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Lastiel Rusc
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Post Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 19, 2012 03:49
Okay, so this has been on my mind ALL day. Pretend that there is nothing that could hold you back, if you were given a choice would you stay here in this 'reality' or would you go to Middle Earth?

For me this has happened often and currently it's been happening more often than it probably should...especially after I get lectured about not trying, not being good enough, or that I need to stop 'playing dress up and grow up'. Or when I get so stressed, I feel like I'd much rather deal with the possibility of an orc raid rather than the crap that we must deal with here.

While I cannot physically go to Middle Earth I can at least go there when I read the books, it's my form of dealing with what is coming my way.
'If they have a fault it is distrust of strangers. Though their magic was strong even in those days they were wary. They differed from the High Elves of the West, and were more dangerous and less wise.' ~ Flies and Spiders The Hobbit
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Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 19, 2012 04:50
Totally Middle-earth. I would not mind being an Elf either! I too would rather deal with Orcs then all of the things i get told i need to stop. Middle-earth is the place for me! Maybe us Tolkien fan's should start our own colonies and we could make it just like Middle-earth.
Lindarielwen
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 19, 2012 04:08
The mind is a wonderful thing. It can transport us to wherever we wish to go. I spend more time in Middle Earth than I do on this plane. I am happy there, I have friends there, no one is insulting or hurtful there. For me, I do not even have to open the books. I can just sit on the shore of my little lake and in an instant, I can be in the land that I love.




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My destiny is riding again, rolling in the rain, unwinding in the wind. My destiny is fighting again, secretly unwinding..what it was I was supposed to say...to say to you today.
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 19, 2012 05:40
when i am hiking with my mom and brother, i always go in front. i usually pretend i am with the Fellowship in the woods going to Mordor!
tarcolan
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 19, 2012 10:18
If you did live in Middle Earth are you sure you wouldn't be wishing you could live in this mythical world? Familiarity breeds contempt, as they say.
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dwellerofthewest
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 19, 2012 11:07
I would want to remember stuff here but I would love to go.


Or when I get so stressed, I feel like I'd much rather deal with the possibility of an orc raid rather than the crap that we must deal with here.

I agree I think that sometimes killing orcs wold be an relif.
Leoflic_Nightleaf
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 19, 2012 11:08
Agreed tarcolan!
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 19, 2012 11:31
yeah, i would want to remember things here too, but i would LOVE to live there
Mareth_Ravenlock
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 25, 2012 01:49
I don't really know. I think that I would like to stay here but be able to go to ME whenever I wanted to.
Yes, it would be very cool to be an elf, but being a human is good too.
~Llama Warrior of Nessa~ Sometimes, I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. - Lewis Carrol
Lord_Sauron
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 25, 2012 05:06
I would love to go to Middle Earth but to live there is something else maybe i would live there for a few years or so.
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 25, 2012 08:46
Some nights i will be thinking about the events that occurred that day. sometimes when i have a bad day, i cry because i want to go to ME so bad. I know some of you might think i am nuts, but i really do. I want to be a part of this wonderful place. It seems like i am useless here, but there i could maybe be of use.
Lindarielwen
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 26, 2012 09:05
Dear One, you are not useless here. You have just not found your true purpose on this earth. You are young and have plenty of time to explore this world and discover all of life's wonders. In the meantime, keep reading, keep enjoying your books and know that you have people who care about you right here. And I bet that someone in your life who is sad, feels better when she sees you smile.




A star shines upon the hour of our meeting
My destiny is riding again, rolling in the rain, unwinding in the wind. My destiny is fighting again, secretly unwinding..what it was I was supposed to say...to say to you today.
Lastiel Rusc
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 26, 2012 10:54
Tarcolan I somewhat agree with you but then again not. While I do enjoy all of the luxuries that we have now I feel like they are becoming a crutch, making people think that they are entitled and too good for things. While if you took that all that away and you'd have to figure out how to make your self survive, don't you think that would help people out? (Sorry my own view but people, including myself, are lazy and have gotten to the point where they rely too much on the fact that they don't have to figure out how to grow or hunt their own food.)

And Legolas23, I agree with Lindarielwen. Face the day in front of you with bravery and courage for you are a warrior. You may not fight with traditional weapons, but you fight and show everyone that you can face another day by never giving up. And when you feel truly down, that is when you take out a book and are welcomed by friends who will never judge, and will always be happy that you are there reading their story.
'If they have a fault it is distrust of strangers. Though their magic was strong even in those days they were wary. They differed from the High Elves of the West, and were more dangerous and less wise.' ~ Flies and Spiders The Hobbit
Taug anin ú-daug.
tarcolan
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 27, 2012 03:35
Legolas23, you cannot say that you feel useless in this world, simply because we are not capable of judging the effect we have. The soul is here for its own joy (yes, Rumi again) so as long as you wake up every morning and realise how amazing it is to be alive, a conscious awareness experiencing the Universe, then all will be well. Just smile at other people and be happy. Anything else you do is a blessing.

