To Guide or to Ensnare

This week we read "Shelob's Lair."  Gollum's plot comes to fruition as he brings Sam and Frodo to the lair of Shelob, an ancient evil in the form of a spider.  Though Shelob lives on the border of Mordor, she is not a creature of Sauron.  The text says, "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 Elves 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."  Shelob evokes the dark side of the Elder days for which the Elves are so nostalgic.  Not all had been well.

That the text tells us Shelob vomits darkness is curious, to say the least.  How can darkness be vomited?  What is the difference between darkness vomited by an ancient evil and, you know, regular darkness.  Well, as luck may have it, the text tells us.  When Sam and Frodo enter her lair...

In a few steps they were in utter and impenetrable dark. Not since

the lightless passages of Moria had Frodo or Sam known such

darkness, and if possible here it was deeper and denser.

There, there were airs moving, and echoes, and a sense of space.

Here the air was still, stagnant, heavy, and sound fell dead.

This darkness is more intense. Moria was created for whole clans of Dwarves to live and work in. Shelob's lair was created for her alone. It is unwelcoming and it's selfishness fills the space. Perhaps that is why she and Gollum get along so well. The text flashes back to some old muttering of Gollum after he had come up with his plan: "O yes, it may well be that when She throws away the bones and the empty garments, we shall find it, we shall get it, the Precious, a reward for poor Sméagol who brings nice food." They both have selfish reasons for wanting Sam and Frodo dead. Shelob vomits darkness precisely because she wants her lair to be uninviting. She's only concerned with her own sustenance.

This leads us to another distinction between the darkness of Shelob's lair and the darkness of Moria.  In Moria, they had guides, both Gandalf and Gimli.  Gandalf, by far the wisest of all the Fellowship, had brought them into Moria with the intention to get them out.  Gimli, meanwhile, is able to act like tour guide.  Gandalf will see them through Moria and Gimli will ensure their stay is informed.

But in Shelob's lair, the only other two are Gollum and Shelob, herself.  Gollum brought them into her lair, but with the intention of trapping them.  Shelob, meanwhile, will use her knowledge of the space to ensnare, not inform.

In our world, there is a lot of darkness.  But I think the one best compared to underground caves is the self.  There are many parts of ourselves we are unfamiliar with, or that we keep hidden.  When we explore them, we must be prepared - otherwise, we will be overwhelmed.

Exploring ourselves with a therapists is like entering Moria.  The purpose is to go in and then out, and notice things along the way.  Then you take what knowledge you found and apply it to the rest of your life.

But there are ways to enter yourself like it's Shelob's lair, a place meant to entrap you.  Instead of a wizardlike therapist, you'd have a gollumlike trickster.  They will lead you down into yourself and use your tendencies and habits against you to get what they want, without considering the cost to you.

"Know thyself" is a very old adage, and one I think is very good (Though here is an opposing opinion I came across).  You should know your strengths and your preferences and seek out a life that complements those.  You should also know your weaknesses and what you dislike, and attempt to minimize their intrusion into your life, or at least learn coping mechanisms for them.  There's more to oneself than likes/dislikes and strengths/weaknesses, but let's leave it there for now.

Knowing yourself is a way to defend yourself from becoming trapped in your own Shelob's lair.  It allows you to see the patterns in your behavior, and will help you break those patterns when someone is using them against you.  Had Gollum led Sam and Frodo into Moria, they would not have been ensnared so easily.

I play a board game called Diplomacy pretty competitively.  The game calls for strategic thinking.  However, I sometimes get distracted by interesting ideas that, long-term, are not actually good.  This would get used against me in games - people would point out interesting ideas and let my excitement do the rest in pulling me off course.  Over the years, with effort, I've learned to curtail that tendency.  On particular occasions, I can even feign excitement so they think they got m" but really I maintain the upper hand.  In this way I have taken what had been a Shelob's lair for me and turned it into a Moria - a place I am quite familiar with.

I recently heard a Buddhist teaching that one should increase the space between a stimulus and your reaction.  There's nothing wrong with getting mad at someone, but if you can feel mad, stew it over in your mind for even a few seconds, and then express your anger, you're far more in control than if you respond immediately.  An immediate response is more likely to lead you into Shelob's lair.  If someone knows you are easily provoked, your anger can be used against you.  But if you can maintain control, you will not be so easily ensnared.

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