I have to stress I did not read this essay until today, well after I made my other comments on JRR Tolkien here on the Zone. I have to make that clear, because I am startled at how closely John Molyneux’s analysis parallels my own (see “Talkin’ Tolkien Blues” in the thread below). This suggests, perhaps even confirms, that ideology and worldview determine how complex literary (or social/historical) material is absorbed and interpreted depending on one’s prior mental filters and existing prejudices…

There may only be one set of objective truths that make up reality, but how they are approached and interpreted is purely subjective and personal. What we know is determined pretty much by what we already believe. I find this theme to appear over and over in my work here on the Zone, as well in the thought of others. I can’t expect anyone to uncritically accept that my vision, or Molyneux’s, of the Universe is necessarily the right one (whatever the hell that means), but this should be all the evidence anyone needs to realize we pretty much see the world as we expect it to be, and that once a certain Theory of Reality is adopted that how we analyze data depends pretty much on the worldview we already have. If Molyneux and I have arrived at the same conclusions it is because we reason in the same way. If others can honestly arrive at different conclusions because they reason differently, what does that reveal to us about Reason itself?

Having the “right” world view is not as important as realizing that you have one, and it has to be constantly questioned and criticized. There may or may not be only one authentic Truth out in the external world, but in our internal model of Reality there are certainly infinite ways of perceiving it.

Anyway, I’ll let you decide for yourself! Enjoy!

http://johnmolyneux.blogspot.com/2011/09/tolkiens-world-marxist-analysis.html