Just before we left for Florida, Alice got the extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy for me. It is something that I have been hoping to get for a while. When the movies first came out, my family went to the theater every year around Christmas time to watch them together. Alice and I brought the trilogy with us to Florida and so every night we have been watching a little bit before we go to bed. We’re starting the Return of the King tonight.

I think I am so fascinated by these movies because they are part of a larger myth that Tolkien was creating. I just started reading The Silmarillion on the flight over to Florida from California. In the preface, there is a letter from Tolkien to a publisher. In the letter he mentions his longing to provide a myth for England through these stories. He also talks about how he favors myth over allegory. I guess this is where he and Lewis differed in their story telling.

I think there is a deep longing for truth and meaning that is buried deep in our souls. It seems that myths and story telling have provided something that speaks to these deep longings. I think that myths provide a powerful medium that can communicate to these deep layers that are left longing in our fast paced and technologically saturated lives.

Related: Our first Christmast, contextualization, and sacred violence.