: Now I don't mean this to get too personal,

Sorry that I did, political trenchdigging just gets me upset;-)

:but how does Tolkien apply to your life? We all know Tolkien's aversion to allegory, and how he favored stories that allowed readers to draw their own conclusions and lessons.

: Which lessons have you drawn?

: I spoke a bit (and very vaguely) about how Tolkien affects one aspect of my life, my political activism (I didn't expand on it here because I get the impression I shouldn't; which is a shame, because I think Tolkien's words reach out into the farthest corners of human experience, even politics).

This may be true, but, as someone pointed out to me, this is not a political forum.

: How do you apply his words and tales to your life? Do you at all? Do you just take it as a story? Or do you see yourself as a character? Why? Or do you pull all the threads and themes of his work and live according to those ideals? Or do you take it literally (c.f., the religious discussion below)?

: Respond however you feel is appropriate.

: Dave C-Q

I cannot say how exactly Tolkien's work has influenced me, and who can?? I just know that it is one of the (larger) threads woven into the strange pattern that has formed my personality through experience.
NT