On Waking Dreams
Copyright 2020 Brian Davis - CC-BY-NC-SA
Aragorn in Lorien
At the hill's foot Frodo found Aragorn, standing still and silent as a tree; but in his hand was a small golden bloom of elanor, and a light was in his eyes. He was wrapped in some fair memory: and as Frodo looked at him he knew that he beheld things as they had been in this same place. For the grim years were removed from the face of Aragorn, and he seemed clothed in white, a young lord fall and fair; and he spoke words in the Elvish tongue to one whom Frodo could not see. Arwen vanimelda, namarie! He said, and then he drew a breath, and returning out of his thought he looked at Frodo and smiled.
'Here is the heart of Elvendom on earth,' he said, 'and here my heart dwells ever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we still must tread, you and I. Come with me!' And taking Frodo's hand in his, he left the hill of Cerin Amroth and came there never again as a living man.
Legolas' Waking Dreams
Only Legolas still stepped as lightly as ever, his feet hardly seeming to press the grass, leaving no footprints as he passed; but in the waybread of the Elves he found all the sustenance that he needed, and he could sleep, if sleep it could be called by Men, resting his mind in the strange paths of Elvish dreams, even as he walked open-eyed in the light of this world.
Sam's Star
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.
-- J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings
Isaiah's Vision
The high and lofty one who lives in eternity,
the Holy One, says this:
I live in the high and holy place
with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
I restore the crushed spirit of the humble
and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.
-- Isaiah 57:15
Thoughts
Tolkien was big on this idea that beauty was eternal. The struggle of his characters is to preserve beauty, peace, and freedom. They struggle against the enemy who would dominate and destroy all they love. But as Aragorn, Legolas and our beloved hobbits toil and fight they are hurt, they are weary. They lose friends and see things they treasure destroyed. They are in fear and despair. Hope is sometimes lost but they must struggle on for Good does not suffer evil to triumph unopposed. How can they endure?
There are these shafts of light. Aragorn wanders in his mind over the hill of Cerith Amroth and his care falls away. Legolas dreams of running through the woods by moonlight even as he wearily pursues a hopeless cause. Sam, in the dark of Mordor, sees the purity of the stars and knows they are forever beyond the reach of the shadow. Evil times are upon our heros but in the scope of history they are a small and passing thing.
This kind of meditation upon timeless good is a kind of prayer. It is like a waking dream. When I am weighed down and need my courage revived I set aside my burdens and hold onto the truth. I live in the high and holy place with the Holy One and He will restore my spirit. A part of me is there with Him already and at the end of my toil I will come there in whole. If I ever seem quiet, my mind occupied as I work, maybe my heart is running beneath the trees of Eden in the early light of dawn. When my efforts seem small and ineffective I try to look up through the clouds for the twinkle of hope. I believe that good, beauty and peace will far outlast the dark days we sometimes live through.
Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, a with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.
No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.
-- Revelation 22:1-5