Imagination and creativity  are innate human capacities that connect with the longings of the heart. They allow us to know ourselves, to dream, to conceive of appealing goals, to resolve situations… even  to create beauty : a work of art, in the diverse fields of being and knowledge, according to each person’s unique talents. 

Imagination possesses  creative power;  it allows beauty to unfold. And it is something that can be strengthened and developed. All the personal characteristics we have been given are  both a gift and a task;  they are a free gift to be grateful for, developed, and nurtured.

This faculty entails a capacity for knowledge , distinct from reason, perhaps more intuitive,  direct to the heart .  This is what J.H. Newman believed. By  combining elements,  as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis did, new, creative ideas and refreshing concepts are constructed in various fields. 

Tolkien, a fine philologist and linguist, a university professor, and  a lover of words —literally—was so special that, through them, he created  a spectacular mythology  in the heart of the 20th century. As he himself expressed it, he “subcreated ” a tapestry full of epic stories, legends, and moving tales, created from  the power of words , which can unfold possible, desirable worlds where the heart rests, finds peace, and rejoices. Because our minds are designed for stories: humankind is the storyteller. In this way, we come to know ourselves better, and we learn about our history and roots.   

He was aware that ” a single dream is  more powerful than a thousand realities”… And it all began amidst the horrors of the Great War.

He knew that  fantasy  helps to “recapture  the initial beauty of the created world ,” and that in it lies  complete freedom and satisfaction .  It possesses a “magical” function, and in the hands of an artist, it has the power to delight and inspire. That is its function, says the Professor. He explains some of its creative “magic” in the essay “On Fairy Tales,” in the book Tree and Leaf.   

However, fantasy and reason are not opposed ;  rather,  “the sharper and clearer the reason, the better the fantasies it will produce , ” he explains in this essay. Reason engages with and stems from reality. Stories possess a  mixture of reality and fiction … And  fantasy is  based on “a knowledge of the facts, but  not on being enslaved by them “… It goes further, transcends them, and elevates them. 

In other words, he wanted to tell stories that  would inspire.  Moreover, “sublimated by the charm of distance in time”… he would say in one of his Letters from the epistolary: the 183rd.  

And from reality he creates, he builds an entire universe:  he creates a world of legends and stories… as I was saying,  from the power of words, their phonetics and meaning,  and  linguistics : the many languages ​​he knows so well, and those he invents, to  unfold those moving, beautiful, though sometimes terrible , “secondary worlds,” as happens in the real world. Because, “joy, like sadness, is as sharp as a sword”…   

Exciting worlds … a reflection of the created world, which in turn  illuminate  our universe with their mythical light, for they are “made” of  truth.  That is why they are like  luminous mirrors  in which to see ourselves and contemplate our reality. I told you this in the mirror of Galadriel.

For Tolkien, “to invent” is  to discover something  that was already there, perhaps veiled, through the “magic wand” of words, and the ability to combine concepts  in his unique art.   

This creator of worlds possesses a  transformative vision.  He looks, and sees beyond, with greater depth and wonder. He constructs  alternative  realities through the power of words, and the  adjective,  which he wields so skillfully. He is a “sub-creator,”  in the image  of the Creator.

In his poem Mitopoeia, collected in the book Tree and Leaf,  he speaks about the art of creating stories and tales, and writes:  ” We still create  according to the law in which we were created.”

And the way to respond to that wonderful gift is  through personal creation : art, the beauty of what each person can do with their talents, combined with gratitude for that gift bestowed.  

Man is a “sub-creator,” made in the image of the Creator, and  has been given the power and the “right” to narrate and “sub-create”  stories, tales, myths, images, music… etc. As well as the power to remember, close to the heart, to recall, and to bring to the present, legends and traditions, updating the valuable wisdom treasured over time:  tradition – that  is, the handing on.

Moreover, the Professor’s artwork is  like a prism  reflecting its beauty in a thousand nuances, and this art reaches each of us in a distinct and unique way, according to our personality, experiences, and desires. A marvel with a thousand facets to discover and rediscover.

Because: “We come from God,  and inevitably the myths we weave, although they contain errors, also reflect  a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth of God,”  which we perceive in so many nuances that resonate in every reader… 

Write in another fragment of the poem Mitopoeia:

“The heart of man is not made of deceit… (…)

man, sub-creator, refracted light

through which it separates into fragments of White

of numerous nuances that continue endlessly

in living forms that go from mind to mind.”

As a sample of his art, here are a few short quotes from The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, published by Minotauro, with the hope that you will be encouraged to read it calmly, enjoying it, even aloud.

“All around, flowed the silvery thread of a stream that sprang from the valley; on the summit, still far away, they saw  a reflection of the rising sun,  a golden glow.” You can almost perceive those nuances and the freshness of the stream… the colors of the rising sun…

And, when King Théoden departs from Helm’s Gate, he says:  “The light grew all around.  The sun’s rays lit the eastern hills and made the lances flash. The riders, motionless and silent, gazed long down the Low Valley.”

Light is important in Tolkien,  because “it is a privileged symbol of the nature of the universe, of its being, of its truth, of its beauty,” says expert and pioneer in the study of his work, José Miguel Odero.

As we can see,  imagination in Tolkien  is a highly relevant and powerful capacity for self-knowledge and for creating beauty: the splendor of truth and goodness. It is not something to be underestimated but rather cultivated.  

Although , the Professor says: “One can, of course, commit excesses with  Fantasy . It can be misused. It can be applied to perverse ends. It can even confuse the minds from which it originates. But of what human endeavor in this fallen world could the same not be said?”… Nevertheless, “it remains  a human right.” 

In this regard, Odero points out: “It is a ‘ right’  from the deepest part of the human being, ‘which is not only nature, and thus reveals  an interest in eternity . “ 

Well, in another passage from Mitopoeia:

“The heart of man is not made of deceit,

and gains wisdom from the only one who is Wise,

And he still invokes it. Although now in exile,

Man has not been lost nor has he completely changed.

He may know misfortune, but he has not been dethroned.

and he still wears the rags of his lordship,

world domination through creative acts:

and never worships the Great Artifact…

The  Legendarium  of Middle-earth and Beleriand contains splendid glimpses of  nature , and even of the  supernatural , although it remains implicit or latent, and therefore exudes beauty and charm, and points to the desires and  longings of the human heart for  beauty, infinity and harmony…

Finally, I’d like to reiterate my recommendation of the book “The Wizard of Words,”  as well as  “History, Legend, Myth”  by Dr. Eduardo Segura, from which one can learn so much, with gratitude. And another insightful little book:  “J.R.R. Tolkien: Fairy Tales”  by J.M. Odero, recently reissued.