Tolkien

Journal Entry: 1-9-2012 I believe it was Tolkien that wrote that death was the gift given to we mortal humans. I believe that is correct, and is a most valuable insight. This insight is central to making the moderate way of living work for mortals. The moderate way is spiritually and morally superior to one-dimensional thinking and living. A creature that tastes both life and death life has a richer, more interesting, more creative and more stimulating life than an immortal being like an angel or one of the high elves that only knows unending life and will never know death. Change causes us to bawl, feel discomfort. It forces us to adjust and find a new self, reborn with new outlooks and new ways of coping with changed circumstances. Being reborn 10 or 12 times during our brief lifetime equips us with a psyche to deal with inevitable change. The angel with an IQ of 14,000 versus we mortals with our puny 105 point IQ are obviously mismatched in ability. Still, humans are superior in some ways. The angel's decisions and actions will be flawless. But the caliber of changes that the human endures and succumbs to, as imperfect and fragile as he is, are ones that produce real change and advancements. His flawed efforts of adjustment are glorious attempts to rectify things. They are glorious because the moderate center is the font of creativity and invention. The spark of originality guides the humans as his actions, instincts, thought, flashes and hunches come up with new ways of doing things. The world and he are ineluctably altered by his choices. It could be that mortals provide the universe with the element of creativity that God needs to keep things going, evolving and in balance. In death there is spiritual and intellectual growth. There are stretched emotions and incomparable, unique visions and reactions only a mortal could generate. Painful yes, but death informs us too.