On my desk is a small statue of Gollum, the hobbit-like character from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Those who have only read The Hobbit, when Gollum was introduced, only have seen an evil, angry little creature. But those who have read or seen The Lord of the Rings witnessed something else. Gollum was a soul in torment, obsessed with wishing to possess a ring of pure evil that slowly and literally destroyed him body and soul.
St. Benedict reminds us to “Deny yourself in order to follow Christ” (Matt 16:24; Luke 9:23). (RB 4:10). Denying ourselves means an act of will, a deliberate choice to follow the example of Our Lord and not to follow our own will. But it also means denying ourselves those things that could corrupt our good intentions. “For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.” (NRSV; Ga 5:17)
Poor Gollum. Those who knew him pitied him. Why? Because they recognized the struggle within him and understood that same struggle within themselves. It is a common struggle, it is within our nature. All through the Lord of the Rings, both book and movie, the reader witnesses the soul wrenching struggle within Gollum as he journeyed with the others. On one side is the obsessive desire for the material (the Ring). On the other his desire to break away from the influence of the Ring in favor of new friends who understand his struggle. “Our inner self fights against the outer, and the outer against the inner. For flesh always desires useless and perishable things, the spirit seeks what is useful and always sighs for what is eternal.” (Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel, p. 173)
The following clip is the moment when Gollum turns against his “evil side.” I think many of us can relate to this struggle which Gollum verbalizes:
When Gollum allowed others to help him, he was able to struggle against the power of the Ring. Frodo, the hero of the story and was the “Ring bearer”, reached out to Gollum because he recognized and understood the struggle within Gollum. When Gollum chose to reject his friendship and turn his full attention to acquiring the ring Gollum failed. He eventually gave up the struggle and allowed the influence of the Ring to corrupt him. He turned against friend and ally all to possess the Ring, a golden, material object. Perhaps he was doomed to begin with. He killed his childhood friend to obtain the Ring. His obsession drove him away from family and friends until all he had in the world was the Ring, his “Precious.” This is the result of all addictive behavior, but worse, this is the ultimate result whenever we deliberately and consistently turn away from a loving God toward the material world, the world of the flesh.
So why do I keep Gollum on my desk? It is a reminder to turn to Our Lord in the struggle to be more like Him but it is also a reminder of the importance of friends. With Jesus helping us along the way none of us are “doomed to begin with.” Gollum reminds me of the importance of seeking out others in our own personal struggles against the “rings” in life. If we share our common struggle, we will find we are not quite as alone as we think. Gollum is also a reminder to me to remember to look for the good in all all people and to see the face of Christ in each person I meet. So it is a reminder to always reach out to the Gollums of the world who may be struggling alone, and may ultimately fall, because they have been rejected by the society in which they live. But most importantly, Gollum is a reminder to turn to the one person, the one friend, who understands our own struggles better than any other, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
