This week we read "The Ring goes South." The Fellowship heads out and immediately runs into a (snow)heap of trouble. But the quote we're going to highlight happens before all that. As they leave Rivendell Boromir takes his horn out:
Putting it to his lips he blew a blast, and the echoes leapt from rock to rock,
and all that heard that voice in Rivendell sprang to their feet.
"Slow should you be to wind that horn again, Boromir," said Elrond,
"Until you stand once more on the borders of your land, and dire need is on you."
"Maybe," said Boromir, "But always I have let my horn cry at setting forth, and though
thereafter we may walk in the shadows, I will not go forth as a thief in the night."
"But we know, in the end, that is exactly what happens."
"Our tradition generally holds Boromir in high esteem, though. How, if he falls?"
"Many of us would fall to the temptation of the Ring, as we fall regularly to lesser temptations."
"Do we hold Frodo, or Aragorn, on a pedastal then?"
"No more than they deserve. We strive to be like them, but it is the likes of Boromir and Sam who we can hope to mirror."
"But should we not always strive for more?"
"Yes, but tempered with reality. Our moral reach should always exceed grasp, but that does not mean we should spite what we can achieve. A perfect world would be best - but a better world is still worth the effort."
"Does Boromir here make Middle Earth better?"
"Boromir is a man who believes Mordor is evil and that it must be held back by force. In most cases, he is right. Sauron's negotiations are to stall and misdirect. Those who deal with the Dark Lord are decieved. Sauron must be fought. However, fighting will never defeat him. To destroy The One Ring, secrecy is required."
"Such as a thief."
"Ever does the Ring inspire thievery."
So Boromir blasts his horn so he will not be as a thief, whom he seems lesser. He will not let the Enemy reduce him so - or injure his principles."
"But he will also not let the Enemy injure his pride, or reduce himself in the pursuit of succees."
"Self-conception can become a prison."
"It would be easier for Boromir to begin his journey without his horn, because that's safer. We must commend him for blowing it. But it is also easier for Boromir to blow his horn because it's what he's always done. We must not commend people simply for their habits"
"How do we know we hold to our principles because they are right and how do we know we hold to them only out of habit?"
"This brings us back to rooted wisdom. Here, Boromir's horn is that wisdom. Is it wise, or rooted?"
"This is the same question only asked differently!"
"Answers are less important than good questions. Boromir refuses to be seen as a thief. When he seeks to take the Ring from Frodo he continues to insist he is not one."
"And yet he 'seeks to take' the Ring."
"But Boromir is no thief, or at least will always refuse to believe the charge. Bilbo was comfortable embracing the title - his ego was less. For Boromir, thieves are bad, thieves take things, and he is good. If he is taking something, he thinks his goodness outweighs the deed, and the taking becomes good, rather than he becomes bad."
"We must judge people by their actions."
"But Frodo and Sam are like 'thieves in the night.' It is because of their secrecy and deception they reach Mount Doom. Betrayal, even, is what destroys the Ring."
"There is a time and a place for thievery, then?"
"Perhaps it is not enough to judge people by their actions, but by their options."
"Why by their options and not by their motivations? Do they hold to their principles because they are right, or because they are tradition?"
"Why not by their outcomes?"
"No. It should be motivations. Giving a gift may be kindness or it may be bribery. The breadth of one's options may be beyond their control. And outcomes allow us to justify the success of a fluke, or ignore whatever terrible cost has been paid. But motivations let us know what is in the heart."
"But we cannot mind read. Umm, or heart read."
"Yes. That is the trouble. But we can read our own. At least in our own life, and in those with whom we can converse honestly, we can determine motivations. And if we learn it was for tradition instead of righteousness we can take the opportunity to re-examine."
"But hold on. We say doing ethics is doing the harder thing."
"Yes."
"But if someone is so developed they do the harder thing out of habit, is that not something to strive for? Is it less ethical because it has become automatic?"
"It is no less good - however it does become less worthy. That person should acknowledge their success and then push themselves to find the next thing which is hard for them. Do you donate regularly to causes? Then volunteer your time, next. Our grasp should always exceed our reach, and our reach should continue to extend."
"We should strive not to grasp, but to reach."
"The ethical life is not measured by who we help, or on what we achieve, but on what we push ourselves to do that we did not do yesterday."
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ChatGPT contributed about 0% to this post's final version. I tried to ask it to help me come up with a title and it was no use at all.
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