109 The last Tale is to exemplify most clearly a recurrent theme: the place in ‘world politics’ of the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts of will, and deeds of virtue of the apparently small, ungreat, forgotten in the places of the Wise and Great (good as well as evil). A moral of the whole (after the primary symbolism of the Ring, as the will to mere power, seeking to make itself objective by physical force and mechanism , and so also inevitably by lies) is the obvious one that without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless.”26 When we are constantly striving for the next big position, or the next phase of life, we are unable to recognize the joy as well as the potentiality of the present season. Gardens are enhanced by fences and boundary markers, not restricted, because they provide definition and clarity. In another way of thinking about it, consider the numbing effects of information overload, when too much information is presented to you for you to truly process or reflect upon. Rather than producing excitement, boundless information can lead to the feeling of being overwhelmed, much like it might feel to be thirsty but only having an out-of-control fire hydrant as your water source. Limits actually provide relief, and in the way Tolkien points out, what might seem small or insignificant can actually be a vessel of great virtue. Finally, Tolkien provides wisdom about embracing the limitations of time itself. In a letter responding to a fan, Tolkien describes several of his legendarium’s major themes: But I might say that if the tale is ‘about’ anything (other than itself), it is not as seems widely supposed about ‘power’. Powerseeking is only the motive-power that sets events going, and is relatively unimportant, I think. It is mainly concerned with Death, and Immortality; and the ‘escapes’: serial longevity, and hoarding memory.27 In a continuation to this letter he clarifies what he means by these last few phrases: “To attempt by device or ‘magic’ to recover longevity is a supreme folly and wickedness of ‘mortals’. Longevity or counterfeit ‘immortality’ is the chief bait of Sauron—it leads the small to a Gollum, and the great to a Ringwraith.”28 Tolkien’s logic reminds me of Jesus’ “NOLO EPISCOPARI AND THE LEADERSHIP WISDOM OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN”
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