I agree Lastiel_Rusc that we have it too easy these days, but only in a material way. It's been said that money may not make you happy, but at least you can be miserable in comfort. My reason for that previous post was to suggest that the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill, that life in Middle Earth is bound to be better in some way than it is here. But why" Remember that most people on this planet have a material existence equivalent with people in Rohan or Gondor, and many are less well off.

So what is it about life in the Secondary World that would be better than it is here?
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Hercynian
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 27, 2012 10:23
Wanting, yearning, longing for ME is only natural. It's the world we were built for. It's the world the myths (e.g. Adam and Eve and the Fall) say we left/were forced out of. A very select few have ventured back (Jesus, Buddha, St. Francis?). Many "see" it now and then. I feel it -- sometimes strongly -- when I'm out in the woods. But of course the age-old problem is we can't seem to bring it back to our modern world.

Sure, we take breaks from it. We've got our "real" life here in the mundane modern world. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to reanimate my computer career. I remember once I was very far (over a month!) into learning a great new programming language. I was so sure I was rid of ME that I felt confident enough to "take the test": Go into the Lothloiren-like forest (I live in NoMinn). Sure enough, I was in the parking lot -- hadn't even gotten out of the car . . . and all the futuristic computer nonsense evaporated like smoke on the wind! Just for staring out into the forest my head was wiped clean and my ME longings hit me like a ton of bricks.

But what to do?!!! Neither Jesus nor Buddha figured it out. Oh sure, they've got huge fan clubs all stoked (even to the point of violence) about how their heroes went into Faerie/Lothlorien and came out with sizable chunks of elven magic, but again, what should you and I do? Alas, I've only come to one conclusion: music. With music we can get to the outskirts of Faerie/Lothlorien. As far as reading Tolkien, going to church, sitting in the lotus position for hours, or any of the other myriad "fan club activities," sure, fine, knock yourself out. But above all, trust your instincts. Mine have told me that what we call "reality" is a dank, musty little broom closet with not but a keyhole looking out into Faerie/Lothlorien.

Once piece of advice from a long-time ME seeker is to keep your priorities straight: ME is your true home. After all, your heart took you there. And if you start to doubt, routinely override your heart, your life will really get messed up. Sure, you'll never be a big hit in the "real" world, but think about St. Bernadette who saw a fairy queen (aka Virgin Mary) at Lourdes. Bernadette walked around in a daze the rest of her life! She was so "out of it" that she didn't even notice she was dying of bone tuberculosis, which is supposedly agonizingly painful. But so would I if a Galadriel-class being had appeared to me on 15 consecutive days! Yes, ME came to that little corner of France, and now millions visit the shrine.

Alas, it is our fate to occasionally taste ME, but never really get to stay. It also seems to be our fate to get bogged down in a "real" life and then call "fan club activities" good. What we call reality is a sad farce about to crash big-time and "fan club activities" just run you around in circles. Again, the only thing I can suggest is to go out routinely into wild places that make the ME longing light up and burn in you -- and then play/sing the best music you can find to honor that fateful burning.
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 27, 2012 10:40
so r u saying that Jesus and Buddha never figured out how to get to ME? It is because, and i think we all know this, ME didn't really exist. it exists in our hearts yes but it never really existed. we all wish it did but it doesn't.
Hercynian
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 27, 2012 10:55
Quote from Legolas23 on December 28, 2012, 08:40
so r u saying that Jesus and Buddha never figured out how to get to ME? It is because, and i think we all know this, ME didn't really exist. it exists in our hearts yes but it never really existed. we all wish it did but it doesn't.


To me both Jesus and Buddha "got somewhere" and that somewhere was real. But they both failed at imparting their enlightenment, their view into ME/Faerie/Lothlorien to others. And so we have millions of people doing what amounts to "fan club activities." Sure, small numbers of people have seen, experienced what Jesus, Buddha, et al saw and lived. But neither Christianity nor Buddhism have brought a true and lasting revolution. Actually nothing has. As far as ME not existing, my heart says it does. Why then do I (and millions others) have such "defective hearts?" ME/Faerie is just illusion? Any wild place is Faerie. It's just that we've lost our contact with it. We seem to be very needful creatures. And the modern materialist world has whipped that needfulness in us into a spastic frenzy. All the people who got to the other side found a way to disengage with the material world.

