Saturday, July 24th, 2004
“Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bless of leisure.” E.F. Schumacher
Archive for July, 2004
Friday, July 23rd, 2004
Sauron: Control Freak Sauron is a pretty plain character: Evil, unadulterated and cunning and powerful evil. But it’s the nature of his evil that’s interesting. Tolkien told his publisher, Stanley Unwin, that Sauron’s evil stemmed from his obsession with power. Sauron, the “reincarnation of Evil,” is “a thing lusting for Complete Power—and so consumed ever [...]
Thursday, July 22nd, 2004
Elven Sleep After the defeat of Sauron and celebration, Gimli the Dwarf, Aragorn, the Hobbits and everyone else bedded down. But not Legolas the Elf. He said he would rather walk in the woods and dream of crossing the Sea. Elves are immortal, saving violent death. They weren’t meant by Illuvatar to [...]
Tuesday, July 20th, 2004
“If you would make a man happy, study not to augment his goods; but to diminish his wants.” Orestes Brownson
Monday, July 19th, 2004
Giant on Giant In January, 1910, H.L. Mencken wrote of Chesterton’s George Bernard Shaw: “The cleverest man in all the world, with the second cleverest as his subject, is here doing his cleverest writing. . . Not since St. Augustine have the gods sent us a man who could make the incredible so fascinatingly probable.” But the [...]
Sunday, July 18th, 2004
Every unkind thought reflects a defect in my soul, which is connected to my mind, which is connected to my brain. Therefore, how can I ever be sure that my unkind thought is accurate? And if I’m not sure it’s accurate, shouldn’t I keep quiet, rather than take the risk of saying something false? And [...]
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
Ents The lovable Ents. The most ancient of peoples of Middle Earth. They were the shepherd of the trees, and, like their wards, they were trees—but mobile and with the gift of speech. They were slow to jump to conclusions or to judge, a trait we’d expect of an intelligent tree. But when they reached a [...]
Friday, July 16th, 2004
“Where all are free to aim to be first no one is contented to be second.” Orestes Brownson
Thursday, July 15th, 2004
St. GandalfThere were five of them. Not gods, not elves, not men. They came to Middle Earth early in the Third Age. Forming the Order of Istari, the wizards were sent by the Valar to help the elves and men in their efforts against evil Sauron. Though Tolkien never described their nature, they may have [...]
Tuesday, July 13th, 2004
Aragorn’s SoulButterbur the innkeeper almost got a mouthful of iron when he spoke harshly about Strider, telling Frodo, “if I was in your plight, I wouldn’t take up with a Ranger.” Strider, losing patience, lashed back, “Then who would you take up with? A fat innkeeper who only remembers his own name because people shout [...]
Monday, July 12th, 2004
“Like all secular saints, she canonizes herself.” Walker Percy, The Last Gentleman
Sunday, July 11th, 2004
Modern Christological arguments often strike me as ridiculous. In these arguments, theologians debate the Person of Christ in light of his unique nature as God and man. From what I understand, there’s higher Christology (which emphasizes his divine nature) and lower Christology (which emphasizes his human nature). As far as I can figure, we can’t [...]