of the One Ring actually happened a little earlier than most people realize. 

The usual reading is that Frodo makes this claim inside Mount Doom, standing next to the Cracks of Doom - just before he puts The Ring on his finger, and is perceived by Sauron. 

But Mikke has noticed that - a few minutes earlier - after Frodo grapples with, and casts down, Gollum; he makes a statement that is usually regarded as a prophecy that if Gollum touches The Ring again, he will himself be cast into the Cracks of Doom. 

This comes true, in effect - although it seems that Gollum falls into the fire by accident, rather than being thrown. 

But instead of a prophecy, Frodo's statement can plausibly be regarded as a command; as "casting a spell" or "geas"; and that Frodo is able to do this by claiming and using the power of the One Ring - but by grasping the ring to his chest (in effect to his heart) rather than putting it on his finger: Frodo becomes a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. 

In effect, it is The Ring speaking, when Frodo casts the geas; as is confirmed by Tolkien's phrasing: Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice.  

By using the One Ring to dominate, to coerce; Frodo places himself under the "curse" that applies to all who claim the One Ring for the purpose of domination. 

After doing this, he was necessarily going to be incapable of destroying the One Ring.

This use of The Ring to command would also be an alternative explanation for Frodo's subsequent sickness of heart after The Ring had been destroyed; for which the only cure is his (therapeutic) sojourn in the undying lands. 

Here are Mikke's own words, which I have edited and re-ordered for greater clarity of exposition (since the ideas were published over several, confusingly-embedded, Tumblr entries), and to cut-out swear words:

**

When Gollum attacks Frodo on the slopes of Mount Doom, Frodo has the chance to kill him, but he doesn’t. Instead, he says: Frodo: Go! And if you ever lay hands on me again, you yourself shall be cast into the Fire! 

Frodo is literally, magically laying a curse. He’s holding the One Ring in his hands as he says it; even Sam, with no magic powers of his own, can sense that some powerful mojo is being laid down. 

Five pages later, Gollum tries to take the Ring again. Frodo’s geas takes effect and Gollum eats lava. 

Other people in the franchise who were offered the Ring declined to take it because they were wise enough to know that if they used its power – and the pressure to do so would be too great – they would be subject to its corruption. 

Also, after Frodo has thrown Gollum off and laid the geas, Sam observes that Frodo seems suddenly filled with energy again when previously he had been close to dead of fatigue. He hikes up the mountain so fast he leaves Sam behind – and doesn’t even seem to notice that he’s left him behind. Could he have been drawing on the Ring’s power at this point in the story? 

The moment that Frodo succumbs to temptation is not the moment at the volcano – it was already too late by then. The moment he is taken by temptation was when he used the power of the Ring to repel Gollum. 

If so, this ties in neatly with discussions I’ve seen about how Tolkien subscribes to a “not even once” view of good and evil – that in many other works it’s acceptable to do a small evil in service of a greater good, but in Lord of the Rings that always fails. 

In Lorien: 

‘I would ask one thing before we go,’ said Frodo, ‘a thing which I often meant to ask Gandalf in Rivendell. I am permitted to wear the One Ring: why cannot I see all the others and know the thoughts of those that wear them?’ ‘You have not tried,’ [Galadriel] said. ‘Only thrice have you set the Ring upon your finger since you knew what you possessed. Do not try! It would destroy you. Did not Gandalf tell you that the rings give power according to the measure of each possessor? Before you could use that power you would need to become stronger, and to train your will to the domination of others.’ 

On the slopes of Mount Doom:

‘Down, down!’ [Frodo] gasped, clutching his hand to his breast, so that beneath the cover of his leather shirt he clasped the Ring. 'Down, you creeping thing, and out of my path! Your time is at an end. You cannot slay me or betray me now.’ 

Then suddenly, Sam saw these two rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. 

Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice. ‘Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.’ Then the vision passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on breast, his breath coming in great gasps, and Gollum at his feet, resting on his knees with his wide-splayed hands upon the ground.

**

I find this idea to be coherent and very well supported by the text, and I am convinced by it; despite that (so far as I know) the interpretation is not explicitly confirmed as authorial intent by Tolkien himself. Perhaps Tolkien wrote it this way because it felt right, although the reasons for this were, apparently, unconscious.   

Note: Further interesting discussion of this theory, may be found here. 

The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star - For me, Tolkien's first good poem

The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star 

First version - dated 24 September 1914 

JRR Tolkien was 22 years old. 

Éarendel sprang up from the Ocean's cup

In the gloom of the mid-world's rim; 

From the door of Night as a ray of light 

Leapt over the twilight brim, 

And launching his bark like a silver spark 

From the golden-fading sand 

Down the sunlit breath of Day's fiery Death 

He sped from Westerland. 

He threaded his path o'er the aftermath 

Of the glory of the Sun, 

And went wandering far past many a star 

In his gleaming galleon. 

On the gathering tide of darkness ride 

The argosies of the sky, 

And spangle the night with their sails of light 

As the Evening star goes by. 

But unheeding he dips past these twinkling ships, 

By his wandering spirit whirled 

On an magic quest through the darkening West 

Toward the margent of the world; 

And he fares in haste o'er the jewelled waste 

To the dusk from whence he came 

With his heart afire with bright desire 

And his face in silver flame. 

For the Ship of the Moon from the East comes soon 

From the Haven of the Sun, 

Whose white gates gleam in the coming beam 

Of the mighty silver one. 

Lo! with bellying clouds as his vessel's shrouds 

He weighs anchor down the dark, 

And on shimmering oars leaves the skiey shores 

In his argent-orbéd bark. 

And Éarendel fled from that Shipman dread 

Beyond the dark earth's pale, 

Back under the rim of the Ocean dim, 

And behind the world set sail; 

And he heard the mirth of the folk of earth 

And hearkened to their tears, 

As the world dropped back in a cloudy wrack 

On its journey down the years. 

