Was Middle Earth Created or Discovered?

[MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie]

I guess what I was really needed to ask was what did Tolkien discover. Sometimes I take things too literal, and by this I did not mean I thought this thread was based on a literal sense [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] . By saying Middle-earth I was wondering whether you meant Tolkien discovered/created this fantasy known as Middle-earth that does not really exist but we have in our minds and our hearts and we enter when we read it, or, he discovered/created this world called ME with its values, and morals, and themes, and plenty of other stuff too. But now I just confused myself and I have no clue on what I mean, or am trying to say, or what this all means. So I'll wait a little and let my thoughts settle.

But what you said Child of the 7th Age caught me:

Tolkien felt that there was an underlying truth to be discovered...but a way for us to get hold of that core of meaning that lies at the center of existence.

So, if ME is a truth, discovered by Tolkien, then what is that truth? Does this mean that the world we know as Middle-earth is way to find the center of our existence? This is confusing, but intruiging none the less.