THE RING and corruption

[Dininziliel]

Willie:

What is it with you and fear??? But really, what is it? I don't think I agree with your statement, but it just get's so confusing when you add all those other factors into it that I get lost in my own thoughts...

This is easily answered by any recovering addict/alcoholic. It's been answered in the litany on fear from Dune (" ... Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration ..."). A Course in Miracles will give the best answer (but it will really confuse the noodle. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] And, I believe that Jung, Buddha, may have been big on fear being at the core of all our problems.

We normally think of fear as something threatening our physical self. This makes it difficult to see its other forms. What is always, always present in fear? Extreme self-concern. Left uninterrupted (or, no interventions for the drug subthread fans out there), the Ring's ultimate outcome is for the bearer to become utterly absorbed and consumed by self, like Orobouros (sp?). There's only so much self to absorb/consume, and then you fade out into wraithhood or, if your will is industrial strength Maiar, you turn to consuming/absorbing others.

What propels simple desire into compulsion? Why do we say one must have courage and faith to confront evil? What makes it so hard to act on faith or trust alone when we know it is the right thing to do?

Tolkien has said that nothing was ever evil in its origin. If that is true, then what could possibly turn something good into something evil, unless it involved answering a perceived threat to one's sense of self? What's "evil" spelled backward? (Sorry. Couldn't resist.) [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]

Okay, enough of that. I hoped this helped a bit.

BTW, I could find nothing in my favorite source, The Letters of JRR Tolkien that connected fear to evil. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Peace.