Now we return to the spot in the first Chapter of Book 4 where Frodo meets Gollum, recalls the words of Gandalf about Gollum and pity, and says “Now I see him, I do pity him.”
In analyzing this, Frodo’s supreme act of Pity, I want to talk about the more modern concept of empathy. That, you see, is the missing link in the chain of (Learning about a people) leads to (Highness) leads to (Pity for a particular person of that people) leads to (Forgiveness) and/or (Love). Pity should be based on understanding; and deep understanding requires empathy. Thus, in Tolkien’s terms, we may be high, but if we do not bother to take the active mental action of empathy, we won’t manage to pity adequately.
Like Saruman before his fall, perhaps. High indeed in knowledge of peoples and crafts, but failing to try to empathize with the lower-level beings he had to deal with.
But empathy is not a simple concept. And here, based on what I have observed over the years, I introduce my own thoughts about types and levels of empathy.
Let’s start with my first level, which I call “felt concern for others.” And I want to talk about a real-world case, which I will hopefully prevent from being typecast by calling the person involved That Person.
If you meet That Person for a short time in a casual setting, you will often be struck by That Person’s social grace and pleasantness to you. Their seeming extroversion. Sometimes, their ability to express concern about others.
But interact with That Person for a long period of time, and a strangely different pattern shows itself. That person always gets you the gift That Person thinks you should have, betraying no thought towards or even knowledge of what you want or need. That Person assumes, not that you will do the tasks for That Person which That Person would have done, in the way That Person would have done them, but rather the tasks that should be done to make That Person’s world perfect, without explaining to you what is wanted or considering or your ability to perform those tasks. And so on. And you realize That Person sees you as a doll or toy soldier, and the world as a doll house or stage in which others exist (because this is a psychologically troubled person) to perform without prompting the actions required for a play that will make that person a hero or heroine, that will make That Person feel safe from all criticism. And yet, That Person appears to care deeply for That Person’s doll or toy soldier – who does not exist.
Is this empathy? I would say yes. But it is empathy that shouts to its recipient, constantly, that That Person thinks he or she is worthless. And the other concerns about it are that it sucks the recipient into a relationship of constant pressure to live up to an impossible, meaningless standard, and that even professionals often do not recognize from the outside that this is not a higher level of empathy.
So let’s look at those higher levels. The next one I define is that of Rabbi Hillel and Jesus, as I understand it: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love your neighbor as yourself. More precisely, “mentally placing yourself in the situation of the other person.”
And that’s a good thing to do. And that’s a relatively easy thing todo. No need to gain understanding of the recipient, in a quick social interaction. But it is not the highest level of empathy. It does not require understanding of that person’s needs, wants, and aspirations, when they are different from yours.
And so we come to the highest modern level of empathy. I define it thus: “mentally imagining yourself as having the other person’s mind, body, and situation.” Attempting to imagine the life experiences, cultural role training, and right-now tasks and urges of the other person that are different from yours.
And that’s never an easy task. And yet, I think, it has its rewards, not least of which is the ability to unlock the wonder of a culturally diverse society.
But here’s the point of this whole long seeming digression. Implicitly, I believe, Tolkien is defining a fourth, even higher level of empathy, for which highness is a prerequisite: understanding not only the person as if you were inhabiting that person, but all that led up to that person in history, the collective unconscious, the collective myth. Understanding and then empathizing with that small person with that very large shadow of the past of his or her people. Which may be also primarily the shadow of himself or herself, if he or she is a long-lived Elf or Gollum the almost-immortal.
Now we come to my interpretation of what is happening in the shadow of the Emyn Muil, as Frodo meets Gollum fully face to face for the first time. Frodo has become high; he has the capability to show that fourth level of empathy. Yet, up to now, Gollum has been “book learning.” Frodo meets Gollum; Frodo sees Gollum; Frodo senses Gollum; and all the sensory input is a powerful aid to Frodo in placing himself in Gollum’s mind, body, and situation, while feeling the presence of Gollum’s collective unconscious. Now Frodo can put highness into action. Now Frodo can feel that fourth level of empathy. Now Frodo can see Gollum in his mind, and perform that supreme act of Pity. And he does.
And now I want to reach ahead in the story, and discuss the further implications of this. I have, I hope, adequately explained my belief that Tolkien is describing a new, deeper way of interacting with people, with highness leading to better understanding, empathy, and pity. What lies beyond those, in Tolkien’s world?
Well, we know from Frodo’s actions after the final confrontation in Orodruin that pity can lead to a better kind of forgiveness. We know from the courtship of Faramir and Eowyn that pity, no matter how uncomfortable to the recipient, can lead to a good love. But what about highness and empathy leading directly to love?
I am reminded of a scene in Dorothy Dunnett’s Checkmate, in which Sybilla, the aged mother of the antihero Lymond, says to Marthe, his bastard half-sister who has her own problems with love, words to the effect of “You cannot love one person adequately until you learn to love the entire human race.” A bit harsh, surely. And yet I believe I see Ms. Dunnett’s point, especially considering That Person. A love that truly understands and values the loved should spring from highness, from at least the third level of empathy. A level that I feel I rarely, if ever, adequately attain.
By the way, later in the same book Marthe meets Lymond for the last time, and says to him, “How do you say farewell, for all time, to a brother?” And Lymond answers, more or less, “You wish him well, if that is what is in your mind. And you pity him, as he is driven, as you are, through life.” Global love. Pity. I think Tolkien and Dorothy Dunnett are on the same wavelength.
But whatever you think about my theories about what Tolkien is saying in this Chapter, about this momentous meeting, I think it is worth it for you the reader to consider the idea of your having a fourth level of empathy. What would it be like? What would you gain, what might you lose? Try, he said smiling, to empathize with the future you, the new you. What would it be like to feel, to see the new dimension of the world?
And that’s all I suggest. Not even to do it. Just –
Consider it.
Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Like You’ve Never Heard It:
- The First of a Series of Ramblings About JRR Tolkien
- Part II. Pre-Psychology Writing, Poetry, and a New Hero
- Part III. Torture, Enlightenment
- Part IV. Weather, Mushrooms, Leaders
- Part V. In the Moment, Sam the Obscure
- Part VI. Folk Songs, Master, First, Fair
- Part VII. Hiking, Curses, Noble Language
- Part VIII. The Hiker’s Extrasensory Writing
- Part IX. Torture, Elves, Endings
- Part X. Your Highness
- Part XI. Business Meetings, Dwarves
- Part XII. Horns of Wild Memory
- Part XIII. Ecstasies of the Dwarves
- Part XIV. Valaraukar, the Third Touch of God
- Part XV. Memory, Nature, Passion
- Part XVI. The Gift of Enchantment
- Part XVII. Frontier Maturity
- Part XVIII. Pity, Decisions, Endings
- Part XIX. Into the Shadow, Kings, Names, Winds
- Part XX. People of the Morning, Child Soldiers
- Part XXI. Herdsmen and High Trees
- Part XXII. The Faith of God
- Part XXIII. Theoden’s Law
- Part XXIV. Helm’s Deep, Zangra, and A Life Worthy of Song
- Part XXV. Book of Marvels, Book of Friendship
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