I spotted this at John Rateliff's blog, and I thought it was worth posting. He came across a 1966 issue of a magazine called DIPLOMAT dedicated to Tolkien, and it included this interesting little blurb from counter-culture hero (and before that Harvard Psychiatry Professor) Timothy Leary:
J. R. R. Tolkien is a psychedelic writer. He "turned on" not with LSD but by immersing himself in the study of ancient languages, transcending space and time, leaving the twentieth century, and seeing himself as a pre-Chaucerian scribe. He has returned from his trip and communicated his views in the great mythic work of our time. The Lord of the Rings is a great epic in the Homeric-Joycean vein.
Like all great mythic sagas, Tolkien's trilogy is written at many levels and has generated countless schools of interpretation, all of which seek the Message. To me, The Lord of the Rings is a morality play-magical statement of the good-evil situation. Evil is power. (Note I do not say "power is evil", a weaker game statement). Evil uses metal, fire, stone, machinery and atomic energy to control, to manipulate, to conquer good. Good for Tolkien is seed, wisdom, freedom, beauty, harmony of growing things. At a time when our planet is in danger of destruction at the hands of mechanical power, Tolkien's poetic and moral message is to cherish the wisdom and freedom which we find around us in the order and beauty of nature.
To many of us who have followed the "yoga" of LSD, Tolkien's trilogy is vital.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
A person can have evil thoughts... and not actually be able to do anything about those thoughts.
Does lack of action change the nature of the thoughts?
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
Maybe it is a matter of degree. Even if the individual having the evil thoughts takes no action against another individual, the evil thoughts still have a negative impact on the person having the evil thoughts. If you believe, as I do, that we are all connected, that negative impact impacts the whole.
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"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
It doesn't have to be overwhelming power to be power.
There is the power to smile or not smile; the power to plant a seed or uproot it; the power of every cent of expenditure. Everything a person does or says has an effect.
Besides, I think Leary meant that Evil is a power wielded; the fact of its existence has an effect.
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Mornings wouldn't suck so badly if they came later in the day.
Inanna wrote:I guess my question is whether it's an encompassing definition. If Evil is power, is it possible to be evil sans power. Completely hypothetically.
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I tend to agree with that. As Impish said, someone who is "Evil" with no power probably still does little nasty things, like being an aggressive driver, or posting rude tweets. But if they don't do any of that, they are not evil. Just miserable.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
