bilbo, gandalf, frodo, the ring

a few thoughts on the hobbit, the lord of the rings: bilbo seems to be a typical middle class hobbit, someone who loves comfort and having plenty of food and wine in his larder. he is well off by hobbit standards. yet gandalf shows up and tells him he is about to embark on an adventure. to kill a dragon. or die trying. to return the dwarfs to their treasure, and bring back some treasure for himself as well. he has tookish blood. in other words, the tooks were related to him. adventurous hobbits who were bigger than average, especially bull roarer took, who was adventurous, courageous, a warrior. i have to say i love these films and books. gandalf will come to those to whom he will come. it is destiny. gandalf, the soul guide, will bring you to your conflict, your war, if you are a warrior and not a coward. frodo, which sounds a lot like fraidy-cat, keeps hope alive despite all odds. he hopes against hope. and by destiny at the end the ring and gollum sink into the molten lava and sauron is banished or destroyed and the age comes to an end. what does the ring signify? i guess i don't know with 100 percent certainty, but i can offer a thought experiment: imagine that it is the year 100,000 a.d. in other words, many many years in the future. computers and technology can basically do anything. are the computers in control of everything? i don't know. i just would suggest that they are very very powerful computers. and i would suggest that that is the ring. that right there. the use of technology to get something done. to manipulate something or someone. to make someone feel something. people spend money. what do they spend money on? and so there are computers somewhere that keep track of what people spend money on. what does that mean? well, there are people who keep track of what the computers tell them. and there are people who create the advertisements. or rather, perhaps there are computers that can instantaneously create an advertisement. this is the year 100,000, after all. yet all indications seem to suggest that it is only the year 2009. so what is my point? it's when you want something, when you really want to buy it, that you become "alive" insofar as capitalism is concerned. if you save and invest your money, you become one of the owners. otherwise if you spend money you're a consumer. being a consumer, or being an owner. is there another alternative? i would suggest being a Taoist, being a Stoic, and studying Zen and the samurai traditions, and the Quakers, and the Catholic traditions is an option. St. Francis of Assisi came from a wealthy family, yet became poor for the sake of serving Jesus Christ. the Quakers believe in a simple life. a Taoist was once asked what was the natural way, the Taoist way? he said, riding a horse without a saddle. with a saddle, that is not Taoist. without a saddle, that is closer to being a Taoist. so turn off your lights. go to bed when it's dark outside. get up in the morning. do nothing for a while. do what is most important. what is most important is not being a consumer. and talking about things related to money is not what being an adult is all about. rather than saying, what's in it for me, ask, how can i help? so the ring is this infinite point in the future when anything is possible through technology. computers then keep building more and more intelligent computers. etc. even now, in 2009, capitalism is apparently about building up a lot of money, even though nature is being destroyed. butterflies are declining in number. no, there has to be some counter-movement. taoism is a good answer, but not the only good answer.