Quote:
Originally Posted by Puddleglum
...at no time, IMO, does the individual get to choose what the standard of Good is, only whether to take actions that BELIEVE are good (or evil).
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No, you are certainly right about that. In Arda there is Good and there is Bad, and these are objective qualities. But what I meant I suppose is that its inhabitants instinctively seem to be able to tell good from bad without any help from clerics or holy books that establish a moral standard, and without any threat of condemnation or eternal punishment in the afterlife, without any promise of a Heaven free from pain. Sure, one might presume that there is judgement in the Halls of Mandos for all the speaking people but among the living (excluding the Eldar and those associated with them) there doesn't seem to be any awareness of this and no traditions that speak of God or the Halls of Mandos and what lies beyond. If a Hobbit is doing his or her best to be a good person, that Hobbit does it with an internal motivation, and not to please Eru and book a seat in heaven. Much like a secular humanist, wouldn't you say?