Then he glimmering passed to the starless vast 

As an isléd lamp at sea, 

And beyond the ken of mortal men 

Set his lonely errantry, 

Tracking the Sun in his galleon 

And voyaging the skies 

Till his splendour was shorn by the birth of Morn 

And he died with the Dawn in his eyes.

**

I first had this poem brought to my attention by the reading and analysis on John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War; although it was mentioned by Carpenter's biography as the earliest recorded beginning of the Legendarium, and was featured in The Book of Lost Tales which I had read - but without registering this lovely poem.

In my slow read through of the chronological ordering of JRR Tolkiens poems (in the 2024 three volume Collected Poems, edited by Scull and Hammond) this is the sixteenth poem, and the earliest that I whole-heartedly enjoyed and appreciated. 

I also preferred the first draft - that version reproduced above - over Tolkien's several later revisions. Some of my favourite lines, including the first, were omitted or changed in later versions. 

The revisions came after JRRT tried to discover what this poem meant - he was (apparently) not consciously aware of the poems meaning at the time of writing.

The word Earendil (encountered in the context of an Old English poem Crist) was of great significance to Tolkien - it seems to have acted as a catalyst which started the creation of his mythology (the Legendarium) - initially with the Lost Tales. 

At the point when the above poem was written, the meaning of Earendil had not crystallized for Tolkien. It was during the process of working on this poem that it began to be "discovered". 

At the time of writing, Earendil was apparently a person, a mariner who launches from the ocean into the skies; and who encounters personified celestial bodies the Sun, and Moon, and Venus - the evening star. 

He traverses the dark aspect of the earth from West (sunset) to East (sunrise); and then dies, apparently in a kind of blissful consummation, by being consumed by the light of dawn. 

This may be a cyclical myth of the events of every night; or it may be the account of a single day's - triumphant, but terminal - voyage. Tolkien seems to have been drawn to both possibilities in his later work.   

Later revisions tried to clarify, or impose, a more consistent allegorical and/or mythological meaning. After many intermediate stages; the character of Earendil (half-elven, father of Elrond and Elros) was eventually given a vital role in the mythology. 

And - in his enchanted boat and with a Silmaril on his brow - Earendil was ultimately transformed into what we call "Venus", which is (at different phases of its orbit) both the Evening Star and the Morning Star (brightest of all celestial bodies, except the moon); recognized as a sign of new hope for the elves of Middle Earth. 

But this destination not was evident to Tolkien at the time of first writing the Voyage of Earendil. He was groping in the dark, and working almost entirely by inspiration and intuition. 

A great deal was gained by the subsequent development of the myths - and we modern readers look back from this state of knowledge; but I also feel that something fresh and lovely in the September 1914 poem was lost in the process.     

Where now the horse and the rider? For Tolkien, death (and "entropy") is more fundamentally tragic than evil

"Where now the horse and the rider?" is a poem of the Riders of Rohan, recited by Aragorn in The Two Towers, as he approaches Edoras with Gandalf, Gimli and Legolas. It is perhaps my favourite of all the poems by Tolkien, and indeed one of my favourite poems.

In the recently published Collected Poems of JRR Tolkien (edited by C Scull and WG Hammond, pp 1225-6) is quoted some annotations by Tolkien with reference to this poem, in relation to the Old English lyric The Wanderer from which the first line is derived: 

["Where now the horse and the rider"] laments the ineluctable ending and passing back into oblivion of the fortunate, the full-lived, the unblemished and beautiful.  

To me that is more poignant than any particular disaster, from the cruelty of men or the hostility of the world. 

This strikes me as a profound and startling statement from Tolkien, and one with which I am in full sympathy. What he is saying is that the ultimate tragedy of this mortal life and world is not evil, but death and what we might term "entropy". 

In other words, for JRRT and for myself; what is ultimately tragic is the inevitable and unavoidable evanescence of all that is Good, all that is True, Beautiful and Virtuous; all that is best - and every person and "thing" that we most love. 

In this life; all changes, and eventually degenerates and dies. 

Yes there is new creation, but it is not the same. 

There is only memory; but memory fades. And even while memory survives, over the generations and the span of time, this loss accumulates in our awareness.

What Tolkien is saying here; is that even if we consider only the very best of this mortal life, the fortunate, the full-lived, the unblemished and beautiful - considering only that which is good, and eliminating from consideration all that is evil - the cruelty of men or the hostility of the world... 

Even then; the sufficiency, the adequacy, the acceptability of our life and world is undercut by the fact that the best and good will move towards the ineluctable ending and passing back into oblivion.

It is from this inevitability of change and death - as much as, or indeed more than, from evil - that Jesus Christ has offered us salvation. 

Charles Williams and Magic

From Charles Williams's point of view; the most relevant aspect of magical societies (in the Golden Dawn tradition*) was that training (initiation) was a matter of inner visualization and concentration. For instance, in meditation, holding attention on imagined scenes, leading onto imagined journeys. 

These scenarios were then populated with symbolism, and the meaning of this symbolism had previously been assimilated by meditation. 

Golden Dawn symbolism was rooted in the Qabalah (variously spelled), which was regarded as a complete categorization of reality, and its inner relations. 

This inner work of imagination was linked with everyday reality - so that what happened in imagination, and via the symbolism, had effects on the inner plane, which necessarily affected material life. 

To put it differently; members of the GD who were conducting a magical ritual or ceremony, would do so with the conviction that what was happening in the minds of the participants here and now in their temple, would be having general effects (effects for the good, beneficial effects - or so they intended) on other people elsewhere, and the world at large. So this kind of white society was a serious and high-minded business, much like a church; or more accurately a monastery consisting of priests and acolytes.   

