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Originally Posted by mark12_30
If the seed that is in your heart is not from that same tree, still, who gave you the seed? And should you challenge the source-- or should you nurture that seed with all the skill that you have, and let the seed produce what it was meant to produce? To stretch the analogy: If Tolkien's tree was a mighty beech, and your seed is an apple seed, are you doing your seed justice if you strive to imitate the beech? Or pick any other seed. Pine, hemlock, maple, oak. Still a proud member of the forest; mighty in its own right; and deserves to be cultivated as what it is, not as what it is not.
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All valid points;
if the two are not the same. And if they are the same, there is no dissonance.
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Taking that thought to its logical extreme, then I would suggest that writing in the spirit of Tolkien is to profoundly and deeply cultivate the seed in your own heart-- illumination, real water, good soil. See Psalm 1.
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Yes and no.
You see, part of what writing in the spirit of Tolkien has to do with, is love of language and lore; another part is cherishing aspects of western culture that the west has largely set aside, namely Christian world view and Northern culture-stock (including its myths and legends). Meanwhile the Latin/Greek aspects of western culture are not derided, but understood as imports. (YOu may wish to ask me: Why is Latin/Greek culture-stock an import and Christian world view not? ... because the former is a matter of the mind whereas the latter is a matter of the heart; the latter goes deeper; and Northern culture stock is in our heart already.)