This may be too deep for some sorry. This is a tenuous and slippery subject thats hard to break down and spell out. Mystery touches people in different ways.
It's all about your perception. I think keeping in mind the original spirit in which the books were written helps too. I love diving in head first into ME. It's as real as Beowulf, Morte dAurther, and the Iliad... - why not? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] They all have foundations that derive from splinters of Truth. JRRT has presented his spin on fairy tales. Its as valid as any other view on the subject. Thats the mystery: where / how did those splinters originate?Aesthetics, heroism, sacrifice etc are all a part of just about every myth I can think of. We all see things in a different way but truth is truth. Why is that? Where and how did that originate? JRRT's perception, or his own way of "seeing" his particular physical or metaphysical reality led him to take on the role of sub-creator, and make a world (or a place) that we can all enjoy. Nothing sacrilegious or sanctimonious about it. Just an offer of an alternative perception. I am not confident enough to say that "this was the past" or "that was the past", when what we are talking about here is, in my mind, way, way before written / verifyable / quantifiable history.
It's like when i read sci-fi. Whats the point if you dont really think deep down that - possibly - what i am reading could very well be a possible and plausible reality... or is it just my perception...? JRRT himself said ME was not Europe in a different time, it was Europe in a different imagination.
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