The Golden Dawn ceremonies and rituals were really just a way of enhancing the above inner processes. 

There was also the matter of "energizing" the above processes, infusing psychic energy, generating (or tapping) the power to make these work. This was the sex magic aspect ("polarity") analogous to Hindu Tantric sex stuff, "raising the Kundalini" - or generating sexual desire, but re-directing it to energize the above processes. 

There seems to have been disputes and schisms about this aspect. Alistair Crowley, for example, was one extreme - using polarity, and drugs, to fuel manipulative power and attain pleasure. (I have not studied Crowley, however, just picked up bits and pieces). 

Dion Fortune is another (good) extreme in which the process was celibate and the energies directed to Christian and altruistic goals. 

All this magical method/ technique/ process was regarded as value neutral, a means to an end; and could be used for evil and selfish goals, as well as for good. 

This was the reason for oaths of secrecy and the screening process of Golden Dawn members (through multiple levels of initiation) - the leaders were trying to prevent this power from falling into the hands of evil-motivated people (black magicians - like Crowley  - who pursued the left hand path; and intended to use the power for gratification or domination). 

The white magic GD societies used these powers for "good" - rather variously defined. 

Early on this was Christian ideas of good (albeit, various understood Christianity), but after the schisms other ideas splintered off; sometimes more secular and utilitarian ideas of promoting the general well-being of the nation, or the world - sometimes with a socio-political focus. 

However, these white magical societies were intense and controlling, very constraining - and it is not surprising that CW left them after he had learned all he could - which seems to have been a lot. 

Williams was apparently what would be called an "adept" of the Greater Mysteries, rather than a mere initiate of the Lesser Mysteries - self-sufficient, and a potential leader, in terms of his magical stature. 

Adepts often went on to found their own magical societies; as did Willaims; because that was the nature of the Companions of the Co-Inherence. 

Alice Mary Hadfield was (she has said) unhappy that the Companions were Not Christian primarily; e.g. she noticed that "substitution" was being regarded by CW as a pure technique or technology - rather than a high level spiritual activity requiring the support of the Holy Ghost. 

This is confirmed by the descriptions of of substitution was administered/ imposed top-down by CW on the other Companions (instructing one Companion to substitute for another in specific respects). The magical society quality of the Companions also fits with the "homework" (e.g. memorization of passages of writing) that Williams demanded of (especially female) disciples - and the sanctions and punishments (including physical) he imposed upon them for their errors in such tasks. 

 All of which makes me think that the Companions of the Co-Inherence were primarily (in effect, and by CW's intention - if not explicitly) a magical society. 

(I tend to think CW's secrecy about the magical societies was not so much a matter of honouring the oaths, as simply wanting to conceal the nature as sources of his remarkable mental powers - which so many people remarked when they met him. These powers were exactly what the Golden Dawn system was intended to train.) 

With respect to CW; it seems to me that - as an adept - he had highly developed his powers of concentration (focusing attention) and inner visualization, and all the other magical methods; such as being able to perform ritual movements and speeches with a high degree of physical control and continuous self- and other-awareness - practised and repeated until they became spontaneous and habitual. 

My inference is that it was these habitual abilities of Williams - magically trained to a high level - that contributed significantly to the charismatic personal magnetism that so many found impressive, or even overwhelming.  

But Williams seems to have used (or desired to use) these magically-derived powers to generate his creative writing, especially poetry; rather than for the usual purposes of magical societies - whether white or black.  

It seems that to use magic for writing was not the intent of the white magic side of the Golden Dawn, and would not have been regarded as a valid purpose - except insofar as such writings were dedicated to "good" ends, perhaps. 

(This was probably another factor in CW leaving the official GD societies). 

I think CW also somewhat deviously abused the powers and methods of GD magic in order to manipulate others; attempting to make them go along with and do things they would otherwise not have done. 

I think he justified this to himself as necessary (or at least permissible) for the generation and energizing of poetry, which he justified as a positive contribution to God's work. 

But I personally don't find these self-justifications convincing - I think there was a great deal of ego and hedonism mixed in with CW's motivations! 

In plain words; I think that Charles Williams was sometimes (but recurrently) guilty of using his Golden Dawn training for black magical purposes, on the left hand path. 

At least, that is what comes through in the utilitarian and pragmatic ways Williams talked about his work - writing for money was a recurrent theme; even something his insisted upon as right and proper. If CW's poetry and writing had been the kind of sacred practice that would have justified the use of magical methods, then I do not think he could have taken this materialistic attitude in public utterances (and in some of his writings). 

Also the self-justification of magical usage is contradicted by CW's long-term concern for attaining greater personal status and recognition - for fame and fortune! 

While such conceits are normal and understandable - when it comes to justifying manipulating and exploiting others by magical techniques - this was surely to abuse his occult powers is on the dark side, on the left hand path. 

And then there are the ways that CW dissipated his time, energy and opportunities - all those pot-boilers, all that writing for money instead of working on poems (money which he mostly spent on unnecessary rather selfish frivolity, and buttering up women!).

All those pointless lectures to all and sundry, all that socializing with strangers - when he claimed to lack time and energy for his core creative work! 

What, for me, contradicts Williams's self-excuse for using Golden Dawn techniques on fascinating and influencing younger women, for deploying polarity/ sex magic, and for forming a magical society that he ruled in a controlling fashion; are things that Williams did instead of doing the best poetic work of which he was capable in a disinterested spirit. 

The Golden Dawn White magicians intended their magical system to be used for the general good of Mankind; especially with a Christian understanding of good.

Instead, Williams claimed that he used the abilities developed by his Golden Dawn magical training to energize, shape and enhance his own writings - specifically poetry of the spiritually highest kind. This was supposed to be the real and only justification for CW's deployment of magic.  

