Living in Tolkien’s Machine-Troubled World

The Hobbit Chapter 4: “Over Hill and Under Hill”

After leaving Rivendell, Bilbo and the dwarves journey into the treacherous Misty Mountains. Caught in a violent thunderstorm, they take shelter in what appears to be a convenient cave. But their refuge turns out to be a trap.

While they sleep, goblins emerge from a crack in the cave’s back wall and capture the entire company, dragging them deep into the mountain tunnels. In the chaos, Gandalf manages to escape and later rescues the dwarves by killing the Great Goblin and plunging the caverns into darkness.

In the frantic escape through the goblin-infested tunnels, Bilbo is knocked unconscious and left behind.

J.R.R. Tolkien deployed to France in June 1916 as a signals officer in WWI, arriving just in time for the Battle of the Somme. He spent four brutal months in the trenches witnessing what he later called the “animal horror” of trench warfare before contracting trench fever and being sent home.

The war’s most devastating impact was losing two of his closest friends. These losses, combined with the horror of industrialized warfare, profoundly shaped Middle-earth.

His combat service lasted less than a year. Its impact on his imagination lasted a lifetime.

In chapter 4 of The Hobbit, when describing the cruel and clever things that goblins can make, Tolkien remarks, “It is not unlikely that they (goblins) invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once…”.

It seems that behind Tolkien’s comment on the goblins’ inventions for killing large numbers of people, was his experience in WWI during which he saw the devastating effects of the world’s ingenious killing devices.

Since WWI the world’s capacity for killing large numbers of people has increased exponentially. From nuclear arsenals to drone fleets, our capacity for mass destruction has only grown since Tolkien’s time.

We surely live in a machine-troubled world!

But why do nations stockpile such arsenals? The machines that are troubling our world are an expression of peoples’ fear—fear caused by injustice, exploitation, and greed.

The solution isn’t in policy papers or peace treaties—it starts smaller than that. I have a suggestion for decreasing the amount of fear caused by injustice, exploitation, and greed.

Take to heart the “butterfly effect” in regards to the condition of your heart and the effects of your words and actions.

Photo by Fleur on Unsplash

The “butterfly effect” was coined by meteorologist Edward Lorenz in the 1960s. Lorenz discovered that tiny differences in his weather prediction calculations created wildly divergent outcomes. In 1972, he gave a talk titled “Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?”

When it comes to fear, injustice, and greed our small choices matter. Being kind to someone, speaking up about a problem, or making a sustainable choice could ripple outward in ways we’ll never fully see.

In other words, the peace or anger, the generosity or greed, calm or violence in my heart, actions and words ripple outwards to others.

When I was a hospice chaplain, besides home visitation, I provided coverage of a hospice house. The hospice house provided care for people having trouble managing their pain during final days of their dying. As you can imagine, the work of the dedicated nurses, aides, doctors, and social workers sometimes became emotionally draining.

My sense of humor was, on occasion, a balm for the staff. During our daily rounds, I sometimes unintentionally said something humorous about a situation under discussion that would light up the room with laughter and lift the spirits of the staff, who then took the lightness into patient’s rooms as they cared for them. Butterfly effect!

We can’t change our whole machine-troubled world, but if we flap our butterfly wings with peace, generosity, calm, and humor, who knows the unseen effect it will have.

Be a butterfly in a machine-troubled world!

Jim Cyr is a retired minister, a spiritual companion, and a storyteller. His adventures have taken him all over the United States and to Canada, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Europe, and the Philippines. His wisdom teachers have included, his dog, good church people, alcoholics, drug addicts, thieves, embezzlers, murderers, sex offenders, mob wise-guys, out of control kids, parents at the end of their rope, bad bosses and good bosses, people taking their last breath, three wives, multiple step children, mystics past and present, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and stories.

Learn more about Jim’s spiritual companionship and storytelling at www.jimcyr.com