Quote:
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Some 'voice' is speaking to us, & telling us things we need to hear, telling us what's wrong with ourselves & our world, & giving us a glimpse of 'Arda Unmarred'.
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I like this, it seems to sum up something intangible about Tolkien's world. Do we cling to his work in a troubled world? Does it give us something solid in our world of ifs and maybes? Yet to me there are still some areas which concern me, although these shift over time.
I understand and work with the morality of ME when I am reading the books; it is a created world, and as such you do need to allow yourself to be immersed in the cultural and spiritual concepts of that world. Much the same thing happens if I read about different periods in history - I must come to an understanding of the mindset of the time period to fully understand why certain events happened in the way they did. But my own concept of life cannot be wholly suspended. If I read about the Peterloo massacre, then I must know of the fears of the ruling class in order to discover why they acted as they did, yet I cannot fully suspend my modern day sensibilities and I feel righteous anger towards these people.
As I read Tolkien's work I understand his concepts of morality,in particular as I have grown older I take on board, at a deep level, the concept of yearning for a straight path to enlightenment, and yet other things slowly grow to trouble me.
This is because I am a 'mere' reader. Tolkien's concept is
his vision, and while I am utterly trapped within his world, and have been for most of my life, there's a small metaphorical hole in the ozone layer of that world, which shifts about. I've probably not expressed this quite as I'd like, but I feel that it is my own personal view of the 'real' world which I cannot help but stop intruding.