July 11, 2003

Wisdom and Foolishness
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"...Gandalf put his hand on Pippin's head. 'there never was much hope,' he answered. 'Just a fool's hope, as I have been told. And when I heard of Cirith Ungol--'..." In answer to Danny's post on wisdom, here is a quote from Gandalf where he himself calls what he has done foolish. Indeed using Danny's argument, that Gandalf trusted in Eru to make things right, this raises rather disgusting conclusions. Was it Eru's plan to have Gollum die to destroy the ring? Did Eru 'Make' such an even occur? and if he did why not 'Make' Isildur to destroy the Ring when he first got it? such a thing would be easy to do, and avoid needless bloodshed (plus a million and one other chances to do so). Eru does not, as such, take an active role in the world, he only does so through individuals, encouraging them to do right. However it is the individuals right to listen or ignore, Free Will. Danny would have us believe that good always wins and evil always loses. Good never really wears white, nor evil black. While ultimately evil is flawed and will lose, the damage done along the way to individuals... Elendil, Gil-Galad + million others for example, to them, evil triumphed, and they died. As for Gandalf following the Notes of the Song, this smacks of Fate, the opposite of Free Will. The Song spoken of, only portrayed the struggle in abstract terms. There was no detail nor was there meant to be.
While Sauron did indeed fall under the shadow, he does have the excuse of being corrupted by the greatest Valar. What excuse can there be for the evil brought about by the other Valar who failed in their handling of the entire situation, from the huge mistake of the freeing of Melkor, the failure to pursue Him (after the theft of the Simarils, a matter of pride where the elf Feanor saw clearer than they), the refusal of aid to the beleagured west (innocent Humans also caught in the crossfire in the arguement tween Elves and Valar), Sauron's escape from Eonwe's camp, Allowing Sauron to corrupt Numenor (a visit by a few hundred maiar to take him into custody and back to Valinor for trial could have saved the Westernesse and subsequent wars). No, Eru encourages good but its the individual to make the world a better place (individual takes credit/blame for good and bad). A world is given by its maker to the inhabitants to make of it what they will. Look at our world - we must take responsibility for the hell we create, stop putting our head in the sand, muttering "good will win", and make it better. This is what Gandalf did, he got off his butt to make things better, he did not trust that "things will be ok", he made things happen. Of course that doesnt mean what he planned was wise, there were other ways. While the Valar would not recieve the ring, he could have forced them to, even if it meant becoming the sacrifical lamb, using the ring himself and "attacking" Valinor to provoke a response. Just an idea, but a good one I think.
Danny please dont think I was getting at you, I love discussion thats all and sometimes I get carried away. Appologies if I offended you or anyone. Sorry if the above ramblings seemed to, erm, ramble a bit too much, I tried to condense alot of ideas and beliefs down into a few lines, and as a result alot was lost, reasons for etc. Until later my friends and the triumph of the Shadow ;) Ash Nazg...