The Mystery of Light

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

What I am a little afraid of is that Tolkien might have isolated Light as a metaphor because he disapproved of Newton’s work. .... What was Saruman doing that he somehow managed to break the light?

I don't think that was Gandalf's emphasis.

White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken."

'"In which case it is no longer white," said I.

I think what Gandalf is referring to as broken is the whiteness, not the light.

Saruman's color was white, and he was the head of his order. He was the top of the istari. Once he began dabbling, and wore "no longer White", or in his eyes "more than white", then he was no longer Saruman The White-- head of the order. His Whiteness was broken, like the overwriiten page, the dyed cloth, the white light that had been scattered. In Gandalf's eyes, Saruman's destruction of his own Whiteness- his own place in the order-- was foolish. And time and events prove it so.

(Speculative aside: perhaps that is why he went willingly into Moria despite Aragorn's dire warnings-- he knew or guessed that he was next in line?)

Not long thereafter, Gandalf is sent back as Gandalf The White-- Saruman's successor. Gandalf The White values what an Istar is supposed to value, and is not looking for world domination. He accomplishes his mission, and sails west. Saruman Of Many Colors is killed and blows away on the wind.

Was Saruman experimenting with Light in order to see into the past and maybe find the Ring? Or am I, as I suspect, trying to read into his motives too much?

Yes, I think so...

One thought is that maybe in Saruman breaking the Light, he was being shown to be delving too deeply into the nature of Divinity

I think he is turning away from divinity. He knew that he was sent to fight Sauron, and instead he's plotting to become the Next Sauron. Not his destiny, not his job description, not his marching orders... not not not! This is what Gandalf is protesting most deeply of all-- that Saruman has left the path of wisdom, and his shimmery clothes are just the superficial sign of it. The breaking, in contrast, goes right through the heart of everything that Saruman was designed and called to be-- everything that he turns away from and rejects.

Gandalf says "I am Saruman-- or rather Saruman as he should have been." Hence-- Gandalf The White.

I shall stop awhile before the men in white coats come for me.

Just don't dye the white coat into many colors in defiance of Eru and the Valar...