And this he did, but only to a limited extent; and he did much else besides - including activities which would seem intended to benefit CW himself; in terms of personal gratification, domination of others, and status.  

 

*The original Golden Dawn magical society had ceased before the time of Charles Williams, and schism-ed into various strands, in a complex and interactive way (which seems not to be fully understood); several groups persisted for various periods - some groups continue to this day. 

Note: H/T - The above was generated by a query from, and letter to, Sorina Higgins on this subject. It represents my current level of understanding of the Golden Dawn tradition is drawn from the past several years of reading widely but unsystematically in the field; especially Dion Fortune, Gareth Knight and writings of those who influenced and interacted with them - these two are explicitly Christian magicians, but many of their descendants are not Christian. Therefore I have been engaged in some dipping into material from those in contrast or opposition to that tradition - neo-pagans (some of whom I rather like), anything-but-Christians, magical leftists, and those who use magic as de facto psychotherapy. I have also sampled from some of those I would regard as Black Magicians on the left hand path - whether they acknowledge it or not; most of whom have been and are linked to the Crowley tradition in schism from Golden Dawn... Those using magical techniques aiming to get sex, money, attention/ fame, domination; or subversively to attain personal or societal destruction etc. In sum: magic used against The Good. There is a great deal of this on-line, including YouTube.  

The Most Reluctant Convert (2021) - Max McLean in a short movie about CS Lewis's conversion

Lastnight we watched "The most reluctant convert" a short (90 minute) movie about CS Lewis's life and conversion - written-by and starring the excellent Bible Gateway performer Max McLean. 

It is a meaty and uncompromising piece, which managed to interest me and hold my attention; even though I have read the contributing texts, especially Surprised by Joy; and indeed I've seen several earlier movies that covered much the same ground. 

Like many adult converts to Christianity over the past seventy years - CS Lewis's writings played a significant role in this process. 

Looking back, I can see several respects in which Lewis's experiences, and his answers, seem wrong to me now - including his experience of having to resist being-converted, his orthodox-traditional-classical theology, and the way he equates being-a-Christian with joining a (mainstream) church. 

Nonetheless, CSL (and a few others) got me over the line, which is What Matters! 

(The rest was, necessarily, Up To Me.)

I was pleased that the movie's take-home message, spoken by Lewis during in the last few minutes, focused on what was, for me, the most effective of the "arguments" that Lewis made (with Tolkien) - the argument from desire, as it is called: 

The final step was taken... It was like a man who, after a long sleep, has become aware that he is now awake. 

My conversion shed new light on my search for Joy. The overwhelming longings that emerged from reading MacDonald's Phantastes, and seeing my brother's toy garden when a child; were merely signposts to what I truly desired. They were not the thing itself. 

I concluded that; if I find in myself a desire that no experience in this world could satisfy  the most probable explanation? I was made for another world. 

At present we are on the outside of that world, the wrong side of the door. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. 

But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the news that it will not always be so; that one day, God willing, we shall get in.

Meanwhile: the cross comes before the crown. And tomorrow is another morning.  

A cleft has opened in the pitiless walls of this world. And we have been invited to follow our great Captain inside. 

Following Him is, of course, the essential point. 

What is our civilization's equivalent Age of Middle Earth?

The Tree of Woe author ("ToW"), who has commented here - and who I respect as a thoughtful (but IMO very over-optimistic!) reactionary thinker, influenced by Spengler, and with a strong interest in Tolkien - has written a big essay suggesting that Western Civilization is now at an crux analogous to the transformations between Tolkien's Second (Numenorean) Age, and the Third Age of the dwindling of Numenor (and elves and dwarves). 

Regarding the previous era of modernity and the Industrial Revolution as a Faustian Age; ToW presents a detailed argument that Elendil is the current equivalent cultural figure that Faust was for the era from which we are emerging. 

So that JRR Tolkien's fictional character of Elendil is (or could represent) a current analogy to what the historical figure figure of Goethe and his fictional/ legendary character of Faust represented for the late 1700s and early 1800 - and until recently. 

Tree of Woe's conclusion is as follows:

Yet this ought be no cause for despair. If the Aenean spirit [i.e. the spirit of Aeneas who in legend fled the defeated Troy to set in train the foundation of Rome - and indeed Britain) or Tolkien’s northern courage means anything, it means that the fight must be fought regardless of the likelihood of success. And Tolkien’s myths remind us that even in decline, there is beauty, heroism, and meaning. The Elendilian Age, if it were to come, might not shine as brightly as the Faustian, or even the Aenean; but it would still carry forward the light of what came before. And in the end, that light—however faint—will be enough to illuminate the path for those who follow.

 

I think ToW is mistaken, and that our culture is not at an analogous transition of Second to Third Age - but instead at a much later phase during or following Tolkien's Fourth Age (as, indeed, Tolkien himself said many times). 

There are indeed genuine similarities with Tolkien's Second to Third Age - but essentially we are at a far later stage of cultural decline; in which the mainstream, dominant a highest status official world view (widely shared by the masses, especially in The West) is atheist materialism. 

For the first time in history; we inhabit a world in which deity is regarded as unreal - ignored or ridiculed, and indeed opposed and inverted; in which "the material" is regarded as the only reality; and in which a kind of incoherent but moralistic hedonism is the global ideology.

In other words; here-and-now it is regarded as obvious and ethically imperative that the alleviation of suffering and promotion of gratification ought to be the underlying basis of all ideologies and policies. 

(Yet the ruling ideology of leftism is not coherent, precisely because it is essentially oppositional (and opposition to God, creation and The Good can and does take limitless and mutually-inconsistent forms): and that there is a strand of Leftism expressing indifference to human experience, and instead taking the side of The Planet Earth (or the Biosphere) against Men.)

