A Great Excuse to Nerd Out About J.R.R. Tolkien...

 Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul 

    Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is my favorite work of fantasy. It also happens to be a powerful tool to explore different approaches to being embedded in an ecological community. I want to take a moment to meditate on how the Elves, Orcs, and Hobbits approach the world around them and draw connections between these races and our study of Ecology and Religion in this course. 

     Sing, O Ainur, of your children, the Elves! I am touched by an episode in the story of the Elves' origin, recorded in the Silmarillion. In this episode, the Elves have been called to the west, and embark on a pilgrimage across Middle Earth, which has not yet been kissed by the sun, for at this time Middle Earth was illumined only by the stars. And how beautifully did these Elves imitate the stars, illumining a dark world with the beauty of harmony! And this is my word for their approach to being embedded in an ecological community: harmony. The elves do not command, conquer, or control their world, but as in the realm of Lothlorien, they build their cities in and through the world. For, in Lothlorien, the city is made of trees which live, and the Elves leave a mark of health on the land they inhabit. All is fair in the realm of the Elves. 

    Lament, O Ainur, for the corruption of your children, the Orcs! Evil twists and corrupts. As Elves were corrupted to become Orcs, so do the Orcs corrupt that which they encounter. The initial deposit of evil into the hearts of these creatures spreads across Middle Earth. The Orcs have no will of their own, for they are robbed by Sauron and his iron will. This iron will forces itself upon the environments of Middle Earth, crushing it with demands of fire and force. In a sense the Orcs themselves are truly pitiable, for though they carry the mark of life, they do not realize its potential. This is my word for their approach to being embedded in an ecological community: slavery. The Orcs, being slaves of Sauron, learn to enslave the people, places, animals, and plants of Middle Earth. Spreading filth and despair, these creatures leave a mark of death on the lands they conquer. All is destitute in the realm of the orcs. 

    Tell me, O Ainur, of the little-folk: Middle Earth's protectors! Who among us does not love the first day of spring like a hobbit? Who among us does not love the peace and tranquility of a garden well-tended? And who among us would not venture out to save the world if the Wise came to call on us? Are we not hobbits at heart when we are at out best? Of all the races of Middle Earth, the hobbits are perhaps the most simple and the most innocent. For which of the other races could have put forward individuals ambitious and brave enough to journey across the world with the One ring, but who were also pure enough to resist? In their beloved simplicity, the Hobbits had no delight in power, for they loved that which is simple and good. A Hobbit will miss a warm fire, a cup of tea, or some butter, and will forget the burden that they bear could sway the fate of the cosmos forever. This is my word for their approach to being embedded in an ecological community: innocence. For while the Hobbits are by no means perfect beings, they lack the ambition which drives so many other races in Middle Earth to ruin. The Hobbits find delight in the lands they inhabit, bringing all the constituents of their environment into a warm embrace. All is innocent in the realm of the Hobbits. 

     And how does this relate to our studies in this course? In the same way we can use metaphors like the tower and the mountain, so too can we use metaphors of 'races' to explore different aspects of the human psyche. Elves stand as humans who would be eternal guardians, Orcs as humans who would be manipulators of an ever-spreading wasteland, and Hobbits as humans who would learn to delight in their world with the simple innocence of a child. We may find a balance between the noble peoples of Middle Earth, but we can never abide the will of Sauron. That is, we can never adopt an approach to being embedded in an ecological community which reduces its constituents to slaves of a hateful master. Rather, we must beautify like Elves and delight in simplicity like Hobbits. 

    But what is the deeper lesson to be learned here? Consider Tolkien's Elves; we could just as easily use the name 'Orcs' to describe them, and we could certainly find other beings in Middle Earth who do things the Elves do. What makes the Elves unique, I think, is that they have a story which connects their activity in Middle Earth to an identity. All races in Middle Earth change their world, fight, die, eat, and love. It is the way they do it, the unique quality of their activity, and how that connects to who they are which sets each race apart. The lesson here is that our relationship with our environment is only in part about what we do. It is also about who we are. We can describe actions toward our environment in precise terms, saying things like 'humans cut down trees.' We can also provide a narrative for human actions at the collective level, which gives value to our actions, saying something like 'We humans are the Guardians of Life' (I am thinking here of adjusting certain ideas in Plato's Republic to imagine an ideal 'city' which includes all life on the planet). A human who is a 'Consumer' cuts down a tree to consume it. A human who cuts down a tree because they are a 'Guardian of Life' would have considered how the actions impacts the continuity of life on Earth (for, if they did not, they would have another identity). I think religion is a powerful tool for organizing community identities, because they allow us to share stories, rituals, time, and space, where we begin to develop a collective identity, i.e., a sense of 'us.' Therefore, the identity which a religion builds in a person and in communities has the potential to shape the way humans as a whole engage with their environment.