Outside Reading #2- November 26, 2016- Adventures and Lore

“We are plain quiet folk, and I have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, and uncomfortable things.” From the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Adventure, the place where faith is measured, relationships are tested, and unchartered waters are mapped; it is the precipice of the human journey. Pioneering paths no one has walked, and some that others may never walk, are a monument to the courage of the one who would to step into the adventure. For Bilbo, it started when Gandolf arrived at his home. It’s not so much the paths that catalyze one to adventure, it’s the people you run into along the way of life. There are two choices that are very simple; there are no middle grounds. You choose the adventure or the adventure will eventual choose you. One way or another, we will all step into ours at some point. For many idealistic, romanticized people like me, we tend to see adventure as going to a distant land and being the hero. However, the place of adventure always starts with the shift of the perspective, vision, and heart. For Bilbo, his perspective changed, even while in the Shire, after conversing with Gandolf, and his heart changed as he got to know the Dwarves more and their vision for what they wished to reclaim. It shifts one’s desire to do and, along the way, become something bigger than what one ever could imagine. From the inside out, the journey begins; it is the reframing of our identity and how we see ourselves. As above, Bilbo saw and believed he was part of those “plain quiet folk” which gave him an excuse to write off his destiny to impact empires and help the dwarves. The smaller leaps of faith help to breakthrough and stretch us to the next place and the next place. For many, the question like that posed to Bilbo is, will you say yes? Furthermore, for Bilbo, adventures seemed “nasty, disturbing, and uncomfortable” because, in the environment he grew up in, adventure was taught as something taboo and unnecessary. Although on the surface, these attributes may seem true, they overlook the deeper qualities that are instilled along the way such as the building of courage, faithfulness and friendship which were all learned by Bilbo in his quest. The point of the adventure is not to make your life easier, it’s to make it better as the experiences strengthen oneself in character and wisdom. The adventure, in a way, becomes a path to askesis or discipline as it forces one to adapt and overcome, making the person fit for the journey and battles ahead. With that comes the bonds formed with others along the same adventure creating a type of communitas or unstructured family community in which person can rely on person in a more intimate way. Assuredly, the adventurer does not take on the adventure, the adventure forms the adventurer.