The consequence is that we are in an era of established and increasing value-inversion: which means that what have been regarded throughout human history as the values of Goodness (roughly - truth, beauty, virtue, coherence); have been inverted so that Good is now regarded as evil, and sin as virtue. 

We are therefore in a fundamentally unprecedented situation - and in a far-more deeply corrupted and evil situation than was the case in Tolkien's Second, or Third, Age.

And a situation in which the ideal of preservation of this uniquely depraved culture has itself become aversive to the best of people, and the best within each person. 

Demotivation has become so prevalent and pervasive that even basic human survival (and reproductive) instincts have become diminished to the point of ineffectuality... That is, when they are not actually inverted into covert or explicit cultural and personal self-hatred, and an active desire for (suicidal) personal and cultural annihilation.   

My impression is that ToW recognizes this, and seeks for an antidote to the consequent Demotivation and Despair. 

D&D are indeed sins to a Christian - despair representing lack of faith in God's creative power and loving nature, and demotivation representing a giving-up on our destiny in this mortal life). 

But ToW is seeking to reconstruct a motivating and optimistic ideology from selected and secular aspects of the past - so that instead of passive (or active) acquiescence in terminal decline; a fight will be fought. 

The intent is that decline would be opposed, and a work of preservation and rebuilding begun; on the basis of the new Western spirit - analogous to the Elendil's creation of Arnor and Gondor in remembrance (as as lesser derivatives) of Numenor. 

I regard this optimism as mistaken for at least two reasons:

One reason why ToW is mistaken, is that human beings have changed, irrevocably (I call this "the development of consciousness"); such that they neither want, nor could sustain, past forms of human societies. 

The future must therefore be something that accepts the given-ness of current basic human nature; and adds to it to restore God, creation, and the world of spirit. The outcome will be something fundamentally unprecedented - not a restoration. But what that outcome shall be we cannot know until after enough individuals have personally changed. 

I believe that this developmental process must be conscious and voluntary, and come from the inner freedom of each individual. 

A worse society can indeed be imposed top-down, by the ruling class; by propaganda, brain-washing and external incentives (bribes and blackmail). This is indeed what we have seen, accelerating, over the past fifty years. 

But a better society can only arise bottom-up, from robust positive change in sufficient individual persons... 

That is; bottom-up in socio-political terms - but it is vital to remember that anything Good will be aided by God, via his continuing divine creation. Any Good an individual does (including in thought, in the spiritual realm) shall be incorporated into ongoing divine creation.    

The second reason why his proposals do not fly; is that ToW is applying a fundamentally secular analysis to history; whereas all historical societies were (IMO) primarily religious: i.e. they perceived and interpreted the world through the lens of their religions. 

Therefore ToW's selective version of history leaves-out that which was most important to historical societies; that upon-which both their coherence was based, and in which their core-motivation was rooted. 

This omission of that which was fundamental to past societies is a further reason why this kind of restoration cannot work.  

Finally; to add a specifically Christian perspective; ToW is basically mistaken to seek a solution to demotivation and despair in this mortal life and world. 

The human condition is (as the ancients all knew) essentially tragic, and anything we can do, even in theory, is merely palliative. 

What this means is that - while motivation and hope are necessary to mortal life - no fundamentally secular-material socio-political plan or destiny can provide sufficient motivation and hope.

"The Answer" is to start-with and build-upon a solid basis for hope that comes from the expectation of resurrected eternal life; and personal knowledge of the reality of the personal and loving God the Creator. 

Only after that perspective has been established can we attain that hope which overcomes despair. 

Only Frodo and Sam, of all the Fellowship, could sufficiently resist the corrupting/ confusing power of The One Ring

On my latest slow read-through of Lord of the Rings; I noticed for the first time, a very clear and striking depiction of the way that the One Ring had corrupted almost the entire Fellowship by the time they reach the Falls of Rauros and must decide whether to turn west towards Minas Tirith, or east towards Mordor. 

This is apparent from the fact that - except for Sam, every single one of the Fellowship who express an opinion - Aragorn, Merry, Pippin, Legolas, Gimli - as well as (obviously!) Boromir - say they would choose to turn west and go to Minas Tirith.

"[Frodo] is debating which course is the most desperate, I think,’ said Aragorn*. ‘And well he may. It is now more hopeless than ever for the Company to go east, since we have been tracked by Gollum, and must fear that the secret of our journey is already betrayed." 

[Legolas said:] "I should vote for Minas Tirith."

"And so should I,’ said Gimli. "... I would choose Minas Tirith

[Merry:] "It would be mad and cruel to let Frodo go to Mordor.  Why can’t we stop him?"

"We must stop him," said Pippin. "He knows we shan’t agree to his going east". 

Sam is the only one in this debate who sees matters clearly and aright: "What’s the good of Minas Tirith anyway?"

Going west to Minas Tirith is the wrong decision, and contradicts the plan by which the Fellowship set out. 

Yet it is evident that all of the Fellowship except Frodo and Sam have been at-least indirectly (and, in the case of Boromir, directly) corrupted by The Ring, into wanting to change the plans to go to Minas Tirith. 

Again excepting Boromir; all members of the Fellowship pledge to follow Frodo east to Mordor, if that is Frodo's choice. But my point is that all the company (except Sam) state that they would choose instead to go west. They believe west is the correct choice.  

They say this despite that going to Minas Tirith would be a change of plan that does nothing towards achieving the the objective of the Quest ("What's the good of Minas Tirith anyway?"), and instead adds further delay to an already critically delayed quest.

Furthermore; there is a high probability of disaster from bringing The Ring into a fortress full of Men who are by-far that race most susceptible to temptation and corruption from the Rings of Power (examples include Isildur, Boromir, and Denethor - and the Ringwraiths). 

Getting the One Ring out from Minas Tirith might well have proved impossible - if once it had been carried into that citadel.  

