my (not too-far-off-now book), 'Leaving The Shire (to come back Home)'
'The Ring of Gyges'
In the titular allegory a ring is discovered within the cracks of the earth, adorning a larger than usual skeletal hand. The finder slips on the ring whilst sitting by a fire amongst two of his fellows and immediately his companions begin to speak of him as if he were no longer there.
Plato uses this story within ‘The Republic’ to conduct a thought experiment and to put forward the idea that it is socially-derived consequence, I.e. Man’s “law” that determine whether Justice has been done.
Plato suggests that the invisibility granted by the Ring (of Power) grants the wearer the ability to escape Justice, and therefore to escape Natural/ Divine Lore. Because no one within society could attribute blame to the wearer for any act committed, it is said to give ultimate power to the ring-bearer. Yet perhaps this is a limited perspective, as it implies that Justice is only served if one is “caught”. Are we only moral beings because we fear being “found out”? Because we fear the consequences of Man’s “law” (socially constructed “rules”)? Or are truly moral beings using another set of guidelines, perhaps ones that originate from a higher/ deeper, more intimate Source?
I would suggest that the idea of a ring that grants immunity to God’s Lore, that promises Absolute power, is a Satanic one, and therefore entirely false. I further submit that this is exactly what Tolkien was showing with his own allegory of The One Ring, and although it was shown, in J.R.R.’s mythos that Divine Will always trumps the individual will, it was also masterfully elucidated that the latter ego desire has the capability to rend entire worlds, to massacre nations, to bring indescribable suffering to the Earth (and to the self attempting such misaligned and dastardly objectives).
Though for many who lived during their respective age it seemed that Sauron and his predecessor Melkor were the mightiest forces in Middle Earth, and that their evil was insurmountable, it was exactly this misconception of an Absolute power, higher than The true ONE, that ensured their defeat. The lie that states that Divine Will can be circumnavigated in some way and the obsessiveness, the lustfulness and the rapaciousness which such minds pursue such a goal, ALWAYS guarantees “their” downfall.
But how is it that Order is always brought back from the precipice or total Chaos? From the seeming inevitability of the Darkness smothering the light for an eternity?
It is the action of The White Blood Cells, within the macrocosmic organism that is Middle Earth/ our Earth.
There exist within said Order those who are naturally resistant to the lure of Absolute power. There are those who would not desire such a ring even if it were freely offered, but who would naturally accept the responsibility and the burden of resisting (and ending) those who seek to grab such power.
It is these incorruptible beings, these Hobbits that the psychopath cannot account for. For humility and innate morality - a morality that exists independent of Man’s “law”, outside of Man’s “authority” - have been deleted from, or never existed in, the psychopath’s being. The tyrant, the would-be ruler of all, projects their own vice and insanity onto the world, and so has a crucial blind spot in their vision… a gaping chink in their armour… a hollow in their left-breast. This is why the smallest, the seemingly most vulnerable among us, Frodo and Sam could walk right into Sauron’s backyard (in serious need of tending, by the way), without his lidless eye seeing them. His was a vision that claimed to be all-seeing, to be total, and yet it failed to re-cognise in the outer, what it could not accept in his inner: (seeming) weakness; (seeming) fragility and vulnerability; True courage, honour, humility and faith in The Good. Sauron is a prime example of a divided self.
And it is this that the thought experiment of The Ring of Gyges - “would I use it?”, “what would I do with it?” - reveals: our own divided/ undivided nature. Are we incongruous between our inner and our outer self? Do we claim virtue and honour in our outside life, that others are able to see, whilst at the same time harbouring dark, secretive desires of dominion within?
Sauron takes this division to the extreme by showing what happens when someone doesn’t care a jot for whether anyone sees his desire for control, and who has entirely disconnected from his own conscience. He can no longer self-reflect; his eye is lidless because it is entirely outwardly focussed.
For most of us, however, we try to disguise our desire to control life by camouflaging our actions with an air and pretence of self-righteousness. The ring of invisibility would mean for most people that the need for this façade would disappear (a’bum’tish). And whilst it may seem that such removal of consequence from actions that go against Natural Lore (I.e. “DO NOT STEAL”), as well as no longer having to hide true intention, may bring an individual to a more integrated, aligned state, there exists within every non-psychopathic being a compass within that tells us when we are acting against our better Judgement and that we are out of alignment with Divine Will: our Conscience.
This small voice within we can attempt to drown out through the ego’s rationalising, the satanic ideology of moral relativism, or the deluge of stimulation that the satanic social engineers provide, but which on some level we always feel. As energetic beings existing (relatively) in a similarly energetic and vibratory Uni-Verse, our actions, thoughts and emotions resonate throughout the web, bringing about consequence. This is the truth of the Hermetic Principle of Resonance/ Cause and Effect. We will always experience Ordained Justice in direct relation to our state of Being. Whether or not we are conscious of this, it matters not. The end of all who take such a road is exemplified in a character we all both resonate with and pity: Sméagol, who has become Gollum.
Yet, though few and far between it may sometimes seem, there exist the Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgees… the Socrates of the world. These noble beings are completely authentic. They live their lives based on Truth and all three faced (seemingly) certain death in order to follow that Truth: the Truth that The Good (God) must be fought for and that Evil must be resisted. Even though all three of these Heroes faced a torturous and dark road, knowing that they were in alignment with Divine Justice was its own reward. Doing what was right brought a harmony and balance to their self that even utter darkness and seeming injustice couldn’t disrupt.
This is what it means to become the unmoving Centre of The Wheel, whilst Samsara spins around you.
In The Centre, undivided and Whole, there is no choice but to align with a Higher power: Choosing The Self over the self.
As The Centre of The Wheel we cast aside desire for The Ring entirely.
~ A.J. Dunbar
Art
'Tom Bombadil' by Pegasusandco
'Sauron The Lord of the Rings' by GamalOsman007
'Gollum's journey commences' by Frederic Bennett
'The Final Voyage to the Undying Lands by ?