Re-reading the Lord of the Rings, Chapter 27
The White Rider is a chapter full of advanced baby-stepping, it's almost awkward how obstinate Aragorn is
However, despite the embarrassment their roles have changed, they're now differently ranking military commanders.
Gandalf mentions in passing that their victory would be assured, if they had The Ring.
After all, Morgoth and his followers are the usurpers and counterfeiters, as Treebeard reminded us before. Of course, the argument only holds, if Tolkien lets it hold, for nothing is being said about the spreading. And when we look at the situation in the real world, I hardly see which dynamic would ensure that those who are organised based on personal appreciation of the hierarchical transfer of power that the organisation entails will always prevail over those who are not or, in case such a dynamic existed, what would prevent it from breeding genocidal maniacs.
The situation in Middle-earth though is pretty balanced, there's good and evil in every corner, often they mirror each other like Gondor and Mordor, Elves and Orcs, Ents and Trolls, Eagles and whatever the Ringwraiths fly on (the film says, those things are called Nazgûls, but that is not so, Nazgûl is another name for Ringwraith) and the idea is that good has to face evil everywhere and all is safe.
I guess the metaphor can be applied in one way or another to our situation, but only as long as people have sufficient power and insight. 1500 years ago the feat was certainly possible, today, I'm afraid, power has grown too concentrated for any code of conduct to guarantee its healthy distribution.
The Ring has not been destroyed and The Ring will not be destroyed, until the knowledge is falsified, on which it is built. The problem is, whereas this only has to happen once in the Lord of the Rings, the knowledge being that all creatures crave power and the falsification being the disposal of The Ring, it has to happen continuously in the real world, for in reality there's already a problem, when some people crave power.
And there would also be a problem, if that would be impossible, because there would be no way for even a few people to successfully crave power.
Such is the human condition. The renunciation of power can only be a personally liberating event, never a socially liberating event. But strange times these are when we have to renounce power, but affirm our nature!
I am no longer young even in the reckoning of Men of the Ancient Houses.and that he can't choose his further path himself, but has to be set onto it by Gandalf.
However, despite the embarrassment their roles have changed, they're now differently ranking military commanders.
Gandalf mentions in passing that their victory would be assured, if they had The Ring.
War is upon us and all our friends, a war in which only the use of the Ring could give us surety of victory.I read this in light of Boromir's ideas as a statement about total numbers, that their victory would be assured, if they could totally mobilise their own people and thus as well as a statement about the task they face, namely to mobilise as many as possible.
After all, Morgoth and his followers are the usurpers and counterfeiters, as Treebeard reminded us before. Of course, the argument only holds, if Tolkien lets it hold, for nothing is being said about the spreading. And when we look at the situation in the real world, I hardly see which dynamic would ensure that those who are organised based on personal appreciation of the hierarchical transfer of power that the organisation entails will always prevail over those who are not or, in case such a dynamic existed, what would prevent it from breeding genocidal maniacs.
The situation in Middle-earth though is pretty balanced, there's good and evil in every corner, often they mirror each other like Gondor and Mordor, Elves and Orcs, Ents and Trolls, Eagles and whatever the Ringwraiths fly on (the film says, those things are called Nazgûls, but that is not so, Nazgûl is another name for Ringwraith) and the idea is that good has to face evil everywhere and all is safe.
I guess the metaphor can be applied in one way or another to our situation, but only as long as people have sufficient power and insight. 1500 years ago the feat was certainly possible, today, I'm afraid, power has grown too concentrated for any code of conduct to guarantee its healthy distribution.
The Ring has not been destroyed and The Ring will not be destroyed, until the knowledge is falsified, on which it is built. The problem is, whereas this only has to happen once in the Lord of the Rings, the knowledge being that all creatures crave power and the falsification being the disposal of The Ring, it has to happen continuously in the real world, for in reality there's already a problem, when some people crave power.
And there would also be a problem, if that would be impossible, because there would be no way for even a few people to successfully crave power.
Such is the human condition. The renunciation of power can only be a personally liberating event, never a socially liberating event. But strange times these are when we have to renounce power, but affirm our nature!
Eingetragen Am/um
11:45
