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Post by Tamrin on Jul 25, 2008 18:56:40 GMT 10
I once heard a lecture by a Brother concerning what he saw as Masonic allusions in Tolkien’s works. For him, Tom Bombadil was significant and represented the W.M. or even the G.M., with his blue jacket and yellow boots properly being the other way about (by way of a blind), with the blue being the steeled points of a pair of brass compasses (reminiscent of some early Tyler's uniforms). Tolkien stresses that Tom’s power is constrained to a particular area but that within that area it was absolute. Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow Bright blue his jacket is and his boots are yellow None has ever caught him yet, for Tom he is the master The Fellowship of the Ring Whether or not it was intended, the example of Tom Bombadil seems to suggest that power properly operates within constraint. I am reminded of Kant’s analogy of the white dove, glorying in its relative freedom, cleaving the air with its wings and striving to escape the atmosphere, which it saw as limiting, only to find that in space its efforts were in vain, its wings being useless without something to work within. Similarly, it is the constraints of iconography, in common with many literary and ceremonial traditions that provide the structure for creative expression within those disciplines.
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Post by maximus on Jul 26, 2008 16:02:29 GMT 10
Reading the link to the article about the Tiler (we spell it thus), where it mentions the Inner Guard, I find it interesting that in my jurisdiction, we have no such officer. The Junior Deacon serves the function of Inner Guard, and has his station to the right of the Senior Warden, next to the door.
It was a shame they left Tom Bombadil out of the Fellowship of the Ring movie. I've read The Lord of the Rings eight times, it's one of my favorites, along with The Mists of Avalon and The Name of the Rose. Never made a connection of Tom with Masonry, to be honest.
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Post by Tamrin on Jul 26, 2008 16:28:47 GMT 10
I've read The Lord of the Rings eight times, it's one of my favorites, along with The Mists of Avalon and The Name of the Rose. Never made a connection of Tom with Masonry, to be honest. We appear to have remarkably similar tastes in fiction
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