Tolkein's "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings," contain timeless themes that are embedded in our collective wisdom, and are very relevant at a time when the world, and our country, is once again facing the struggle between freedom and domination. The stories in this series contain general mythic themes such as the struggle between good and evil and the 'Heroes Journey.'
These are the very issues with which we are struggling today in our attempt to better understand and cope with the chaos in our body politic. Frederick A. O. Schwartz, Jr. and Aziz Z. Huq explore these topics in their newly published book, "Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror,"
Let's start with Tolkein's mythic journey; it will reveal timeless lessons as we follow its path, and then return back to the present day.
Come below the fold...and enter 'Middle Earth.'
MODERN DAY MYTHS/PARABLES
Tolkein's tales of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" are modern myths. Mythic stories access something deep within us as human beings at a level where we are more the same, than different. They access commonly felt hungers, desires, struggles, hopes and beliefs. All these tales reach the ‘mythological/collective unconscious’ level because they commonly contain some fundamentals to our human experience: e.g. the struggle between good and evil, and the "The Hero’s Journey." Every culture has enshrined stories at this level; for example, the struggles of the Olympian gods told initially in Greek and then repeated in Roman myths.
At this ‘mythic’or the ‘collective unconscious' level, the stories contain powerful themes with which that generation is struggling. Hopefully that struggle leads to an evolution in cultural consciousness. Hopefully by gaining that consciousness, the lesson it teaches can be integrated into our history successfully.
"THE HOBBIT" AND "LORD OF THE RINGS"
These works, written by J. R. Tolkein, between 1937 and 1949, served to present in its broad swath the epic struggles of good and evil which the generations of that time were suffering in the form of World War I and World War II. These are fantasy tales; told in a time "between;" when ‘modern’ man was emerging to dominance from other forms of life in "Middle Earth": humanoid and animal life: hobbits, man, dwarves, orcs, elves, wizards and even giant trees. It was an age of ‘magic;’ and wizards, both bad and good, used that magic to oppress or to free, respectively. It is a tale, above all, about the struggle for power and its poisoning influences.
In the "The Hobbit," Gandalf the Grey, the good wizard, teacher and ‘mentor,’ suggests to the dwarves that the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, go on ‘an adventure’ with them as the 'burglar' who would be able to steal from a dragon's cave, with the intent of luring it out to its death and then restoring the mountain to the dwarves. In the course of this journey, Bilbo happens on a ring with very special powers that enables him to escape from the creature Gollum who was also searching for the ring. Bilbo finds the support of friends, grows into his task and together, they manage to succeed. He then returns to the Shire, taking the ring for safekeeping back to his home. In his success, he and his friends, like Odysseus and his companions, encounter many battles that ultimately forge the sprit and soul in each of them.
"The Lord of the Rings" trilogy takes up when Bilbo bequeaths the ring to his nephew, Frodo. Gandalf once again initiates the call to a hero’s journey for an unsuspecting Frodo who is joined by his faithful friend, Sam. At this point in this world, the struggle between good and evil has reached a tipping point and now the task of the hero is to destroy the ring since its location had become known to the dark wizard, Saruman, who wanted to possess it for its unique powers. It was revealed as the ring that would unite all the power in the world into the hands of its holder.
The goal of Frodo, a "Hero" of this Journey, is to find and ultimately destroy "the Ring" which, because it is completely powerful, infects its owner with an uncontrollable lust for power and, as such, corrupts its owner completely. The image of its destruction is in the creature, Gollum, who wastes away in search for his ‘Precious.’ The task for Frodo is to carry complete power and not use it and prevent it from falling into the hands of those who would use that power to enslave. It is only by carrying it to and burning it in the special fires of Mount Doom that it will be destroyed. In that perilous journey, Frodo meets an assortment of defenders, who unite to protect him and his mission from the pursuing forces of evil, including the Ringwraiths, the evil spirits of fallen kings. A Fellowship is forged within the deep love of friendship of those who answer their own call to a heroes journey and join together, each doing their own part to support the struggle of good over evil.
One of these protectors is destined to lead the battle and become the new king of men, Aragorn. The epic now has two main hero’s. Like Frodo, he is chosen, but initially rejects the call because he is defeated and dispirited. His journey of growing into his kingship is supported through the inspiration and love of a woman, Arwen, one of the elves, who sacrifices her immortality to be with him. He assumes his hereditary kingship by taking up his father's reforged sword, Anduril, which is recognized by all as a symbol of his authority. Leading the forces to defeat Saruman, he goes on his own hero’s journey and transforms into the leader he was destined to become.
