The Resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story — and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love.
Interpretation
The Resurrection symbolizes a profound transformation that blends joy and sorrow, reflecting deep emotional experiences.
In this quote, J.R.R. Tolkien presents the Resurrection as the ultimate 'eucatastrophe', a term he coined to describe a sudden and favorable turn of events in a story, particularly one that elicits deep emotional responses. He emphasizes that true joy often coexists with sorrow, highlighting that profound experiences, such as the joy that arises from the Resurrection, emerge from the reconciliation of conflicting emotions, paralleling the intertwining of selfishness and altruism within the concept of love.
In practice
In a sermon on Easter Sunday, illustrating the blend of joy and sorrow in the Christian faith.
All the same, I should like it all plain and clear," said he obstinately, putting on his business manner (usually reserved for people who tried to borrow money off him), and doing his best to appear wise and prudent and professional and live up to Gandalf's recommendation. "Also I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses, time required and remuneration, and so forth"--by which he meant: "What am I going to get out of it ? and am I going to come back alive?
Go not to the Elves for counsel,_x000D_ for they will say both no and yes._x000D_ Elves seldom give unguarded advice,_x000D_ for advice is a dangerous gift,_x000D_ even from the wise to the wise,_x000D_ and all courses may run ill.
What did I tell you, Mr. Pippin?' said Sam, sheathing his sword. 'Wolves won't get him. That was an eye-opener, and no mistake! Nearly singed the hair off my head!
Under the Mountain dark and tall The King has come unto his hall! His foe is dead, the Worm of Dread, And ever so his foes shall fall. The sword is sharp, the spear is long, The arrow swift, the Gate is strong; The heart is bold that looks on gold; The dwarves no more shall suffer wrong. The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, While hammers fells like ringing bells In places deep, where dark things sleep, In hollow halls beneath the fells. -from The Hobbit (Dwarves Battle Song)
The chief purpose of life, for any of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks.
Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail never clinking.
Alas! how deeply painful is all payment!
And truly it little matters what I say, this or that or any other thing. Saying is inventing. Wrong, very rightly wrong. You invent nothing, you think you are inventing, you think you are escaping, and all you do is stammer out your lesson, the remnants of a pensum one day got by heart and long forgotten, life without tears, as it is wept.
Plato used the dialogue format because the exchange of views, the posing and answering of questions, showed that understanding is a living, dynamic process. He distrusted writing because the settled character of the written word makes it look as if truth can be fixed and made to stand still. It is worth remembering that this greatest advocate of the objective reality of truth also believed that our access to that truth was sustained in reasoned discussion.
We have had in our nation a well-celebrated Declaration of Independence. But our success as a country will depend upon a new 'Declaration of Inter-dependence.' A belief in how much we need each other, how much we share one common destiny.
We're never going to come to a moment where all of us who claim to be feminists can agree about what the first priority of feminism is.
An independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.
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