[Sardy]

I touched on this briefly in my "Tolkien and Psychedelics" thread a while back, but on every reread I am fascinated with Tolkien's exploration of the nature of consciousness - and how it seems to differ among the various races, particularly the Elves.

The various descriptions of the Elves "otherworldly" perception of the world around them reminds me much of Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception." Most notably during Frodo and Sam's meeting with Gildor, during the Fellowship's stay in Lothlorien and Legolas' walking sleep during the pursuit of Merry and Pippin...

It seems to me that the nature of Elvish consciousness goes much deeper than simply being more attuned to nature: that there is an aspect of "seeing" and experiencing the world around them with not just heightened perception, but with senses unknown to most mortals (outside of epiphany, ecstasy and psychedelic experiences) - and now that I think of it, this is most likely tied very closely to the nature of immortality and how the knowledge of one's own immortality would affect their perception and experience of the world...

So not so much a question, as a topic for discussion. I am interested in delving into the nature and transcendent aspects of consciousness in Middle-earth - and possibly Tolkien's own (if any) experiences with meditation, ecstatic states, eastern philosophy, etc...)