But what about the attitude - ie 'machine' thinking? Isn't it about a way of percieving reality & interacting with it?
The machine, as Christopher Tolkien states is about control & coercion. The Ring is the machine. Magic is the machine. Therefore, we're not talking about specific items, but about the mentality which produces & employs them. So, the machine is a way of relating to external reality/other people. A desire (to get all theological) to 're-make the world in your own image'. IE - it's the sin of Lucifer - the attempt to usurp the role of God. The opposite attitude could be summed up, maybe by the Aborigine concept of the Dreamtime/Dreaming, or by Tolkien as 'Art'. So, you have Artistic thinking & machine thinking. The Elves' approach is 'Artistic'. Create, perfect, preserve in a state of ideal beauty. Live life as an expression of your Art.
Does any of this make sense?
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