The Beauty That Changes Us

In the chapter “Lothlórien,” the Fellowship enters the forest inhabited by the Galadhrim, the Elves of the Lady Galadriel.  Yet not everyone is comfortable with this part of the journey.  Boromir says “And now we must enter the Golden Wood, you say.  But of that perilous land we have heard in Gondor, and it is said that few come out who once go in; and of that few none have escaped unscathed.”  Aragorn, however, replies, “Say not unscathed, but if you say unchanged, then maybe you will speak the truth…. Perilous indeed… fair and perilous; but only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them.”

The beauty of nature and the power of love both have the ability to change us.  Perilous is the drowning ocean, and the sadness of loss; perilous is the summer storm, and the labyrinth of desire; perilous is the beauty of Lothlórien … and of Galadriel.  Yet living is by its very nature dangerous – only death and nonexistence are “safe.”  Earnest, hopeful souls may find in life what they find in Lothlórien – beauty that changes them, and makes them better than they were.


Image: Arthur Rackham
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rhinegold_and_the_Valkyries_p_022.jpg