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The Temptation of the Earthly City: Tolkien's Augustinian Vision |
Dr. Jose Yulo | February 1, 2006
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"We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us
are everything." - Blaise Pascal
J. R. R. Tolkiens epic, The Lord of the Rings, has for generations
captured the minds and hearts of readers with themes and characters that
embody the steadfast quality of what can today, and what was in the distant
past, be best described as virtue. Although the modern lexicon writes of
such concepts as honor, fidelity and nobility, these are termsperhaps
due to their immaterialityrather infrequent used. This may be due
to the connotation associated with these words; a connotation which necessitates
a timelessness only made possible by the existence of a source of permanent
good. Nevertheless, the heroic daring of Aragorn the King, as well as the
patient sacrifice of Frodo the hobbit, are representative of the high moral
plane from which Tolkien writes. It is also a plane where the Professor
invites one to dwell in, if only for the glimmer of a nights read.
What separates Tolkiens work from other narratives, especially those
inspired by his prose, is the rich profundity and dexterity with which he
wove his tapestry. Recent scholarship has shown the interconnectedness of
Tolkiens writing to the vaunted schools of ancient philosophy, specifically
those of ancient Greece. However, there exists in The Lord of the Rings
a subtle yet quite detectable call to the thought of the medieval philosopher
St. Augustine. This call is particularly resonant today, an age where there
appears to prevail an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Augustine, as a
student of the ancients (in particular of Plato), knew well that knowledge
was not synonymous with wisdom. Often, the quest for the former entailed
the preclusion of the latter.
Sarumans Sorcerous Temptation
In Gandalfs account to the Council of Elrond, Tolkien relates this
very dilemma. As the chief advisor of the soon to be fellowship of the ring
recounted his fateful meeting with the wizard Saruman, elements from Augustines
City of God can be positively deduced. To be precise, there is a
strong correlation between the characters of Saruman and Gandalfboth
wizards sent to middle earth to defend its inhabitantsand Augustines
discussion on the citizens of earthly and heavenly cities.
It is a matter of importance in Tolkiens account to first mention
an essential change in the character of Saruman. As Gandalf approaches the
forbidding, frigid redoubt of Orthanc, he notes this metamorphosis in his
old colleaguea shift not only in temperament, but also in appearance.
As Saruman reveals his design to allow another Istari, Radagast the Brown,
to lead Gandalf to Isengard, the growing contempt with which the former
views his peers is palpable: "Radagast the Fool! Yet he had just the
wit to play the part that I set him. For you have come, and that was all
the purpose of my message."
In addition to the treacherous ice in Sarumans voice, Gandalf notes
the visage itself of his old friend taking new shape. "I looked then
and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven
of all colors, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the
eye was bewildered." Saruman himself boasts of this recent transcendence,
naming himself "Saruman of Many Colors." When Gandalf expresses
his own preference for Sarumans forsaken white vestments, the latter
responds with the limitations he sees in the simple hue. "It serves
as a beginning...The white page can be overwritten; and the white light
can be broken."
This condescension for the older and stolid instead of the newer and ostensibly
more liberating elicits one of Tolkiens greatest caveats for seekers
of earthly dominion. Gandalf reminds Saruman that "he that breaks a
thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."
Viewing these fundamental and ultimately corrupting changes in the character
of a once great seer prods one to wonder about just what exactly has caused
this sudden course. Perhaps holding out some expectation that Gandalf would
align himself thusly, Saruman is open and forthcoming with his rationale:
"The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger
days are beginning. The time of the Elves is over, but our time is at hand:
the world of Men, which we must rule."
This blunt attempt at a justification is telling. Saruman, as the most senior
Istari, or wizard, manifests the fruits of countless ages spent studying
in the defense of the free peoples of middle earth. It was to him, as head
of the White Council, that the opportunity and duty of gleaning all the
dark lords machinations fell. Hence, it was Saruman, and possibly
the higher elves such as Elrond, who began to deduce the fading majesty
of Rivendell and Loth Lorien.
It is what Saruman decides to do with his knowledge that sets his path.
Unlike Gandalf (and possibly Radagast as well), Saruman proves false to
the charge he was given as an Istari. As some of the oldest beings on middle
earth, the wizards were charged to fulfill one main mission: to aid those
who would challenge might of Sauron. Though possessed of prodigious strength
in their own right, it was not theirs to manipulate worldly events, or worse,
to coerce the free wills of those of lesser stature. Yet, the potential
to do these very acts are enticing to Saruman. Though he, like his brethren,
hail from beyond the sea, Saruman did not merely wish to serve out his tenure
as he was charged. Instead, he begins to see in this middle earth something
to shape, prod, andin his mindperfect.
