I don't know how I have the nerve to appear again so soon on thias thread after boring everyone silly with my earlier ramblings. But, just to answer the phantom's question, as briefly as I can:
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... why pick a moral lifestyle over an immoral one?
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Because:
- the majority of people (albeit to varying degrees) derive contentment from adhering to those moral norms and guilt and remorse from immoral action;
- only a minority (those towards the bottom of my sliding scale) are able to derive contentment from immoral action; and
- it is in any event inherently less likely that an individual will be able to derive happiness from immoral action (the risk of being caught, inability to form relationships, limitation of personal freedom etc).
Why do the majority of us derive contentment from moral action? Because that is how we have developed. I see it as a combination of nature and nurture. It is instinctive, but at the same time it is reinforced by our parents, our teachers, our church etc. Personally, I attribute my own moral viewpoint to the strong moral values that my parents instilled in me as I was growing up. I would, however, strongly disagree with them on some moral issues because I have since been exposed to wider influences and formed my own, sometimes different, views.
Lyta, I like your characterisation of Frodo's failure at Sammath Naur. It was, I suppose, a failing to succumb to temptation in the way that he did. Since the Ring was evil, it was an immoral act for him to try to claim it as his own. As you say, however, it was an unpassable test. Bombadil apart, no one could have resisted the lure of the Ring in that final moment. Perhaps this does represent a moral failing inherent in all peoples of Middle-earth (with the exception of Tom?. It seems to me harsh that a character who has displayed such moral fortitude in getting to that point should have to suffer the consequences of this one inevitable moment of immorality ever after. But, as I said, no one seems to escape the consequences of immoral action in Tolkien's world.