J.R.R. Tolkien discussion

Hi I'm a new joiner and I have two questions.
1. Is there an audio book for the Silmarillion?
2.I don't mean to be rude but why do you put Namarie, God bless, Anne Marie?

Oh, thank you.

Every time I've search for an Audio version of this book, I've only found one in German. I would love to finish this book, but I stumbled many times trying to wade through it.

Fred wrote: "Every time I've search for an Audio version of this book, I've only found one in German. I would love to finish this book, but I stumbled many times trying to wade through it."
I have the The Silmarillion on audio CD and its read in English by Martin Shaw. I would try Amazon or ebay to find it.

As I am making my way through the Silmarillion, I take a few notes here and there. Here are some of my recent reflections on why Arda has become round:

Why did Arda become round? Originally, it was flat. It was made round only after the fall of Numenor.

Its roundness was its curse. The consequence of leaving the “Straight Way.”

Thus in after days, what by the voyages of ships, what by lore and starcraft, the kings of Men knew that the world was indeed made round…

Is there any significance in this roundness?

Deceived by Sauron, the Numenorians craved immortality. They rejected the strange gifts of Iluvatar given to Men – the gifts of mortality – the ability to leave the Circles of the world through letting go.

The Númenóreans began to murmur, at first in their hearts, and then in open words, against the doom of Men…

Why did Arda become round?

The downfall of Numenor led to the reshaping of Arda. Around the year 3319 of the Second Age, the world was changed. It became round. A circle. A ring.

Like a ring, the world became closed upon itself. Thus ended Men’s desperate search for immortality. It ended in creating bad infinity, the non-stop repetition of the same, a rat race of life, never coming to the destination.

People were still trying to find the Straight Way to the Blessed Realm but soon found that all roads were now bent. There was no longer a Straight Way to the blessed realm geographically. All roads were going in circles.

Their great mariners would still search for the Isle of Meneltarma because many believed that from the summit of the Meneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven, one could still see a glimpse of the Deathless shores.

But they found it not. And those that sailed far came only to the new lands, and found them like to the old lands, and subject to death. And those that sailed furthest set but a girdle… and they said: ‘All roads are now bent.’

With bad infinity, no matter where you go, you come to where you started – to the old lands, subject to death. It is the curse of the Ring.
Why did Sauron make the One Ring?

The Ring is the curse that reflects the heart of Sauron. He made the One Ring because it was the shape of his heart. His life was closed upon itself.

He loved order more than his place in the Great Music. He loved “good” more than God.

Like Melkor whom he served, he elevated matters of his own imagining above the theme of Iluvatar.

Seeing the marring of Arda, he could not understand why the Valar would not interfere immediately and put an end to all this chaos. Why wait for the counsels of Iluvatar? Why tune in to the Music? Why try to hear and follow the Thought of Iluvatar?

But what if The Music includes chaos? What if there is a higher order (celestial harmony, beauty, kósmos in Greek) that allows for chaos to exist for a time because it serves greater purposes and is part of the whole?

The temptation to eliminate chaos right away is almost irresistible. Allowing chaos to exist means entrusting the course of events to Providence.

Bilbo allowed Gollum to live out of pity, feeling in his gut that he might yet play a role in the unfolding of the Music.

Frodo allowed Gollum to be their guide trusting that he wasn’t beyond hope (despite all appearances).

Gandalf allowed Boromir to be part of the fellowship despite the dark forebodings in his heart that he would become the conduit of evil.
Why didn’t the Valar stop Melkor?

The Valar allowed Melkor to go unrestrained for quite a while knowing that Iluvatar had kept some part of The Music hidden and that somehow the unknown parts (the seeming chaos) would, in the end, adorn the beauty of the third theme.

Sauron had zero tolerance for chaos. He didn’t care for the Music.

He didn’t want to wait for Men and Elves to mess the world up with their free will. He had his own ideas about how to impose order and ensure peace and prosperity.

Free will is too messy, too unpredictable, too chaotic.

Sauron elevated his Ego above the Music with its messy freedom. He didn’t need to listen to it. At that moment, he became the Ring. A thing closed upon itself.

His world became round – a never-ending circle. A lidless eye. A bent world. A bad infinity. An endless repetition of the same – like butter scraped over too much bread.
https://www.restandtrust.org/why-did-...