But what of the reasons for Sarumans long dormant and now revealed
manipulative designs? As he and the other Istari have been sent to middle
earth, he knows full well that along with the much more powerful dark lord
Sauron, they were not the authors of their fates. By not being in himself
a creator and so not deserving of the attendant praise of this position,
Saruman settles on another position of privilege: "But we must have
power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the
Wise can see."

   

Here a warning from Tolkien concerning the temptations
inherent in knowledge per se is addressed. Instead of carrying out his
entrusted vocationthat of aiding the free peoples against Saurons
predationsSaruman is in a way narcissistically drawn to his appointed
position. He is the head of the White Council, the eldest and most powerful
of the Istari, the one to whom was given the dark tomes concerning Sauron
to best find the means of combating him. Yet Saruman does not seek to
serve but to rule. He condescends against those, like Radagast, and even
perhaps Gandalf himself, who are either too naive, or too loyal, to see
that Sauron now holds the doom-ridden field. Corrupted by his long years
delving into the craft of the dark lord, he begins to see himself as above
his task, elevating himself and potentially Gandalf to the identity of
the Wise. Of course, this wisdom proves itself false because the knowledge
it is comprised of is not used for the betterment of the many, but rather
to suit the vanity of the self. To Saruman, wisdom not only deserves but
demands entitlements.
Vanity, by itself, may prod an individual to thoughts and actions seldom
before entertained. However, if this self-love is coupled with a belief
in a higher calling linked to ones destiny, greater and darker schemes
soon will follow. After reminding Gandalf of the futility in enduring
Saurons wrath, Saruman attempts again to bring his fellow into the
fold: "There is no hope left in Elves or dying Numenor. This then
is the choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power."
Perhaps in expectation of Gandalfs rejection of such an entreaty,
Saruman goes on to illustrate the benefits of aiding, or turning a blind
eye to, the dread of what was to come. "As the Power grows, its proved
friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience
come at last to direct its courses, to control it." By using such
argument and reasoninggifts Saruman was well known forGandalfs
initial misgivings about renouncing his trust to middle earth are given
pause. Saruman does not ask for Gandalfs allegiance for the paltriness
of the formers narcissistic gain. Rather, the new and many colored
wizard elevates a sacred cause above the both of them; a calling seemingly
higher than their original preordained directive.
What is the grace conjured up by Saruman? He soothes: "We can bide
our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils
done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge,
Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish,
hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends." Allowing
Gandalf to recount the numberless years spent striving against the machinations
of the dark lord, and the apparent inefficacy in ever truly vanquishing
him, Saruman now asks his old friend to look the other way. "There
need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only
in our means."
Again, the mockery and emptiness of Sarumans proposition is bared.
If the "high and ultimate purpose" is as august as is claimed,
why is there the need to cloak it in anything other than its supposed
splendor? Why does the cause require the stifling of any scruple either
of the wizards possess? Lastly, just how exalted is knowledge, rule, and
order when to attain them one must first reject or pervert what is ostensibly
a heavenly mandate of caring for the creations of middle earth? In this
scheme, the holy purpose entrusted by Valinor to the Istari is but a means
to the ends of the Wise.
The Necessary Limits of the Earthly City
This attachment to earthly dominion in spite of heavenly mandate carries
with it grim warnings from Augustine. In the fifteenth book of The
City of God, the early Church father depicted a dichotomy bearing
great similarities to Tolkiens dialogue. This paradigm entailed
what Augustine called the two cities; one enthralled to the temptations
of earth, the other allied to the hosts of heaven: "This race we
have distributed into two parts, the one constituting of those who live
according to man, the other of those who live according to God."
Representing these are the primordial scions, Cain and Abel. Augustine
claimed the elder of the two, Cain, as belonging to the earthly city while
the younger Abel was subject to the heavenly. Aside from their differences
in livelihood, a crucial point of divergence between the two lay in their
attachment to the world. "Accordingly, it is recorded of Cain that
he built a city, but Abel, being a sojourner, built none."
Cain, perhaps due to his closeness to the fruits of the earth as a farmer,
begrudges his brothers offerings to God; especially so when the
Abels more pastoral sacrifices were deemed by God to be more favorable.
After committing the worlds first murder, and being branded for
posterity for the deed, Cain founds what was presumably the worlds
first city. Augustine would later on draw an eerie parallel with the founding
of this first earthly city and the founding of Rome. Both cases involve
not only murder, but the tragedy and malfeasance of the act committed
between brothers.
