The ruin of Gollum
I have mislaid my copy of Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien’s description of Gollum’s ruin, told by Gandalf, came to mind today. After being driven from his family for murder and other shameful acts, Gollum begins looking always downward, peering into deep and dark places, exploring the roots of things. He goes underground, and eventually comes to hate and to be hurt by the sun – even the moon is unpleasant to him.
That process of acclimatisation to darkness is also what Paul describes, in reverse:
“At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ ”
Useful, I think.