Walking Stick

I'm doing a fair amount of reading about time, and most recently have read most of the way through a book titled The Secret Pulse of Time by Stefan Klein.  It's a pretty light read, if you're interested, but I thought I'd pass along this little tidbit just in case you didn't pick it up from the library straight away...  (italics are the author's, the bold is mine)

"Today, of course, we have nearly perfect ways to kill time in the present and in our memory in one fell swoop, as every television viewer knows from experience.  While you stare at the tube and surf through the channels, the stream of rapidly changing images engages your senses, and the evening flies by.  But if you try to recall these hours a few days later, they seem to have vanished without a trace: The TV programs meant so little to you that your brain retained none of what you saw.  The images with which it was bombarded killed the time in the present, and their inconsequentiality erased the time when you thought about it afterward.

This effect of television and other media is often overlooked: Not only do they rob us of time that might be spent in a more meaningful pursuit, but they also create a zone devoid of memory.  We might even say that electronic entertainment shortens our lives.

Even more dramatic is the "television paradox," Jena sociologist Hartmut Rosa's name for the way time shrinks when you play a video game.  Games of that sort are designed to grab your attention.  You don't notice how quickly the hours go by until you realize you're hungry--or when your partner complains about how much time you've been wasting.  But apart from a few isolated images, or a little thrill of achievement when you scored points, you come away with no memories.  It is as though a black hole had swallowed up this piece of your life."

Ouch.  I've definitely experienced both of those.  In fact, I'd even add time wasted on the internet.  I know there have been times when I've killed an hour or two or three reading stuff online (usually in the form of articles or blogs).  When Carrie asks me what I did during that time I can hardly believe that I spent so much time online, and I often only remember a few keys points from all the reading, even right after I finish.  The time just disappears.

Since my last post (which was admittedly a little bit of blogging as therapy), things have kicked back into gear.  I've really dived into the books and articles that have done little more than take up space and attract the destructive forces of my daughter for a few months.  I've got a rough outline for the dissertation and am getting excited about it again.  I really kind of think that I'm on to something (obviously, or I would be writing about something else), but I'm almost afraid to be too specific for fear of someone else getting into print before I do... a little silly, I know.

I start things.  That's what I do.  I love the excitement of a new project.  It consumes me.  I can barely think of anything else when I've set my mind to something new.  I love the possibilities, the problem solving, the new things I learn and learn how to do...

Ok, another nerdy post.  As I (finally) wrap up reading LOTR for the 7th time, I thought I'd share some of my favorite quotes/passages.  It seems like these stick out to me every time.  One of these days I'll keep a complete log of all the passages I like, but for now, here are some of the highlights.

"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way." - Frodo, The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Council of Elrond."

This sentence always strikes me for its demonstration of faith, and I often think of it, to myself (until now, anyway), as "Frodo's Prayer."

A deadly sword, a healing hand,

a back that bent beneath the load;

a trumpet-voice, a burning brand,

a weary pilgrim on the road.

A lord of wisdom throned he sat,

swift in anger, quick to laugh;

an old man in a battered hat

who leaned upon a thorny staff.

He stood upon the bridge alone

and Fire and Shadow both defied;

his staff was broken on the stone,

in Khazad-dûm his wisdom died.

Frodo mourning the loss of Gandalf.  The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Mirror of Galadriel."

This is maybe half the poem.  The last line in particular seems poignant, but I especially like the use of contradictory descriptors that helps really bring the character of Gandalf into focus.  (Side note: How could I have not know that Tolkien was Catholic?  His use of capitalization should have given it away a long time ago.)

How Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tale tells, for out of the Dark Years few tales have come.  But still she was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dûr; and she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Evles and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness.  Far and wide her lesser broods, bastards of the miserable mates, her own offspring, that she slew, spread from glen to glen, from the Ephel Dúath to the eastern hills, to Dol Duldur and the fastnesses of Mirkwood.  But none could rival her, Shelob the Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world.

The Two Towers, "Shelob's Lair"

Ok, so that isn't exactly in line with any other quotes that I'll be putting in this post, but I just really enjoy this description.  I debated on whether to include this passage or the passage where Sam defeats her, but opted for this one to mix things up a bit.

Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away.  Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it.  After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them.  Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first éored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Théoden could not be overtaken.  Fey he seemed, or the battle fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young.  His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed.  For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea;  and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them.  And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.

Sorry about the length, but I didn't feel like I could trim it beyond that and maintain the rhythm of that passage.  That is, as I write this, probably my favorite passage of the book.

"Don't orcs eat, and don't they drink?  Or do they just live on foul air and poison?"

"No, they eat and drink, Sam.  The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own.  I don't think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them; and if they are to live at all, they have to live like other living creatures."

- The Return of the King, "The Tower of Cirith Ungol"

And finally, this one from the next chapter, "The Land of Shadow," as Frodo and Sam are on the final leg of their quest, deep in the land of Mordor.

There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while.  The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him.  For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.

And I don't think I could end it any better than that.

"I met a lot of things along the way that astonished me.  Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree.  Strider sitting in the corner of the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than Frodo did.  The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlórien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there."

I had always assumed that he at least had the general plot points sketched out as he wrote LOTR.  And that he didn't even know who Strider was baffles me.  I've often considered Aragorn's character development to be the most interesting (though I still thing that Samwise is my favoriate character overall), so this seems really remarkable.  I can't wait to read more of these letters.