That Which Touches My Heart

[lairesta]

"It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you... that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something."

-- J.R.R Tolkien, The Two Towers --

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[lairesta]

Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.

--- Jeremiah 5:22 ---

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[lairesta]

Galadriel's Song of Eldamar

I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew:

Of wind I sang, a wind there came and in the branches blew.

Beyond the Sun, beyond the Moon, the foam was on the Sea,

And by the strand of Ilmarin there grew a golden Tree.

Beneath the stars of Ever-eve in Eldamar it shone,

In Eldamar beside the walls of Elven Tirion.

There long the golden leaves have grown upon the branching years,

While here beyond the Sundering Seas now fall the Elven-tears.

O Lórien! The Winter comes, the bare and leafless Day;

The leaves are falling in the stream, the river flows away.

O Lórien! Too long I have dwelt upon this Hither Shore

And in a fading crown have twined the golden elanor.

But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,

What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring --

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[lairesta]

Epistemology

"Like other areas within philosophy, epistemology begins with the philosophical method of doubting and asking questions. What if everything we think we know is false? Can we be sure of the truth of our beliefs? What does it even mean for a belief to be true? Philosophers ask questions about the nature and possibility of knowledge and related concepts and then craft possible answers. But because of the nature of philosophical investigation, simply offering answers is never enough. Philosophers also try to identify problems with those answers, formulate possible solutions to those problems, and look for counterarguments. For example, in questioning the possibility of knowledge, philosophers imagine ways the world could be such that our beliefs are false and then try to determine whether we can rule out the possibility that the world really is this way. What if there’s a powerful evil demon who feeds you all your conscious experiences, making you believe you are currently reading a philosophy text when in fact you are not? How could you rule this out? And if you can’t rule it out, what does this say about the concept of knowledge?"

-- Nathan Smith et al., human.libretexts.org --

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[lairesta]

'Legolas stirred in his boat. "Nay, time does not tarry ever," he said, "but change and growth is not in all places alike. For the elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a grief to them. Slow, because they do not count the running years, not for themselves. The passing seasons are but ripples ever repeated in the long long stream. Yet beneath the Sun all things must wear to an end at last." '

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring --

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[lairesta]

Pippin Took: I didn't think it would end this way.

Gandalf the White: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path. One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass... then you see it!

Pippin Took: What? Gandalf? See what?

Gandalf the White: White shores... and beyond. A far green country, under a swift sunrise.

Pippin Took: Well, that isn't so bad.

Gandalf the White: [smiles] No... no, it isn't.

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of The King --

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[lairesta]

"Legolas Greenleaf long under tree

In joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea!

If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,

Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more."

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers --

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[lairesta]

"In a great cave some miles within the edge of Mirkwood on its eastern side, there lived at this time their greatest king. Before his huge doors of stone a river ran out of the heights of the forest and flowed on and out into the marshes at the feet of the high wooded lands. This great cave, from which countless smaller ones opened out on every side, wound far underground and had many passages and wide halls; but it was lighter and more wholesome than any goblin-dwelling, and neither so deep nor so dangerous.

In fact, the subjects of the king mostly lived and hunted in the open woods, and had houses or huts on the ground and in the branches. The beeches were their favourite trees. The king's cave was his palace, and the strong place of his treasure, and the fortress of his people against their enemies."

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit --

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[lairesta]

"Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage."

-- C.S Lewis --

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[lairesta]

"But my memory reaches back even to the Elder Days. Eärendil was my sire, who was born in Gondolin before its fall; and my mother was Elwing, daughter of Dior, son of Lúthien of Doriath. I have seen three ages in the West of the world, and many defeats, and many fruitless victories."

-- J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring --

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[lairesta]

"Few other griefs amid the ill chances of this world have more bitterness and shame for a man's heart than to behold the love of a lady so fair and brave that cannot be returned. Sorrow and pity have followed me ever since I left her desperate in Dunharrow and rode to the Paths of the Dead; and no fear upon that way was so present as the fear for what might befall her. And yet, Eomer, I say to you that she loves you more truly than me; for you she loves and knows; but in me she loves only a shadow and a thought: a hope of glory and great deeds, and lands far from the fields of Rohan.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King --

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[lairesta]

"... not interested in controlling outcomes, not even to ensure the good over the bad, but in acting rightly... make decisions based on what is right, what is just, and the roles and positions that they play in their communities and societies, regardless of outcomes... when Gandalf advises a doomed attack on Mordor...

'As for myself,’ said Eomer, ‘I have little knowledge of these deep matters, but I need it not. This I know, and it is enough, that as my friend Aragorn succored me and my people, so I will aid him when he calls. I will go.’

'As for me,’ said Imrahil, ‘the Lord Aragorn I hold to be my liege-lord, whether he claim it or no. His wish is to me a command. I will go also.'

...fulfilling their roles and obligations with honor in the midst of darkness and uncertainty."

--- Elisabeth Dawson, Substack Mythic Mind June 9, 2024 --

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[lairesta]

"As for me, I am of the Noldor, and long must be the hunger and cold the winter that shall slay the kin of those who passed the Grinding Ice.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth --

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[lairesta]

"Be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil, or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing."

-- 1 Peter 3:8b-9 --

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[lairesta]

And what gift would a Dwarf ask of the Elves?’ said Galadriel, turning to Gimli.

‘None, Lady,’ answered Gimli. ‘It is enough for me to have seen the Lady of the Galadhrim, and to have heard her gentle words.’

‘Hear all ye Elves!’ she cried to those about her. ‘Let none say again that Dwarves are grasping and ungracious! Yet surely, Gimli son of Glóin, you desire something that I could give? Name it, I bid you! You shall not be the only guest without a gift.’

‘There is nothing, Lady Galadriel,’ said Gimli, bowing low and stammering. ‘Nothing, unless it might be — unless it is permitted to ask, nay, to name a single strand of your hair, which surpasses the gold of the earth as the stars surpass the gems of the mine. I do not ask for such a gift. But you commanded me to name my desire.’

The Elves stirred and murmured with astonishment, and Celeborn gazed at the Dwarf in wonder, but the Lady smiled. ‘It is said that the skill of the Dwarves is in their hands rather than in their tongues,’ she said; ‘yet that is not true of Gimli. For none have ever made to me a request so bold and yet so courteous. And how shall I refuse, since I commanded him to speak? But tell me, what would you do with such a gift?’

‘Treasure it, Lady,’ he answered, ‘in memory of your words to me at our first meeting. And if I ever return to the smithies of my home, it shall be set in imperishable crystal to be a heirloom of my house, and a pledge of good will between the Mountain and the Wood until the end of days.’

Then the Lady unbraided one of her long tresses, and cut off three golden hairs, and laid them in Gimli’s hand.

-- J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring --

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[lairesta]

"The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing."

-- Voltaire --

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[lairesta]

"Love not too well the work of thy hands and the devices of thy heart; and remember that the true hope of the Noldor lieth in the West, and cometh from the Sea."

-- J.R.R Tolkien, The Silmarillion --

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