One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.
Most modern readers will recognize the reference to the opening scenes of the movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings.
It occurs to me that the One Ring stands for the "self". For that which each of us holds most dear. Each of the rings that are given to the rulers of middle earth contain in themselves the powers that allow them to rule Middle Earth - these are like the natural and inherited gifts that those rulers have. But there is a twist - using the rings makes you subject to the One Ring that belongs on the finger of the dark lord Sauron.
I have heard it said that J.R.R. Tolkein loathed the concept of allegory, but there seems to be at least an analogy here to the concept of self. Each of us has certain natural gifts that we can use to our advantage, to aid in our "rule" on behalf of our self. But when we place value on the natural gifts in themselves, when we "use" them, we are going to come under the power and influence of the real "dark lord" - Satan - that we face. The only hope we have of destroying the One Ring, that is, the power of our self love, is to cast the One Ring into the fire of Mount Doom - namely to make a sacrifice of self. The cross is the symbol for Christians of making that self-sacrifice.
But the One Ring cannot be destroyed. "Not with 10,000 men could you do this." says Boromir, the great warrior.
When I was a graduate student in college, I had the opportunity to study under one of the "full" (meaning not an associate) professors in my department. I had a very high regard for this man. He was powerfully intelligent, driven and of a generally positive demeanor. He was also a naturally inquisitive person and loved anecdotal stories about other areas of research happening at the University. This was a way to get "brownie points" with him - bring up some new finding from another department on campus - the Medical School perhaps, or Physics department, etc. - and engage him in an intelligent conversation. I realized that in his company, I found myself in the same position as many rookie quarterbacks in the NFL. Up until to that point, I had considered myself intellectually gifted - but now I was in the "big leagues". I used to say that I was just intelligent enough to recognize, concretely and specifically, the ways in which this man was more intelligent than me. I never did venture to try to bring up something to impress him since I knew he would ask questions that I couldn't answer.
In retrospect, it occurs to me that while my professor was fond of knowledge in general, I never heard any discussion of morality or even philosophy for that matter. I had the sense (although this was never actually said...) that this professor would have been non-plussed had the issue of morality been raised in a positive fashion. Mind you, I don't think his response would have been shrill: "I don't want your pompous morality shoved in my face" like many other college-type folks of lesser intellectual stature. Rather, I speculate that he would have stopped short, cocked his head, scratched his chin, raised his eyebrows and said something like: "Is there something meaningful that can be said about morality?".
It seems to me that all men want to be free, but most are unwilling. To "want to be free" is fairly easy - it consists of saying "Oh, I wish I didn't have all these bills to pay. I wish I didn't have all these responsibilities. I wish I could just ride down the highway on my motorcycle, etc. and just get away" and then just staring off into the distance. Every man in every time and place does this.
But willing to be free is another matter altogether. It goes beyond a wistful feeling in the heart and engages the full faculties of a person and says: "I am going to do the due diligence to make sure that all the bases are covered in my life AND in the society I am part of. I am going to honor the commitments that pertain to me. I am not going to rely on someone else to clean up after my mess. I am even willing to go so far as to clean up after other people's messes."
Willing to be free requires self-sacrifice. In many instances, it will require total self-sacrifice. The hymns of our nation feature this idea:
"O say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?"
"Who more than self, their country loved and mercy more than life."
Notice the first one is phrased as a question.
When I was a kid, I recall hearing older people speak on a regular basis about the freedom we have in America. I remember that the Fourth of July was a fun holiday (with fireworks and decorations, etc.), but it wasn't frivolous. It was altogether different from something like Halloween. The older generation spoke of freedom with reverence. They were remembering, without exactly saying so, the self-sacrifices (their own, but especially those of others) that went with the freedom.
I don't hear this anymore.
"Much of what once was is now lost, for none now live who remember it..."
This line, also from the Lord of the Rings, follows the opening lines above. The scene from the movie shows how the Ring, after being struck off of the finger of Sauron in combat, is lost along with the very knowledge of its existence. This ignorance seems to be bliss, and it is, for a time. But then it comes back.
One meaningful thing that can be said about morality is that it puts the hearts of men in touch with the concept of self-sacrifice. In the absence of morality there is "precious" little to stop a complete abandonment of the concept of self-sacrifice in the hearts of men. And in the loss of the notion and way of self-sacrifice, many commitments will be broken, many messes will be made and there will be a great need to "clean up" after the selfish souls.
Ironically, in the very place where knowledge is sought so diligently by such gifted people working tirelessly, the knowledge of the inherent fallen nature of man, of the reality of sin, is lost. None now live who remember it. A "shadow" spreads from hell, covering our institutions, and robbing our words and actions of their meaning. College is the time when the "self" is most fully given reign in the lives of young people - is it necessary to expound? And with this wanton exercise of self, we follow in the footsteps of the Nazgul, the ring-wraiths, neither living nor dead.
Bound in the darkness.
The good news is that the power of the One Ring has been defeated. Not destroyed or obliterated, but defeated. There is the potential to rise above the self, to make a self-sacrifice. There are footsteps to follow on Mount Doom, a path has been made. It can be done. It has been done.
Freedom and self-sacrifice - "...go together like a horse and carriage, this I tell you brother, you can't have one without the other."
