"But, said Lewis, myths are lies, even though lies breathed through silver.
No, said Tolkien, they are not.
You call a tree, he said, and you tink more of the word. But it was not a 'tree' until someone gave it that name. You call a star a star, and say it just a ball of matter moving on mathematical course. But that is merely how you see it. By so naming things and describing them you are only inventing your own terms about them. And just as speech is invention about objects and ideas, so myth is invention about truth.
We have come from God (continued Tolkien), and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming a 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to that state of perfection that he knew... Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil."
--
A conversation between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, recounted in
Humphrey Carpenter,
J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography
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"Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming a 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to that state of perfection that he knew..." I'm sorry. I do not believe that lies enable me to be the best person I can be. I strive for perfection (being the best and 'most good' that I can be) because it makes me feel good. My morals and sense of right and wrong are in no way related to a God of any sort yet I still act according to them.
"...Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil." I agree that money and materialistic ideas can, and in most cases, do lead to evil. But I do not believe that myths, lies, make-believe stories, God, or legends move towards truth. If anything it disables our thinking and allows us to rely on these stories as answers INSTEAD of seeking the truth for ourselves.
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