The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Would the Middle Earth saga be considered a religion in of itself?

littlemanpoet · 04-14-2002, 05:56 AM

VanimaEdhel:

Have you heard of archetypes? Carl Jung, famous psychologist, posited a "collective unconsious", which means that we all have the same deep categories written on our dna. That your pantheon took the shape it did is not a great surprise. Your choice of names is more surprising, but makes sense in part because you apparently had an early well developed aesthetic for language, recognizing some sounds as beautiful instead of ugly, masculine or feminine, and so on. These explanations only tell half the story, though, it seems to me. Who knows what else might have been going on?

KingCarlton: It is no surprise to me that Tolkien loathed the idea of LotR having religious significance. My turn on Belethiriels' question was more interested in the kinds of things that would be valued compared to that which is valued in Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Shintoism, or whatever.

04-14-2002, 05:56 AM	#10
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	VanimaEdhel: Have you heard of archetypes? Carl Jung, famous psychologist, posited a "collective unconsious", which means that we all have the same deep categories written on our dna. That your pantheon took the shape it did is not a great surprise. Your choice of names is more surprising, but makes sense in part because you apparently had an early well developed aesthetic for language, recognizing some sounds as beautiful instead of ugly, masculine or feminine, and so on. These explanations only tell half the story, though, it seems to me. Who knows what else might have been going on? KingCarlton: It is no surprise to me that Tolkien loathed the idea of LotR having religious significance. My turn on Belethiriels' question was more interested in the kinds of things that would be valued compared to that which is valued in Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Shintoism, or whatever.