What ain't there and ought to be.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Davem, Littemanpoet

I couldn’t agree with you more that LotR has a greater sense of underlying spirituality than Silm, precisely because so much is left mysterious and unsaid. I also concur with your statement that every culture in the “real world” seeks answers to questions that we would term religious. Yet my own view of the Shire and Hobbits is somewhat different. Please excuse the length of this post. I am thinking things out.

On the question of hobbit "religion'.... Tolkien stated the following in an interview conducted in 1967:

"Hobbits," Tolkien says, "have what you might call universal morals. I should say they are examples of natural philosophy and natural religion."

This would certainly support Davem's contention that we can not assume the Hobbits were "pre-religious". Additionally, it seems clear from the text that all Hobbits had a sense of natural law: a belief that certain basic guidelines must be followed for the good of their community. However, I am not certain how far beyond this we can go. We can rule out formal religious ritual in burials or handfastings, given this footnote by Tolkien in a letter in 1954:

I do not think Hobbits practised any form of worship or prayer (unless through exceptional contact with Elves.)

An interesting statement and an even more interesting qualifier! Most Hobbits did not have any contact with Elves, so they would have fallen into the group that had no form of worship or prayer. It does, however, leave open the possibility that Hobbits like Bilbo, Frodo, or Samwise might have stood on different grounds, since they did have “exceptional contact with Elves”. This would be in accord with those instances in the text when Frodo and Sam call out to Elbereth for aid, at least from their subconscious.

To me, one of the most poignant passages in the book is when Frodo and Sam prepare to eat a meal with Faramir and his men. Frodo's reaction to what he sees says volumes, both about his own community’s lack of formal acknowledgment of the Transcendent, his personal desire for such a means of expression, and the substitution of impeccable human politeness as an alternative expression of thanks.

They were led then to seats beside Faramir: barrells covered with pelts and high enough above the benches of the Men for their convenience. Before they ate , Faramir and all his men turned and faced west in a moment of silence. Faramir signed to Frodo and Samwise that they should do likewise.

"So we always do," he said, as they sat down: 'we look towards Numenor that was, and beyond to Elvenhome that is, and to that which is beyond Elvenhome and ever will be. Have you no such custom at meat?"

"No," said Frodo, feeling strangely rustic and untutored. "But if we are guests, we bow to our host, and after we have eaten we rise and thank him."

"That we do also," said Faramir.

How interesting that the first "Men" here is captalized, but not the second. The capital letter in the first word seems to tie in the recognition of divinity with ALL men, while the second refers to a specific group of men who were adherents of Faramir. Yet as Hobbits, Samwise and Frodo stand outside both these groups.

Davem raised these additional questions about Hobbits:

Do they have inherited 'Archetypes'? Do they 'mythologise'? If they are Children of Eru wouldn't there be some innate sense of the Divine, the numinous, which came out naturally?

I'm not sure we can go this far. For example, all peoples in Middle-earth and real life have some kind of creation story at the core of their mythologies. Throughout the Legendarium, Elves and those Men descended from Numenor have greater or lesser knowledge about the Valar and Eru. Even Dwarves are aware of Aule and the story of their creation. Yet Hobbits lack any specific knowledge about their own origins. We are explicitly told that their earliest legends go back only to about the year 1050 when they resided near the Anduin. The creation myth is missing, just as all history prior to 1050 is missing.

By the time LotR was published, Tolkien had spent almost twenty years thinking and writing about Hobbits. If he had wanted to depict Hobbit folk myths or beliefs, even indirectly, he might have done so in any number of places. For example, he could easily have had Frodo recite some verses to Aragorn that hinted obliquely, even humorously, at what Hobbits 'believed', or perhaps a “heart-to-heart” conversation with Gandalf. There is precedent for both devices in the text, but instead the author is silent.

It seems noteworthy that one of the ways underlying spirituality is hinted at in LotR is “yearning” on the part of Men and Hobbits for Elves, presumably because they are a people who actually saw the light of the Trees. Frodo, Bilbo, and Samwise all exhibit this yearning for Elves in differing ways. We particularly see this light and spiritual growth reflected in Frodo as he struggles towards Mordor. Yet, always, this is depicted in Elvish, dreamworld, or, in one instance, Numenorean terms. Frodo’s morals, his basic goodness and capacity to feel pity, were clearly a product of the Shire, but his yearning for the West and the "beyond", even his dreams, do not have any “native” roots. No wonder he had to leave the Shire at the end of the story! I have always felt there were compelling reasons to do so that went beyond healing.

Interestingly, it’s precisely this yearning for Elves that causes their hobbit neighbors to view Frodo and Bilbo aand their associates with suspicion. There are hints of this in LotR itself and a more detailed confirmation in a scene where Bilbo's gardener comments on his master's visit to the Elves in UT. The Letters confirm that Tolkien considered Frodo and Samwise and the other hobbits on the Ring quest to be “exceptionally gifted": they were different than the rest of the Hobbits. In this case, I feel he was referring to more than their intellect or physical talents. He was talking about their moral and spiritual reach.

I do see underlying currents of spirituality in LotR, and the inhabitants of the Shire exhibit a sense of natural goodness and moral law that puts most of us to shame. Yet, as much as I might like to see evidence of wider spirituality or myths or folk beliefs, I don’t sense it in the general community. Nor do I feel that Tolkien would have added such things to the text. Instead I sense a purposeful omission. Only in the case of “exceptional” hobbits, those who were willing to be labeled as “odd” by their neighbors, do we see a true yearning that encompasses the “spiritual” and myth.