Great story with twists and humour and insights. At first I felt like this was a Marvel comics tactic to resurrect characters to excuse another trilogy, but it is true that it is a childish idea to think you can defeat evil with a capital 'E' absolutely. I accept that I may be now part of the Body of Sauron!
But maybe, after he gets everything he wants, Sauron will realize it wasn't what he expected as well.
Brilliant - This is definitely a LOTR MOMENT AND THE GOOD GUYS are in thrall to their phones and see and hear little - just do what the evil says. Like Denethor.
Well we just need our wizards to break the spell- like you and legal AF and loud legislators and thousands of marchers and complainers- we get there eventually.
ya but no one ever really came back from possessing the ring. No wizard could break the spell. It took a miracle for frodo to lose it, and that was after a grueling journey through the abyss basically..
The wisdom was in seeing the danger and not even touching it in the first place, like gandalf, aragorn, galadriel, faramir, and whoever else. They didn't beat its power, they avoided it altogether..
So I guess wat I'm saying, in keeping with the lotr analogy, is that generations are basically lost and there is no coming back. They/we will live out gollum like existences, die, and become like shades. The rare few will escape by a combination of integrity and luck(frodo) but will be dealing with the scars the rest of their lives. Only those lucky/wise enough to avoid going down that path in the first place will have the best chance at normal life/fulfillment.
maybe in the future personal tech devices will be regarded as a serious potential danger, like drugs are/were, and kids will be brought up to be wary. Maybe one day you might see random groups of people huddled together on their phones, but they'll be regarded as the potheads of the past were, and sensible people will keep their distance.
Technology no matter how modern has always had this slow undercurrent to keep us less and less dependent on God! I think of the Israelites in the wilderness, God only gave them manna enough for the day! So they would wake up the next morning and depend upon Him again for their daily bread! As soon as they got into the Promise land, they stopped depending. The phone you nailed it I asked the college class I teach what would happen if you lost your phone for two days, their response , “ I lost my connection to the world”. Sad the devil is a deceiver!
Well written and ringing true, Clint. We harken to the 'ring' of our phone... of course it means we are needed...wanted in some way, and that response perhaps shows what we lack in our lives today - the intimacy of deep friendship with man and nature. Maybe we are losing the ability to love and connect on some level... the phone being a cold and remote substitute.
Well thought out and written.
Thank you!
Great story with twists and humour and insights. At first I felt like this was a Marvel comics tactic to resurrect characters to excuse another trilogy, but it is true that it is a childish idea to think you can defeat evil with a capital 'E' absolutely. I accept that I may be now part of the Body of Sauron!
But maybe, after he gets everything he wants, Sauron will realize it wasn't what he expected as well.
Great analogy. This precious perspective rings true.
Simply brilliant! Thank you.
Thanks so much. That means a lot coming from the most learned Tolkien-lore person I know!
Very insightful and sobering message.
Thank you.
TRUTH!!!
That's what I try to write! Thank you.
This was great. So clever and unfortunately there was much truth in it
Yes, unfortunately.
Brilliant - This is definitely a LOTR MOMENT AND THE GOOD GUYS are in thrall to their phones and see and hear little - just do what the evil says. Like Denethor.
Haha, we are all Denethor now.
Well we just need our wizards to break the spell- like you and legal AF and loud legislators and thousands of marchers and complainers- we get there eventually.
ya but no one ever really came back from possessing the ring. No wizard could break the spell. It took a miracle for frodo to lose it, and that was after a grueling journey through the abyss basically..
The wisdom was in seeing the danger and not even touching it in the first place, like gandalf, aragorn, galadriel, faramir, and whoever else. They didn't beat its power, they avoided it altogether..
So I guess wat I'm saying, in keeping with the lotr analogy, is that generations are basically lost and there is no coming back. They/we will live out gollum like existences, die, and become like shades. The rare few will escape by a combination of integrity and luck(frodo) but will be dealing with the scars the rest of their lives. Only those lucky/wise enough to avoid going down that path in the first place will have the best chance at normal life/fulfillment.
maybe in the future personal tech devices will be regarded as a serious potential danger, like drugs are/were, and kids will be brought up to be wary. Maybe one day you might see random groups of people huddled together on their phones, but they'll be regarded as the potheads of the past were, and sensible people will keep their distance.
Thanks for the restack!
Technology no matter how modern has always had this slow undercurrent to keep us less and less dependent on God! I think of the Israelites in the wilderness, God only gave them manna enough for the day! So they would wake up the next morning and depend upon Him again for their daily bread! As soon as they got into the Promise land, they stopped depending. The phone you nailed it I asked the college class I teach what would happen if you lost your phone for two days, their response , “ I lost my connection to the world”. Sad the devil is a deceiver!
Well written and ringing true, Clint. We harken to the 'ring' of our phone... of course it means we are needed...wanted in some way, and that response perhaps shows what we lack in our lives today - the intimacy of deep friendship with man and nature. Maybe we are losing the ability to love and connect on some level... the phone being a cold and remote substitute.
I agree with you. The phone is a simulcrum of what we really need.