Sure ME/Faerie exists. But we've destroyed most of it. And we've long since lost our ability to enter it easily and smoothly. This is our doom as willful evermore orc-like idiots. I don't laugh at or ignore our doom.
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 28, 2012 12:43
I think it depends on how u r defining real. If you r saying it is real as it is an actual place, then i would disagree. But if you are saying real as in it is real in your life, then OK. I ma not trying to put anyone down about this. I am just stating my opinion.
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 28, 2012 12:43
Elinde Eleniel
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 31, 2012 11:38
I think Tolkien and the Lady Hercynian are right.
In an essay he wrote ('On Faery Stories', in the compilation 'Farmer Giles of Ham/Leaf by Niggle', if I have it right) he goes so far as to describe himself less as the architect of an exciting new world and more as an explorer or chronicler who had the good fortune of stumbling on a real place and being granted the privilege of relating its histories - more a matter of being in the right place at the right time (although having a sufficiently open mind must have helped a lot).
I only half believed him when I read this 30 years ago. I thought it likely he was using a literary trick only, to make things more interesting for his fans. Recently, I'm seeing things differently. It's not easy to talk about, but there is a place, just a breath away from Here and Now, that is filled with love. Or the people of that place are here, right now; it's only we who are not connected.
While Faerie/Lothlorien/Rivendell may not be tangible places just anyone in any old state of mind can walk up to and touch at any old time, I know they're real. For a little while, I was able to go there. I don’t know what it is that opens or else closes those doors, but William Butler Yates fell in love with that land and wrote about a few of the experiences he had there, in a book whose title has the word 'candle' in it.
I have heard that the time has come for the veil to come down; for Faerie and Earth to co-exist in the same space once more. Can this be why lovers of Middle Earth are easier to find these days? I hope so. I don't know how it's going to happen, but I love the idea of an integrated world with its heart (Faerie) safely returned to it. There is so much that needs to heal! All I know is do the best I can with whatever connects directly to me, and that's all.
But I would love to live among Elven souls like me. I hope some day I will.
Hercynian
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: December 31, 2012 10:11
I think Tolkien and the Lady Hercynian are right.


Actually, Elinde Eleniel, Tolkien and I are both XY. I feel flattered though that you'd think I was bright enough to be XX

Thanks for your insights, Elinde Eleniel. Right now I'm writing a story about the Fairy Realm. I'll put it on my website runenberg.com when it's done. I believe it says it all. . . .

Yes, we're talking about different dimensions, perhaps. The fairy realm/ME (at least in the 19th century literary fairytales) was always a sort of parallel universe out in the forest. I know this seems like an unprovable assertion, but I have to defer to Franz Werfel's statement: "For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who do not, no amount of proof is ever enough." I'm in the former group, even though I am condemned to a life of searching and seeking, with little hope of finding anything "substantial," at least the kind of proof and substantiation that "realist-rationalist" find in every mechanical, techno object around them.

That leaves us "dreamers" wide open to ridicule. "You believe in something that can't be proven in any real sense?" Short answer, yes. . . . Why? Because my best, heart-driven "internal logic" says it's there. Something deep inside says Tolkien was onto something HUGE! As I said before, he's not just a breadcrumb, he's a whole loaf!

We humans are in a rather pathetic state these days. Say you're a Christian or Buddhist. Are you getting real, true mystical substantiation? Perhaps if you've reached enlightenment or (for Christians) you've been visited by angels etc. yes. But nearly all so-called Christians and Buddhists have never had these experiences. Think about Lourdes or the Fátima. Only Bernadette in Lourdes and the children in Fatima Portugal saw "the beautiful lady." But millions of pilgrims have trekked to visit these sites. Are all these religious pilgrims just weak-minded fools? If so, count me among them.

As I'm saying in my story " The Lost Elven Warrior of Dream-Under-the-Hill," there is a Ceiling above us. Only a few have been above the ceiling. People like me and Tolkien have only climbed up on ladders to get a closer look at the ceiling. Jesus, Buddha, Joan of Arc have actually spent some time on the other side of the ceiling. And they brought back fairy magic. Tolkien opened up his heart and mind wide and got a big dose of the rays streaming through. Personally I believe music is something with the power to partially dissolve the ceiling for brief moments. When we got tossed out of Eden/Fairy Realm, our lawyers did good when they got music back for us.

As one of my characters says: "The fairy realm: It's just in your head . . . until it's not just in your head." Yeah, then what?
Julianna Greenleaf
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 01, 2013 12:42
I would definitely go to Middle Earth!
I often wish that I could go there instead of staying in reality
Legolas is ~L~ovely! Legolas is ~E~verlastingly talented! Legolas is ~G~reat! Legolas is ~O~h so awesome! Legolas is ~L~ovable! Legolas is ~A~mazing! Legolas is ~S~weet! ~LEGOLAS~ rules! Mrs.Greenleaf
Lastiel Rusc
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 03, 2013 05:13
Quote from tarcolan on December 27, 2012, 13:35

So what is it about life in the Secondary World that would be better than it is here?


