Visible souls....

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by davem

Perhaps (forgive speculation here) we could say that God's movement is 'inward' while our movement is 'outward'. Or God's movement is 'in', 'toward' us, while ours is 'outward', 'toward' 'Him'.

And both those movements could be said to work in the opposite way also, depending upon whether God is within or without us. And if we look in are we looking to God as much as we are when we look out? But I think that theology states that we should not look 'in' we should look 'out' to humanity, and there could be a message in that, i.e. that we ought to look not at our own problems and our own selves but to the world around us; this could be relevant in times when all too often we are more concerned with our own bodies or wealth rather than the good of the community.

If both work in the same way then it would be like the helix of DNA, and also like the spiral images of the ancients. And also like theories of the ever expanding and decreasing universe.

Originally Posted by davem

The fragment contains the whole, but from a unique perspective.....

That's not mad! This could be said to apply to many things. Downers are all looking at Tolkien from slightly different angles but essentially see the same thing; we just see the meaning in slightly different ways. It could also be applied to the way that from just one created word Tolkien could create not only a history but an entire story, and the another story, and so on... Just one word contains so much more.

This could also be applied to the idea of Divinity in Arda. If it is symbolised by Light and it was then 'broken' then this would show how so many differing peoples could come about with differing views and languages. If the Light was a divine gift from Eru then perhaps it was never intended to be broken, thus Gandalf and the Secret Fire, and his opposition to Saruman's breaking of the Light. Back on my favourite topic now, but each colour created by Saruman's breaking of the Light maybe gave a differing perspective, when he really ought to have been viewing Arda through the white Light, which is composed of the various other lights. these other lights are not wrong, but to look through just one is to miss the 'whole picture'.

So, maybe looking at Tolkien's work through just one light is also wrong, and we ought to look at it through many lights, in the hope we will look at it through the one white Light (which would be Tolkien's Light). Anyway, it's another reason to keep visiting the 'Downs to see what everyone thinks...