Quote:
Originally Posted by Sindarin Shaman
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Psychedelics are not the point...they are the tools. Tolkien didn't use them, but that is irrelevant. It is the visionary experience that is the point.
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I agree.
Psychedelics do fit the bill, but then
why do psychedelics do what they do and what, when you think about it, actually constitues a 'psychedelic'? Some, like Mormons I've spoken with, regard caffeine as a drug to be avoided. We are so accustomed to this drug that we play down our tea and coffee, calling them 'stimulants', forgetting the ceremonies which once surrounded them.
Tobacco and alcohol have been mentioned already in this thread, but the same can be said of chocolate which, when prepared to certain recipes, produced various effects from the erotic to the hallucinagenic. I'd also add antidepressants to the list since they too are designed to alter the mind, though perhaps in the opposite way to stimulants.
That said, I'm left with the question of what it is drugs do. Surely they would not work at all unless our brains had a natural equivalent:
I am thinking of something pointed out by Lalwende in another thread concerning the effect of the Rings of Power. Tolkien apparently created ME terms which seem to correspond to the conscious and subconscious, or to the physical and 'Dreamtime' worlds, and that the Rings broke down the barrier between them.
Saruman's ring and his facination with 'many colours' looks rather suspect in the context of drugs. However, I do not believe or mean to suggest Tolkein himself needed to use 'hard' drugs. In fact I'm inclined to think that the transformative powers of the Elves, Maiar and others has its roots in JRR's religion (the shining face of Moses, Elijah's chariot, the face of Stephen...).
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior
... Does anyone know if the elves in Middle-earth actually worshiped the Valar or Eru? ...
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What does worship actually mean? If you mean "making a lot of noise with the the name of Eru constantly repeated" then no. Thank Eru they do no such thing!
Is silent meditation worship? Among the Quakers and monastic orders it emphatically is. Is contemplating images of heroes worship? Among those who love Icons it is. Is singing among the trees, chanting, making poems and manuscripts worship? If one sets one's mind on what is noble then even washing the dishes can be transformed from drudgery to an act of worship. The Dwarves, Elves and Men of ME all have their own way of expressing the Song which made them.
"...so carefully, carefully with the plates."
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