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While it is possible to interpret the Lord of the
Rings as containing many Christian, and specifically Roman Catholic,
symbols and references - this is not obvious, and indeed any reference to the regular, daily partaking of Mass (which was the focus of RC spirituality in Tolkien's day) in the life of Middle Earth is completely absent.
Likewise, Middle Earth has many resemblances to the pre-Christian pagan world - except that there is no paganism at all! - indeed, no church or formal religion of any kind.
And in this respect, Tolkien's
world is completely 'unrealistic' - at least in terms of all known
earthly and human societies (which have always been very religious; at
least, until the past few decades when the Mass Media has taken-over).
*
And
yet, the Lord of the Rings is a spiritually awakening, nourishing and
sustaining book - a strongly spiritual work - at least, for those of
certain aesthetic tastes and a certain cast of mind - as I can attest
from decades of personal experience; and as I can perceive from the
speech and writing of many others.
How is it that an
apparently non-religious work seems to be able to maintain a spiritual perspective in people, despite its almost complete lack of
religion?
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I think the answer is
metaphysical - in other words, it is related to the basic set-up of
imagined reality which structures the story and the ancillary material.
When
people say that Middle Earth seems real - realer, in a sense, than this
earth - this is what they probably mean.
It is not convincing
characters, nor detailed landscapes and maps, nor the specifics of languages
and history that sets Tolkien's
mythic world apart from any other I have encountered; it is a step back
from all that: the sense that everything fits together in a deep and
coherent fashion.
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And I mean everything
fits together - from the individual pieces of dialogue and the
micro-decisions of characters right up to the sweep of the War of the
Ring and behind it the History which led to that war.
I do not mean that this was fitt-ed
together - explicitly or deliberately by the author - but that it
sprang from a comprehensive 'metaphysical' imagination concerning the
whole nature of reality in Middle Earth.
So all the details - small and large - grew from and within that metaphysical imagination.
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So we may read Lord of the Rings, at least to some extent, from a God's eye view
- giving a comprehensive and detailed vision of what happens and why in
a convincingly simulated world - therefore we understand the essential
nature of Middle Earth (its meaning, purpose and relationships) in way we cannot understand for this earth we live in.
But
the fact that it was written by a Man, and the preconditions of human
creativity, means that there is a necessary - although very general;
non-religious, non-denominational - spiritual relationship between Tolkien's imagining and reality.
Therefore,
it is possible (for those who most strongly respond to it) for Lord of
the Rings to work at a very deep, subliminal level for Christians and
pagans and atheists alike (and, presumably, other religions too).
*
What
effect this spirituality has is another matter: clearly this kind of
deep but generic spirituality lacks the power, specificity and strength
that a religion may have for a devout and active adherent.
But,
on the other hand, it seems that many denominations and religions lack,
or are deficient in, exactly the kind of spiritual depth and overview
which Lord of the Rings supplies.
And such people may (often without realizing
that this is what they are doing) compensate for this religious
deficiency - at least to some extent - by a complementary and
imaginative identification with Middle Earth.
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1 comment:
My feeling is that the effect you described has something to do with engaging reader's attention and imagination. At the time of my childhood, in Poland under decaying Communist rule, the comrades in power decided that it is safe to let people read Tolkien, Le Guin and all that stuff which they judged to be purely escapist. Opium of the people, you know. Somehow, they managed to overlook the basic fact: anything that makes one think seriously and independently about issues of morality, responsibility etc. is devastating for oppressive regimes. In this precise sense, even though Tolkien and Le Guin refer, explicitely and implicitely, to quite different traditions, moral systems, and esthetics, still they are both spiritual in that they refute the very basis of the totalitarian oppression: they insist on the importance of individual decisions, convictions, choices and acts. They tell everyone who is able to read their message: you do matter, what you think and what you do does make a difference.
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