Tolkien, Resurrection, and the Way Things Really Work

On more than one occasion, author J.R.R. Tolkien referred to the Resurrection as the ultimate eucatastrophe (i.e. "happy turn") of human history. In fact, On Fairy-Stories makes it clear that the Resurrection was at the heart of his creative vision. In a 1944 letter to his son Christopher, he discusses a particular mystical experience in which he realized that the Resurrection “was the way things really work.”

In the letter, Tolkien recounts: “I was riding on a bicycle one day, not so long ago, past the Radcliffe Infirmary, when I had one of those sudden clarities which sometimes comes in dreams (even anesthetic-produced ones). I remember saying aloud with absolute conviction: ‘But of course! Of course that’s how things really do work’. But I could not reproduce any argument that had led to this, though the sensation was the same as having been convinced by reason (if without reasoning). And I have since thought that one of the reasons why one can’t recapture the wonderful argument or secret when one wakes up is simply because there was not one: but there was (often maybe) a direct appreciation by the mind (sc. reason) but without the chain of argument we know in our time-serial life.” (Letters101)

What did Tolkien mean by this staggering insight, and what can we take away from it?

1. We Live in a Story: “Man the story-teller would have to be redeemed in a manner consonant with his nature: by a moving story” (Letters 100-101). In Tolkien’s view, one of the chief consequences of man being an image-bearer of God is that he is a story-teller by nature. I might even add that man is both a story-teller and a story-receiver. There seems to be a pattern of story woven into our ability to communicate and create, whether on a simple or complex level. Thus, we are wired to expect certain things in art, music, literature, and even in everyday communication.

2. A Greater Reality: “In the Primary Miracle (the Resurrection) and the lesser Christian miracles too though less, you have not only that sudden glimpse of the truth behind the apparent [constraint] of our world, but a glimpse that is actually a ray of light through the very chinks of the universe about us” (101). In fact, the story we in-dwell is part of a greater reality. While our minds tend to focus on the things that are right in front of us at the moment, even on a purely natural level we know that a million different things are going on around us every moment. And this is a reflection of the supernatural reality. The book of Revelation is a glimpse of this, a pulling back of the curtain to show us what’s really going on behind the scenes.

3. Joy Indicates this Reality: Joy “is a sudden glimpse of the Truth,” in which “your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint has suddenly snapped back” (100). We are surrounded by so much death and destruction, and it is so “in our faces” in the modern world that we can lose touch with this greater reality. Yet Joy is our escape from this “realist despair.” There is a greater reality that lies behind the reality we experience every day, and we occasionally glimpse it as the sensation of joy, as when Sam Gamgee joyfully exclaims “Is everything sad going to come untrue (The Return of the King 930)?”

4. Nature Bears Witness to the Real: I love the fact that Tolkien had this epiphany while riding his bike (outside) past an infirmary (a place where the sick are healed). I can only imagine what he was experiencing in the world around him that may have led to this seemingly intuitive and infused realization. Yet we know that the Resurrection reflects in a supernatural way a pattern of the world around us. The tiny acorn must be “swallowed by the ground” in order to become a great oak tree. The caterpillar must be “entombed” in order to emerge beautiful and capable of flight.

Tolkien was convinced that the Resurrection was the way things really work, and this mystical experience, this sudden infusion of knowledge, seems to have been a small reminder from God of this truth. It reminds me of the beautiful refrain of the Psalmist: “They wept as the went, went with seed for the sowing/But with joy they will come, come bearing the sheaves.” Especially in the modern world, we can be tempted to discount these joys, these little, personal gifts from God, as pie-in-the-sky, an escapist fantasy, but Tolkien insists time and again that these are really calls to greater faith and hope, because they are little reminders of “the way things really work!”

Have you ever had an experience like this? What are your favorite moments like this in Tolkien’s work?