Sorry I didn't seem to see your question, it got drowned amongst some of the walls of text. /sweatdrop

I think for me at least, it comes down to the fact that everyone (for the most part) had to work hard to exist. Not many got by on hand outs. Currently I'm in a point in my life where I need to ask the Government for assistance and I keep on getting rejected while people who do not even try can get basically a free ride, and those who need a little help do not get it for one reason or another.
Yes, a good portion of my longing at least is due to the fact that Tolkien writes in such a way that one can believe that you can go there.
'If they have a fault it is distrust of strangers. Though their magic was strong even in those days they were wary. They differed from the High Elves of the West, and were more dangerous and less wise.' ~ Flies and Spiders The Hobbit
Taug anin ú-daug.
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 03, 2013 05:52
Yes i missed that question as well. I don't really know! Maybe we think it would be better because of what we have read, or what we think in our minds
tarcolan
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 03, 2013 06:58
those who need a little help do not get it for one reason or another

Don't get me started on governments, Lastiel, it's the same everywhere. Ringwraiths in thrall to those with wealth and power, attacking the weakest in society. It's time to stand up and be counted, pepper-sprayed, then labeled as a subversive. Heh heh. Isn't democracy wonderful?
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Lastiel Rusc
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 03, 2013 07:03
Oh, yes. It makes me want to find some place that no government can claim, and live there. But fat chance of that.
'If they have a fault it is distrust of strangers. Though their magic was strong even in those days they were wary. They differed from the High Elves of the West, and were more dangerous and less wise.' ~ Flies and Spiders The Hobbit
Taug anin ú-daug.
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 04, 2013 09:01
i know you mean like a country, or maybe even a house. i know we can't go to ME physically, but we can in our minds. when i think about it, or even play ME games in my ME costume with my cousins, it helps. no government can claim your mind! and come to think about it, no government can claim you.
i hope that makes some since.

tarcolan
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 05, 2013 06:16
Elinde Eleniel's been there and back again.
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Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 07, 2013 02:09
I am sorry if this sounds stupid, but what do u mean, tarcolan?
Mareth_Ravenlock
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 07, 2013 04:58
Some nights i will be thinking about the events that occurred that day. sometimes when i have a bad day, i cry because i want to go to ME so bad. I know some of you might think i am nuts, but i really do. I want to be a part of this wonderful place. It seems like i am useless here, but there i could maybe be of use.


Okay, I know that I'm like 20 years late, but no, you are NOT useless, Legolas23! God created you with a purpose in mind, and He will show you that purpose, if you let Him.

And besides, what would I do without you on here? Your a wonderful friend, and I'm really glad that I have gotten to know you!

If you did live in Middle Earth are you sure you wouldn't be wishing you could live in this mythical world? Familiarity breeds contempt, as they say.

I quite agree, tarcolan!
~Llama Warrior of Nessa~ Sometimes, I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. - Lewis Carrol
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 07, 2013 06:01
thank you, Mareth! u are a wonderful friend as well!
Grizzwald
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 31, 2013 12:33
I wouldn't mind visiting Middle Earth for a holiday. But I think I'd soon miss the comforts of technology.
Legolas23
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: January 31, 2013 10:32
I wouldn't!
Dragonwings
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: February 01, 2013 03:32
I agree with Grizzwald. It'd be nice to visit ME, but I have things here that I really do need and that aren't in ME (like certain types of medicine). But visiting? Oh yes please.
Ironfoot
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Post Re: Ever wish you could live in Middle Earth?
on: February 01, 2013 10:43
Screw technology. I've lived without it for the last year-and-a-half. I would choose to live in Middle-earth permanently if I had the choice, in a heartbeat. I want to get a way from this world so much. All of it. It disgusts me how we live. Yes, of course ME would not be all fun and roses, but at least over there they are not blowing each other up over religion, your not dying slowly from toxic fumes and smog, little children are not being massacred by lunatics, etc, etc, etc. I'm a born pessimist, and this world we live in is absolutely horrifying. Have you seen downtown Los Angeles? With all of the smog it looks like the plains of Gorgoroth! It would be very hard to leave my friends and family, but they would just have to understand. Perhaps I could even take them with me. I really am tired of this crap. I've only been alive for 21 years and already part of me has become bitter from what I have seen. My only respite is Tolkien and my dog. I would go to Middle-earth, even if I would have to face the entire army of the Enemy to get there.
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