Re-reading the Lord of the Rings, Chapter 22
There are two kinds of decisions, that which we choose to stay within the parameters of our idea of ourselves and that which we choose, because the circumstances demand it.
In the former case the actual test lies beyond the decision and its purpose is to prepare us for it. But in the latter the test is at hand, and our actions create a reality, one way or another, that flees like a ripple away from us, into the world and out of our control.
Frodo is weighing the needs of the time, and they appear clear to him. He understands that it is in his power to set things onto the paths, on which they should proceed, but that it requires action, since else the caution of the others will let them choose an unfavourable path for themselves, thinking too much of their help for him and too little of their help for others.
And Aragorn and Gimli are certainly guilty of this. The important thing though, as pertaining to the nature of decisions, is this: Sam knows Frodo's heart and he tells the others what Frodo is thinking. Aragorn even acknowledges that Sam's words appear to be true. But if they were true, wouldn't Frodo wait with The Ring on his finger to make off with a boat?
Sam considers this in time and Aragorn doesn't. Why?
Because for Sam the decision to not let Frodo get away is a decision of the second kind, one on which the further unrolling of reality hinges, whereas for Aragorn his duty matters to protect Frodo as well as he can as long as Frodo is his responsibility, and so the decision to let him get away is of the first kind for him.
One could speak of decisions for appearances' sake and decisions for life's sake. It's simple enough to know them too. However, weaker as the first kind is, it pulls us along and sometimes into the reaches of a decision of the second kind, like it pulled Frodo along, until he could embrace Sam's company in the same way that Sam embraced Frodo's, for he realised that he didn't rob him of something that is his.
In the former case the actual test lies beyond the decision and its purpose is to prepare us for it. But in the latter the test is at hand, and our actions create a reality, one way or another, that flees like a ripple away from us, into the world and out of our control.
Frodo is weighing the needs of the time, and they appear clear to him. He understands that it is in his power to set things onto the paths, on which they should proceed, but that it requires action, since else the caution of the others will let them choose an unfavourable path for themselves, thinking too much of their help for him and too little of their help for others.
And Aragorn and Gimli are certainly guilty of this. The important thing though, as pertaining to the nature of decisions, is this: Sam knows Frodo's heart and he tells the others what Frodo is thinking. Aragorn even acknowledges that Sam's words appear to be true. But if they were true, wouldn't Frodo wait with The Ring on his finger to make off with a boat?
Sam considers this in time and Aragorn doesn't. Why?
Because for Sam the decision to not let Frodo get away is a decision of the second kind, one on which the further unrolling of reality hinges, whereas for Aragorn his duty matters to protect Frodo as well as he can as long as Frodo is his responsibility, and so the decision to let him get away is of the first kind for him.
One could speak of decisions for appearances' sake and decisions for life's sake. It's simple enough to know them too. However, weaker as the first kind is, it pulls us along and sometimes into the reaches of a decision of the second kind, like it pulled Frodo along, until he could embrace Sam's company in the same way that Sam embraced Frodo's, for he realised that he didn't rob him of something that is his.
Eingetragen Am/um
11:42