I think we can infer that this loss of mission-clarity at such a critical point of the quest is likely to be effect of the proximity to the ring, as Frodo guesses ("This at least is plain: the evil of the Ring is already at work even in the Company, and the Ring must leave them before it does more harm.").

The only members of the Fellowship who resist the evil of The Ring, and remain clear-headed about what needs to be done, are Frodo and Sam - who are, of course, those who actually embark-upon and succeed-in the quest. 

It is evident that divine providence did well in choosing these two as the only members of the Fellowship who set forth east! Only their un-muddled and single-minded commitment to the job in hand was sufficient for its completion (and, even then, only with the ambivalent/ inadvertent "help" of Smeagol/ Gollum). 

The presence of anyone else than Frodo and Sam on the eastward journey to Mordor; might fatally have clouded the mission. 

*Aragorn is probably not "corrupted" by The Ring; but feels strongly the pull of a personal destiny that draws him towards Minas Tirith. Thus he is sufficiently confused - perhaps by the action of The Ring - so as to have lost sight of the absolute primacy of the Ring Quest. He is not sufficiently clear that Frodo must turn east as soon as possible - and that this is The Priority towards which everything else needs to be subordinated, without prevarication or delay. 

The Notion Club as a Magical Society - implications for Tolkien's attitudes to magic in the modern world

In the years since I first encountered The Notion Club Papers (NCPs) I have read much about some of the groupings that constituted White (Christian) Magic in England - and the various societies in a tradition that goes back to the Golden Dawn at the turn of the 19th-20th century, through Dion Fortune in the early-mid 20th century, and to Gareth Knight in the late 20th century and his death only a few years ago.   

Gareth Knight is especially significant, since he authored "The Magical World of the Inklings" (1990) which was endorsed by a foreword from Owen Barfield; and constitutes a frequently insightful overview of the work (and, to some extent, lives) of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams and Owen Barfield. 

But Knight does not consider the NCPs - which were only published after the first edition of GK's Inklings book, and had not been accorded the specific and defining consideration of Verlyn Flieger's A Question of Time (2001). 

The Notion Club, as depicted by Tolkien, is a magical society; albeit not of the earlier and formal kind (of which Charles Williams was an active and advanced participant) that was characterized by graded initiations, sworn secrecy, and costumed and scripted rituals. 

Instead; the Notion Club (written in 1945-6) more resembled that informal, fluid, late 20th/ early 21st century magical practice - sometimes solitary, dyadic, or among small-groupings of friends or colleagues - which Gareth Knight describes in his autobiography (I Called it Magic, 2011). 

The Notion Club are described as deploying a variety of spiritual/ magical techniques in pursuit of their goals. 

1. There is a "Jungian" focus on dream journaling and analysis, as routes to self-understanding but also to developing explicit awareness concerning unconscious knowledge of spiritual, remote and historical reality. 

2. Several instances of what later became termed "channelling", are described or implied - such as when Lowdham and Jeremy speak with the voices of people from the mythical past; or when Frankley unconsciously composes the relevant mystical poem of St Brendan's voyages after sleep, as if "given" to him by another consciousness.

3. Clairvoyance and clairaudience (referencing sight and hearing) are evident when Ramer and Jeremy experience visions of the mythic-past and remote places; and when Lowdam hears phrases in strange languages (he also clairvoyantly sees them written). 

There are also mentions that Dolbear has been "training" Ramer, and later Lowdham and Jeremy, in (what sounds like) some kind of method of "lucid" dream awareness, with hints of "exercises" for training and strengthening the imagination. 

Dolbear himself often enters a suspended and partial sleep state (hypnagogic/ hypnopompic) in which he remains both aware of the club and of other-place/time visions. 

The above list is not exhaustive. There are many indications that - even if not self-consciously so - the Notion Club, which seems to have begun as a literary club, has come to function, more and more, as a Magical Society - as its members develop methods for attaining the altered states of consciousness by which they become aware of, and influenced by, the society and events of a remote and indeed mythical past. 

Furthermore; the Notion Club is a "contacted" magical group; in that particular NC members derive knowledge from particular "spirit guides" who might (since they exist simultaneously in the mythic past and the contemporary setting of the NCPs) be regarded as closely analogous to the benign "inner plane guides" that stand-behind, teach and advise the closed and formal (later more open and improvised) magical societies of Dion Fortune (Society of the Inner Light) and the Gareth Knight Group.

I find it very striking to notice the extent to which the Notion Club functions as a real but unconscious Magical Society; in the sense of deliberately developing a methodology of using the trained imagination, altered states of consciousness and inner contact with persons/ beings in other times and places. 

This extends to describing members' experiences encountering non-human beings (Ramer's other planets), non-physical planes (discussions of the reality and nature of ghosts), and (what sound like) demonic attacks happening during dreaming.  

In sum: although the Notion Club were initially loosely-modelled on the mundane Inklings group, with its focus on literary composition and critique; as the story developed, so did distinctly magical behaviours and aims. 

Since the magical techniques are described from a distinctly positive perspective, and in pursuit of aims of which Tolkien approved; it seems that Tolkien was implicitly (although he tended publicly to deny this) far more positive concerning the nature and possibilities of "magic" in the modern world, than might otherwise have been suspected. 

 

History of Middle Earth free online

For those of you who have not yet tried reading Tolkien's posthumously published works, you can find the twelve volumes of The History of Middle Earth in rather user-un-friendly - but free! - online versions at this website. A real treasure trove. 

This provides access to The Notion Club Papers (Volume 9), The Lost Road (Volume 5), Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (Volume 10) and a lot of interesting stuff about elves and dwarves (Volume 12). 

If you enjoy these, you will probably want to buy paper copies of all twelve books; but these versions provide a comprehensive taster. 

