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

: 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

It isn't.
Don't get me wrong :I really love Tolkien's works, I've read it more then 10 times, I'm very interested in it's land, peoples, and histroy and I can discuss it for hours with other people.
Tolkien wrote a magnificient work, a very large and interesting story, but other then loving it as a story, a story with many deep and interesting ideas in it, I don't think it should affect my, or anybody else's, way of life.