It is of interest and pertinence to Tolkien to examine the qualities of
the earthly city, following from its less than virtuous establishment
by Cain. Aside from Augustines initial distinctions of the denizens
of this world as being "by nature vitiated by sin," we find
that earthly dominion may correspond to Sarumans vision of a future
he desires to rule.
The earthly city, in proportion to its temporal nature, does not look
beyond itself for goods greater than what it can provide and "has
its good in this world." Sadly and inevitably comes the realization
of the fleeting solacewhich is the most one can hope for in this
world. As Augustine maintains, whatever boon one envisions as possible
in this temporal existence, it "is not a good which can discharge
its devotees of all distresses." In fact, this veneer of earthly
satisfaction, once pealed away, soon breeds earthly resentment: "...this
city is often divided against itself by litigations, wars, quarrels, and
such victories as are either life-destroying or short-lived." However
strong and wise establishers of earthly dominion may be, even as strong
and wise as Saruman of the many colors, this inexorable march to doom
resounds because "it seeks to triumph over the nations though itself
in bondage to vice."
If the wise and their self-proclaimed leader Saruman are as they profess,
would they not be cognizant of the futility inevitably shadowing their
quest for power? Referring again to the first brothers, Augustine discusses
the reasons motivating Cain to slay Abel: "...nor did the murderer
envy the other because he feared that, by both ruling, his own dominion
would be curtailed...he was moved by that diabolical, envious hatred with
which the evil regard the good, for no other reason than because they
are good while themselves are evil."
What is ultimately tragic about a character such as Sarumanand in
a way many who today pursue knowledge and control beyond the limits prescribed
by wisdomis that it should be these who know and realize the natures
of their fall. Saruman was once the chief of those allied to combat the
adversary. Once his corruption turned him from his trust and former friends,
it did not permanently block their memories from his consciousness. In
fact, it may be said that the disgust he feels against Radagast, Elrond,
and even Gandalf for adhering to good is magnified by this knowledge.
In hating where he came from, Saruman inescapably hates himself and where
he is going. This loathing is at times a thing ignored, an inconvenient
reminder set aside when blazing new frontiers of discovery not tempered
by reason. The consequences of this folly constitute the greatest of Sarumans
many treasons.
As Saruman elevates knowledge, rule, and order above his mandate to safeguard
middle earth against the ravages of Mordor, so do the seekers of the earthly
city cling to temporal bliss in spite of the commands of heaven.
Not only are tangible goods deified, but a much darker phenomenon occurs;
a phenomenon, Augustine claims, manipulates the celestial to garner the
corporeal: "And this is characteristic of the earthly city, that
it worships God or gods who may aid it in reigning victoriously and peacefully
on earth not through love of doing good, but through lust of rule."
In stating this, Augustine clearly lays out, almost in a Platonic sense,
the misshapen nature of a lust for earthly power: "The good use the
world that they may enjoy God: the wicked, on the contrary, that they
may enjoy the world would fain use God..."
Failing to distinguish what is intrinsically better between two paths
of living is sad and regrettable. Being able to distinguish the offerings
of heaven and earth and choosing wrongly implies conscious sin. Masking
the choice for the earthly with the glory of the heavenly, only so the
former can be surreptitiously enjoyed, portrays a soul so twisted it brings
about its own enslavement.
These indeed are days where things once only conceived by reverie gleam
ubiquitously as banners of human achievement. Researchers have recently
even attempted to perform what was once only thought of as the workings
of heaven: the cloning, hence mock creation, of a human being. In light
of the now revealed failure of this endeavor, it would behoove one to
ask whether this was due to the belief in the paramount supremacy of the
earthly city. Tolkien would remind the reader of the creeping corruption
brought about by this pursuit. With Augustine, the Professor shines a
solitary, though crystalline, light on the attainment of something other:
a city which discharges the distresses of those who seek it in earnest
humility.
Related IgnatiusInsight.com pages:
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Melos: How Ancient Honor Unmasks Islamic Terror | Dr. Jose Yulo
The Presence
of Christ in The Lord of the Rings | Peter J. Kreeft
The Ladies
of the Ring | Sandra Miesel
Evangelizing
With Love, Beauty and Reason | An Interview with Joseph Pearce
Jose Yulo, Ed.D. teaches courses on philosophy, western civilization,
United States history, and public speaking at the Academy
of Art University in San Francisco. He has a Doctorate in Education
from the University of San Francisco, with an emphasis on the philosophy
of education. He also holds a Master's degree in political communication
from Emerson College in Boston, as well as a Bachelor's degree in the classical
liberal arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. Originally from Manila
in the Philippines, his research interests lie in Greek philosophy, the
histories of Greek and Roman politics and warfare, and the literature of
J. R. R. Tolkien.
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