CS Lewis on immortality

Like many people in the past decades, I owe a significant debt to CS Lewis as an agent of my conversion to Christianity. Lewis is more than a beloved and much pondered writer for me - he is more like a friend. 

Nonetheless; beyond the basic fact of that conversion (which is, after all, the main thing), I also absorbed from CSL several elements of what I now regard as serious error, especially in terms of the ultimate question of "what Christianity is". 

Even before I became a Christian, and for a good while afterwards (many months, and indeed residually for some years) I would have subscribed to this statement by CS Lewis's in Surprised by Joy. The bolded sections I have added for emphasis: 

My conversion involved as yet no belief in a future life. I now number it among my greatest mercies that I was permitted for several months, perhaps for a year, to know God and to attempt obedience without even raising that question [i.e. the question of whether - and how - there was a connection between God and Joy]. 

My training was like that of the Jews, to whom He revealed Himself centuries before there was a whisper of anything better (or worse) beyond the grave than shadowy and featureless Sheol. And I did not dream even of that. 

There are men, far better men than I, who have made immortality almost the central doctrine of their religion; but for my own part I have never seen how a preoccupation with that subject at the outset could fail to corrupt the whole thing. 

I had been brought up to believe that goodness was goodness only if it were disinterested, and that any hope of reward or fear of punishment contaminated the will. If I was wrong in this (the question is really much more complicated than I then perceived) my error was most tenderly allowed for. I was afraid that threats or promises would demoralise me; no threats or promises were made. The commands were inexorable, but they were backed by no "sanctions". 

God was to be obeyed simply because he was God. Long since, through the gods of Asgard, and later through the notion of the Absolute, He had taught me how a thing can be revered not for what it can do to us but for what it is in itself. That is why, though it was a terror, it was no surprise to learn that God is to be obeyed because of what He is in Himself. 

If you ask why we should obey God, in the last resort the answer is, "I am." To know God is to know that our obedience is due to Him. In His nature His sovereignty de jure is revealed.

**

Lewis explains that it was a good thing for him - implicitly in a psychological sense:

1. That he was unconcerned by the question of immortality: of life beyond mortal life.

2. That he regarded his faith essentially as obedience; and obedience to a God to whom obedience was due impersonally - because he was God - (which I take to mean, the creator of everything from nothing, omnipotent, omniscient etc.)  - and without consideration of any personal values. 

And it seems clear, and Lewis himself confirms, that this attitude to God is closely analogous to that of Judaism - and, he might have added, to Islam.   

Lewis even goes so far as to say that it is corrupting to religion for "personal immortality" to be the central doctrine. 

Unfortunately (as it now seem to me) I imbibed this personal prejudice of Lewis's along with my conversion. Consequently, I found that reading the Fourth Gospel was extremely confusing - since it seemed obvious that "immortality" (of a particular kind - resurrected) was the focus of Jesus's teaching. 

(There are also accounts, which impress me, that suggest immortality was a primary means of conversion.) 

I am forced to conclude that Lewis's personal history and psychology led him into a very serious misunderstanding of Christianity - but I would add that it is not at all uncommon and I had exactly the same misconception. 

And for much the same reason - in that I became a Christian via monotheism. That is, through intermediate stages of recognizing that we inhabited "a creation", and recognizing the reality of transcendental values (truth, beauty, virtue, cohesion)...

In other words, again much like Lewis, I regarded the history of Christianity as essentially cumulative, and the nature of Christianity as added-on to pre-existent Greek philosophy and Hebrew theology. 

I now regard this as deeply wrong, in its essentially reality. Of course Jesus lived at a point in time, in which there were pre-existent cultural and religious realities. 

But I now see Jesus as offering something fundamentally simple (eternal, Heavenly, resurrected life), and qualitatively new - a second creation. 

I see the intellectual structures of pre-existent Hebrew monotheism and Greek philosophy as not just irrelevant but distorting to the real nature of the religion of Jesus Christ. 

In particular; it seems like bad advice to suggest that people ought not to be concerned with the question of immortality; and that we ought not to try and understand the relationship between their own values and the nature of God. Such ideas point away-from (not towards) Christianity as it ought to be understood - the teaching of Jesus Christ revealed in the Fourth Gospel; and (much more importantly) an understanding which is simple and clear enough to be knowable by direct personal revelation.   

JRR Tolkien Letters on audiobook, performed by Samuel West

I reviewed the new edition of JRR Tolkien's selected letters earlier this year; and I saw at the time that the whole thing was also available as an audiobook - which was a mammoth twenty-nine hours yet cost me just one "Audible" credit to buy (less than five pounds). 

So, strangely, the audiobook of Letters is much cheaper than the paper copy! (So long as you are an Audible member.)  

Listening to these letters was a tremendously enjoyable experience - probably more so than reading them. Also I felt that I was taking in more of the meaning aurally, than when reading to myself - perhaps due its being easier to concentrate. 

...For which much of the credit must go to Samuel West; who is "the voice of Tolkien" in this production. 

Samuel West is a very experienced Tolkien audiobook reader of the Silmarillion and broadly Legendarium material, typically reading Tolkien's text - and has often made a team with his father Timothy - who plays the "editorial role" of Christopher's voice. 

But these letters represent SW's greatest challenge yet; since there are so many of them and they lack an over-arching dramatic structure, and because they are letters rather than fictions, and were not intended for publication. 

Yet West does a simply superb job! What greatly impressed me was his sustained focus on the reading; on the precise meanings of the sentences. He also made the letters dramatic - full of light and shade; with a wide range of emotions - happiness, anger, tragedy, irritation, the sublime... So that each letter becomes a structured exposition of some aspect of Tolkien the man. 

I think this convincing interpretation of Tolkien as a character is made possible by Samuel West's unusually high intelligence for an actor - so that he pronounces extremely wide vocabulary of the words correctly, phrases the complex sentences grammatically, accurately inflects their meanings.  

