Extracted from a review of Silmarillion (Tolkien), on Akallabeth, or the Fall of Numenor.
... centuries of happiness and faithful religion eventually gave way in Númenor to decadence and corruption.
The first causes of this fall from grace were the love of luxury and the fear of death; as Tolkien shows, these two vices are linked in a mutually reinforcing vicious cycle. As the wealth and splendor of Númenor grew, the more enamored its inhabitants became of the work of their hands—and the less willing to leave it. They desired “to escape from death and the ending of delight…and ever as their power and glory grew greater their unquiet increased.” This unquiet leads to murmuring against—and eventually the open contradiction of—the divinely imposed limits on their realm.
But diminished faith and increased worldliness does nothing to help the men of Númenor face death with greater confidence. Instead, “The fear of death grew ever darker upon them, and they delayed it by all means that they could…their wise men laboured unceasingly to discover if they might the secret of recalling life, or at least of the prolonging of Men’s days.” The attempt, of course, fails: man is inescapably mortal. The obsession with avoiding death produces only a greater fear of death; this gnawing fear leads in turn to ever-greater luxury. The population becomes morbid, and many die, but “[t]hose that lived turned the more eagerly to pleasure and revelry.” At this stage in Tolkien’s imagined history, the worship of God becomes neglected by all but a minority, “the Faithful”—and even the Faithful are not immune to the corrupting effects of the culture around them....
Much more--VERY worth your time--at the link.
Tolkien wasn't a prophet. But he was a very wise man.
1 comment:
A very good read. Thanks for that. I think it's an indictment against The West as a whole as well as the US in particular. Nearly every western Nation has decided to call perversion 'normal'. To sacrifice children yet unborn at the altar of Baal. It's easier on the psyche to sacrifice them in utero than to place them on the red hot hands of the idol. We call evil good and good evil. And we have no gratitude for the many blessings we have. Tolkien may not have meant that part of The Silmarillion to be prophetic, but it is. So is the History of the Fall of Rome. Further back, look at the Old Testament and Israel for the progression of falling away, and God giving them over to harsh judgment until they repent. The Bill for human misdeeds ALWAYS comes due, and the payment is ALWAYS harsh and steep. We never seem to learn.
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