Frodo’s Quest – Living the Myth in The Lord of the Rings

By Robert Ellwood.

159 Pages | Copyright 2002 by The Theosophical Publishing House in America | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. - ISBN 0835608239

'Frodo is Everyman', Lord of the Rings film director Peter Jackson observed at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony. That is the seminal idea of this unique book exploring the esoteric spiritual meaning of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy, which has impacted the inner lives of millions of readers, since it was first published in 1954.

Robert Ellwood, a scholar of world religions, finds ancient wisdom in this twentieth-century bestseller concerning the quests we are all called to go on. 'Like Frodo', he says, 'we each experience challenges that propel us on our own adventure - finally that of exploring the inner worlds and the meaning of our lives.'

Revisiting Middle-earth as a realm for personal discovery, Ellwood presents Tolkien's story as a tale of every reader's higher consciousness, death and rebirth, and triumph over evil. He teaches us also to recognize the characters as archetypes we can meet in ourselves: a spiritual guide like Gandalf, a friend like Sam, or, heaven forbid, shadows like Orcs or Ringwraiths. He also provides meditational exercises to help us overcome the trials we face as we make our lives into great journeys instead of dull routine. So be it! Let the Quest begin!

From Chapter 4 - 'The Weight of the Past' (p. 59):

" Whether we are aware of it or not, we are voyagers on a pilgrimage across the seas of space and time, gradually riding with the tides back through storm and sun and to the Halls of Light, our true home, whence we came. But like mariners tacking about on that long crossing, in the anxiety of our separateness we think more of personal action and response than we contemplate oneness. When the self-centered impulse reaches the level of the evil Wizard's fear, hatred, and power, it amounts to rebellion against the One, and in the dark waters we see the wake of Satan or Sauron. More often, our hopes, we manage to keep the distant polar constellations to starboard as we bear toward the Uttermost West. "