[littlemanpoet]

Have we had contact with the 'deathless Elves' ourselves? Well, I haven't.

When discussing things Tolkien, one always runs the risk of crossing the border between history and myth .... wrongly! I hope I'm not doing that now, and think not.

But I would say that the contact of Men with the deathless Elves is comparable - and merely that! - to historic human progression into abstract thinking and all the distinguishing within concepts that has resulted from it. I was originally going to say that Men's contact with deathless Elves was perhaps Tolkien's mythological treatment of that progression, but I think it claims far too much. As it is, I only offer the comparison for the sake of application, if you know what I mean.

I think it's an apt comparison. When humans only thought concretely, death was the last step in any human's life. With the onset of abstract thinking, humans began to ask the difficult questions about death that still remain unanswered.

Oh, to be a hobbit!

Perhaps one could say that if the 'deathless Elves' didn't exist men would have to invent them.

Death is always a tragedy. It is always a part of life, but that doesn't make it acceptable. Bilbo's grief at the death of Thorin for example - two members of mortal races - shows that while mortality is a known & accepted 'fact' it is not one that anyone merely shrugs their shoulders at.

Yes. Even when humans thought concretely, they still created myths to fall back on to explain death. Hene, "He joins our ancestors in Valhalla!" And we have not changed, really, have we? "She has gone to be with Jesus." Not that to believe such a thing is necessarily to believe a lie, but it shows that we still seek, and seem to need, the same comfort as our concrete thinking forebears. And maybe our abstracting has only served to hinder our ability to access that comfort - the ailment in the human soul.