An unreserved recommendation from me  - I anticipate relistening many times. 

JRR Tolkien did not finish and publish The Silmarillion because the motivational aspect of his genius had dwindled

It is an interesting question why JRR Tolkien did not finish and publish The Silmarillion; despite that The Lord of the Rings was published in late 1955 and Tolkien did not die until mid-1973; and despite that all through these seventeen-plus years he was insistent that making The Silmarillion publishable was his number one priority. 

Much has been written, and truly enough, about the many technical difficulties facing Tolkien in this work, and about his habits of making matters harder for himself by writing new material (and radically changing old material) rather than focusing on the core task of making The Silmarillion both internally consist, and consistent with the published Lord of the Rings.  

I would like to take a different approach altogether. This recognizes that JRR Tolkien was a genius, The Lord of the Rings was a work of genius, and Tolkien wanted The Silmarillion also to be a work of genius.

By my understanding of the nature of genius; to do work of genius requires both exceptionally high ability, and also exceptionally strong motivation. 

This exceptional motivation comes from within (i.e. is "endogenous" - inner-generated) - and can only come from within. The motivation is focused to accomplish the particular task a genius feel inwardly compelled to accomplish. 

Such a powerful and sustained inner motivation is something present... or not. 

Because of the difficulty of accomplishing a work of genius, only a genuine and inner motivation will suffice to provide the sustained and directed energies and concentration that is necessary. 

Self-exhortation, external pressures, the sense of duty, potential financial or other benefits... these things can be no substitute for a genius's special capacity for inner motivation, directed to do what he "must". 

The Letters of JRR Tolkien document the power and resilience of his motivation to write the Lord of the Rings (LotR), extending over more than a decade - and persisting despite many obstacles such as multiple urgent and competing duties at home and in work, World War Two, physical and psychological illness; and his innate reluctance to finish any piece of work, but instead to "niggle" at it.  

Tolkien wrote and published Lord of the Rings; despite several longish hiatuses and interruptions - some self-inflicted; but always he would return to the job, again and again, pushing forward over-and-over with the massive task - even as its difficulties continued to expand.

We need to recognize the colossal expenditure of directed and sustained effort that this required - Tolkien often emphasized this himself in later writings, including the Foreword to Lord of the Rings.  

My point is that genius-level writing is not only a product of genius-level ability; but also genius-level motivation.

It was primarily a decline of motivation that failed Tolkien in his intention to complete and publish The Silmarillion - at a level of attainment commensurate with the earlier published book. 

Such a decline in motivation was, of course, not Tolkien's "fault". Indeed, it is more accurate to put things the other way around...

More accurate to say that Tolkien was temporarily blessed with a tremendous power of self-motivation during the years of his late middle-age; carrying him through from the beginnings of LotR in 1937, at least to submission of its final volume in 1955 - by which time Tolkien was sixty-three years old.

The (apparent) fact that this extraordinary motivation was not sustained over the entire remainder of his life and through into extreme old-age; is simply that such things depend on our mortal and vulnerable bodies and minds; therefore they don't usually last very long.  

I think his ability as a writer remained largely intact; in that some of his very best pieces of writing came after the publication of Lord of the Rings and up to the late 1960s. these including Silmarillion themed pieces; posthumously published in Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle earth.   

So I believe it was diminished motivation rather diminished ability that was the problem with The Silmarillion. 

Tolkien was to some extent unable, and also to some extent unwilling, to focus his motivation on The Silmarillion. This is evident in the memoir from Clyde Kilby, about assisting Tolkien in the middle 1960s - ostensibly to help him complete The Silmarillion. 

Kilby reports that (on a day by day basis) Tolkien went to considerable lengths to do almost-anything-else, other than work on The Silmarillion!

But a particularly telling example is documented in the published Letters.

Immediately after the publication of LotR; Tolkien claimed, in many letters, to be unable to focus upon The Silmarillion because he needed to complete several philological publishing commitments, as well as continue the duties related to his position as a Professor of English at Oxford. 

However he was due to retire in just a couple of years...

But in 1957 Tolkien arranged to stay on as Professor for an extra two years. This he stated to be due to money worries, related to a modest pension. In the event (as Tolkien realized by 1958) there was no reason to be concerned about his income, because income from royalties on LotR soon proved to be very substantial indeed. 

In correspondence; Tolkien said he wished he had known this before taking on the extra two years as Professor - which was not, after all, proving to be financially helpful (due to the effect on taxation of his royalty income). Tolkien said that if he had known about the extra LotR income, he would have retired earlier, at the statutory age. 

Tolkien finally retired in 1959, aged 67 - this was now four years post-LotR. 

However, in a letter dated 21st July 1962; Tolkien announced that from October 10th "I have to stand in for the outgoing Professor of Anglo Saxon" until the new Professor took up his post in Easter 1963. 

Of course; Tolkien did not "have to" do anything of the sort! It was Tolkien's choice - a matter of his priorities, not his duties; and there was no financial necessity. 

Tolkien was by 1962 now seventy one years old, and had been fully retired for three years; and was five years post his official retirement - and it was now fully seven years since the Lord of the Rings had been published. Seven years since he was supposed to be concentrating his best energies on completing and publishing The Silmarillion...

Yet, here was Tolkien voluntarily returning to university duties that had stood in the way of his writing for decades, the onerous nature of which he had very frequently complained in his earlier letters!

What I infer from this is that, in his later life - approximately the final eighteen years, Tolkien lacked the colossal drive necessary to making The Silmarillion his priority, setting aside other claims on his time and energies, and pushing through to its completion. 

It was this inner lack of motivation, presumably due to increasing age and diminishing vitality - rather than anything else; that was critical in Tolkien's failure to finish The Silmarillion.