The success in the bloody battles and struggles of the main characters is because of their increasing understanding not only of the evil before them but the ways of that evil. This clarity directly enhances their ability to face that awful reality and respond effectively to it. As if to demonstrate the importance of facing Truth as best they can, they battle with a king who is living in crazed denial, having been brainwashed by his attendant, a mole of the evil wizard. As the deception of Saruman, the evil wizard, is unveiled as he betrays and tries to kill his fellow wizard, Gandalf, the full force of the plot to takeover the known world is revealed. Gandalf’s fight to the "death" transforms him, and he returns later in the story as the more powerful, "Gandalf, the White."
The reader is then taken to the fires of Mordor where vast armies of automaton beasts are being trained, in a huge industrialized war machine and the whole truth of the impending doom is revealed. Meanwhile Frodo continues to struggle with himself, and with Gollum, as he travels the murderous terrain trying to fulfill his mission to destroy the source of the power of all this evil, the Ring.
The great armies pitch in battle; the forces for good are greatly outnumbered and yet fight valiantly to the death. It is only when Frodo, beaten-down and mortally wounded, finally struggles with Gollum who has bitten the ring off his finger and Gollum falls into the destroying fire, that the source of evil is finally annihilated. When the source is eliminated, the battle turns and the evil powers and their robotic armies collapse.
Frodo is mortally-wounded, although he and Sam are rescued. Aragorn accepts kingship and asks that his kingship be supported by the other leaders, demonstrating that he gets his power from them, and is willing to share his power. Finally, Aragorn is reunited with Arwen and a joyous marriage takes place. Four years later, after a still-ailing Frodo finishes his written account of his journey, he makes his final departure with an ancient Bilbo and his elven friends, crossing over the boundary of mortal time in an elven ship into into the sunset of immortality.
And for the moment, peace returns to the kingdoms.
REFLECTION on Relevant Themes:
The theme of the Ring as a symbol for the drive to consolidate power to an absolute level and then to install that power perpetually, is one that has scorched the pages of the history of mankind. In Tolkein's time the drive to power of Hitler served as a backdrop of this series. The well known phrase, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," comes from our collective learning of that lesson. The task becomes to replace the "Ring of Power" with the "Fellowship of the Ring;" the difference between controlling with power versus sharing the power.
The hero is called to struggle not only with external forces, but in all cases, with the forces within her/him self that would prevent an answer to the call of individual destiny; whether despair, denial, fear, and to find transformation by grappling with the darkness within and without. It was only because Frodo and Aragorn fought their own inner battle that they were able to fulfill their outer tasks.
In Tolkein’s Trilogy, the way that history demonstrates that the force of this consolidating absolute power can be defeated is through taking into battle Truth at its many levels, the strength of Fellowship, the power and meaning of Love and the renunciation of absolute power by the victor. The last is not least; many a liberator has been born to die a dictator.
DISCUSSION:
THE UNITARY EXECUTIVE AS THE MODERN "RING OF POWER"
In nodal points in history, the forces that would seek to gain absolute power over the rest of mankind surface and the drama of the battle of good versus evil is played out once again; each time with the real threat of apocalyptic loss. In their book, "Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror," Frederick A. O. Schwartz, Jr. and Aziz Z. Huq argue that we are again at one of those "nodal points in history," with the "Ring of Power," now represented by the attempted consolidation of power under the concept of the ‘unitary executive.’
(Quoted from the book review, "The Case Against Those Expanding White House Powers," The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani, July 6, 2007, p. E32.):
(They:)
argue that the Bush Administation's "monarchist claims of executive power" are "unprecedented on this side of the North Atlantic," and that its "executive unilateralism not only undermines the delicate balance of our Constitution, but also lessens our human liberties and hurts vital counterterrorism campaigns" by undermining America's moral authority and standing in the world:
In the book, they trace the ways in which the Bush Administration has systematically sought to strengthen its own power and weaken the power of the other branches of government through the events leading up to and flowing from 911.
They also state that,
"Making the executive supreme makes the nation no safer- either from its enemies or its own worst impulses," the authors conclude. "Indeed the abiding genius of the Founding Generation was its rejection of the idea that unchecked unilateral power is ever properly vested in any one branch of government. Our government was framed ‘to control itself.’ as James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers. ‘Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.’ Dividing powers between three branches, the Founders harnessed human passions in the cause of limited government. Madison, again writing in the Federalist Papers, provided the enduring explanation for this division of government: "The accumulation of all power, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of a one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.’"
Once again, history repeats itself. Once again, the battle forms to possess the "Ring of Power." The Ring is the symbol of the SOURCE/ENERGY of the concentration of power, giving the holder the ability to command absolute power.
In the struggle to prevent the takeover of absolute power today, it is important to identify the ‘SOURCE’ that gives energy to that consolidation of power; to identify what fundamentally makes such a 'power grab' a possiblity? In order to fight against this current attempt at seizing absolute control, it is imperative to not only destroy the manifestations of that power, but its source.
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POLL: WHAT IS THE SOURCE?