Log in
Register
Search
Search titles only
By:
Search titles only
By:
Forums
New posts
Forum list
Search forums
Leaderboards
Games
Our Blog
Blogs
New entries
New comments
Blog list
Search blogs
Credits
Transactions
Shop
Blessings: ✟0.00
Tickets
Open new ticket
Watched
Donate
Log in
Register
Search
Search titles only
By:
Search titles only
By:
More options
Toggle width
Share this page
Share this page
Share
Reddit
Pinterest
Tumblr
WhatsApp
Email
Share
Link
Menu
Install the app
Install
Forums
Leisure and Society
Hobbies, Interests & Entertainment
Science Fiction & Fantasy
"The Sad Truth Of Tolkien Spirituality"
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Sketcher" data-source="post: 75225124" data-attributes="member: 27106"><p>My takeaways from the blog post (I didn't read the whole PDF):</p><p></p><p> - New Age groups were able to synthesize the Tolkien universe with occult/New Age beliefs</p><p> - Some of this synthesis manifested in weird groups that take the existence of Elves and Valar as semi-literal.</p><p> - Tolkien might not have intended this.</p><p> - Regardless, he inadvertently helped non-Christian religion and spirituality in the last few decades.</p><p></p><p>My take on it:</p><p></p><p>The people and practices described in the post are the result of a cultural turning away from traditional religious beliefs, and in the West, that would be Christianity. However, when someone creates a faith or a spiritual or religious practice, they have already looked away from Christianity, at very least because they don't think it provides enough to scratch their itches, or worse, because they want to believe in something that is doctrinally and morally different. Then, the go searching, and then they start to create what they want to believe in from what they pick up in their search. Fictional religions and cosmologies are easier to take spiritual elements from, because they are ready-made, and they also don't come with the accountability that comes with more established religions because of a general lack of an orthodox faith community. However, syncretism is not limited to that, and more to the point about what has happened in the West, the turning away happened before the syncretized beliefs were adopted. The failure occurred already, before the New Age practices became part of the person's life. The movies or books simply gave people who were already turning away a direction to walk in by providing concepts that they wished to explore. Properly understood, these works are fiction. And in the West, we retained classical Greek and Roman mythology as fiction for hundreds of years, though we did not see people turning to worship Zeus and Poseidon as a significant movement. We then have to ask, why was retaining their stories not a problem either in Continental Europe, or with its freedom of religion, in the US in the 19th century. In other words, <em><strong>what is the greater spiritual movement at hand</strong></em> which motivates the adoption of fiction as spiritual practice? Why do some people turn to agnosticism or atheism, why do others turn to Buddhism or Hinduism, why do others turn to the New Age (and the subset of which that appropriates Tolkiens's works for spiritual practice)?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sketcher, post: 75225124, member: 27106"] My takeaways from the blog post (I didn't read the whole PDF): - New Age groups were able to synthesize the Tolkien universe with occult/New Age beliefs - Some of this synthesis manifested in weird groups that take the existence of Elves and Valar as semi-literal. - Tolkien might not have intended this. - Regardless, he inadvertently helped non-Christian religion and spirituality in the last few decades. My take on it: The people and practices described in the post are the result of a cultural turning away from traditional religious beliefs, and in the West, that would be Christianity. However, when someone creates a faith or a spiritual or religious practice, they have already looked away from Christianity, at very least because they don't think it provides enough to scratch their itches, or worse, because they want to believe in something that is doctrinally and morally different. Then, the go searching, and then they start to create what they want to believe in from what they pick up in their search. Fictional religions and cosmologies are easier to take spiritual elements from, because they are ready-made, and they also don't come with the accountability that comes with more established religions because of a general lack of an orthodox faith community. However, syncretism is not limited to that, and more to the point about what has happened in the West, the turning away happened before the syncretized beliefs were adopted. The failure occurred already, before the New Age practices became part of the person's life. The movies or books simply gave people who were already turning away a direction to walk in by providing concepts that they wished to explore. Properly understood, these works are fiction. And in the West, we retained classical Greek and Roman mythology as fiction for hundreds of years, though we did not see people turning to worship Zeus and Poseidon as a significant movement. We then have to ask, why was retaining their stories not a problem either in Continental Europe, or with its freedom of religion, in the US in the 19th century. In other words, [I][B]what is the greater spiritual movement at hand[/B][/I] which motivates the adoption of fiction as spiritual practice? Why do some people turn to agnosticism or atheism, why do others turn to Buddhism or Hinduism, why do others turn to the New Age (and the subset of which that appropriates Tolkiens's works for spiritual practice)? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Leisure and Society
Hobbies, Interests & Entertainment
Science Fiction & Fantasy
"The Sad Truth Of Tolkien Spirituality"
Top
Bottom